Iago's plan seems to be to remind Othello of
everything that would madden him again, but to do so by professing to
make light of the whole affair, and by urging Othello to put the best
construction on the facts, or at any rate to acquiesce. So he says, in
effect: 'After all, if she did kiss Cassio, that might mean little. Nay,
she might even go much further without meaning any harm.[266] Of course
there is the handkerchief (10); but then why should she _not_ give it
away?' Then, affecting to renounce this hopeless attempt to disguise his
true opinion, he goes on: 'However, _I_ cannot, as your friend, pretend
that I really regard her as innocent: the fact is, Cassio boasted to me
in so many words of his conquest. [Here he is interrupted by Othello's
swoon.] But, after all, why make such a fuss? You share the fate of most
married men, and you have the advantage of not being deceived in the
matter.' It must have been a great pleasure to Iago to express his real
cynicism thus, with the certainty that he would not be taken seriously
and would advance his plot by it. At 208-210 he recurs to the same plan
of maddening Othello by suggesting that, if he is so fond of Desdemona,
he had better let the matter be, for it concerns no one but him. This
speech follows Othello's exclamation 'O Iago, the pity of it,' and this
is perhaps the moment when we most of all long to destroy Iago.
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