And, it may be said, she speaks
indefinitely so that Iago alone may understand her (for Desdemona does
not know that Cassio is the suspected man). Hence too, it may be said,
when, at V. ii. 190, she exclaims,
Villany, villany, villany!
I think upon't, I think: I smell't: O villany!
_I thought so then:_--I'll kill myself for grief;
she refers in the words italicised to the occasion of the passage in IV.
ii., and is reproaching herself for not having taken steps on her
suspicion of Iago.
I have explained in the text why I think it impossible to suppose that
Emilia suspected her husband; and I do not think anyone who follows her
speeches in V. ii., and who realises that, if she did suspect him, she
must have been simply _pretending_ surprise when Othello told her that
Iago was his informant, will feel any doubt. Her idea in the lines at
IV. ii. 130 is, I believe, merely that someone is trying to establish a
ground for asking a favour from Othello in return for information which
nearly concerns him. It does not follow that, because she knew Cassio
was suspected, she must have been referring to Cassio's office. She was
a stupid woman, and, even if she had not been, she would not put two and
two together so easily as the reader of the play.
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