It is also in flat contradiction with
a large number of time-indications in the play itself. It is needless to
mention more than a few. (_a_) Bianca complains that Cassio has kept
away from her for a week (III. iv. 173). Cassio and the rest have
therefore been more than a week in Cyprus, and, we should naturally
infer, considerably more. (_b_) The ground on which Iago builds
throughout is the probability of Desdemona's having got tired of the
Moor; she is accused of having repeatedly committed adultery with Cassio
(_e.g._ V. ii. 210); these facts and a great many others, such as
Othello's language in III. iii. 338 ff., are utterly absurd on the
supposition that he murders his wife within a day or two of the night
when he consummated his marriage. (_c_) Iago's account of Cassio's dream
implies (and indeed states) that he had been sleeping with Cassio
'lately,' _i.e._ after arriving at Cyprus: yet, according to A, he had
only spent one night in Cyprus, and we are expressly told that Cassio
never went to bed on that night. Iago doubtless was a liar, but Othello
was not an absolute idiot.
* * * * *
Thus (1) one set of time-indications clearly shows that Othello murdered
his wife within a few days, probably a day and a half, of his arrival in
Cyprus and the consummation of his marriage; (2) another set of
time-indications implies quite as clearly that some little time must
have elapsed, probably a few weeks; and this last is certainly the
impression of a reader who has not closely examined the play.
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