171), just as here the soul of
the lying Desdemona is angelic _in_ its lie. Is it conceivable that in
both passages he was intentionally striking at conventional 'religious'
ideas; and, in particular, that the belief that a man's everlasting fate
is decided by the occupation of his last moment excited in him
indignation as well as contempt? I admit that this fancy seems
un-Shakespearean, and yet it comes back on me whenever I read this
passage. [The words 'I suppose so' (l. 3 above) gave my conclusion; but
I wish to withdraw the whole Note]
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 267: He alludes to her cry, 'O falsely, falsely murder'd!']
NOTE P.
DID EMILIA SUSPECT IAGO?
I have answered No (p. 216), and have no doubt about the matter; but at
one time I was puzzled, as perhaps others have been, by a single phrase
of Emilia's. It occurs in the conversation between her and Iago and
Desdemona (IV. ii. 130 f.):
I will be hang'd if some eternal villain,
Some busy and insinuating rogue,
Some cogging, cozening slave, _to get some office_,
Have not devised this slander; I'll be hang'd else.
Emilia, it may be said, knew that Cassio was the suspected man, so that
she must be thinking of _his_ office, and must mean that Iago has
poisoned Othello's mind in order to prevent his reinstatement and to get
the lieutenancy for himself.
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