Othello, Act IV, Scene III
Director
Act 4, scene 3 is staged in a room in the Cyprus castle. Othello, Lodovico, Desdemona,
Emilia, and attendants enter. It seems that everyone is outside of Othello’s room but eventually,
as Lodovico bids Desdemona good night it moves to her bedroom; where she starts preparing for
bed. It is clear that Othello has ordered Desdemona to get to bed because he wants her to be
alone and helpless when he returns to kill her. The shadow of death looms over Desdemona as
she speaks kindly and innocently about her husband.
If I were to direct this scene I would attempt to make it a lot more discrete that Othello
wants Desdemona to get to bed so he can kill her. Clearly Desdemona does not know that she
will die tonight but she soon begins to sing the Willow song as she gets ready for bed. In
sadness, the “Willow” is a song of extreme grief and lost love. In my opinion, the Willow song
should have been left for Des to sing just before Othello kills her in act 5, scene 2.
When all the men are gone Emilia asks Desdemona if anything is wrong and is very
concerned for her. She has heard Othello shout at her for the handkerchief and call her a whore.
Des exclaims to Emilia that she must leave immediately because Othello wants her alone. Des
does not share Emilia’s concern; she takes Othello’s orders as something to not be disobeyed.
Emilia soon gives up on trying to turn Des against Othello and tries to than soothe her.
Desdemona has no idea that she is about to be killed, she is depressed by the sense that she is
losing Othello’s love and so the Willow song pops in her head.
To me it seems that Emilia is too concerned with Des. She sticks by her side while she
sings the Willow song without interrupting her. This scene is really based around Des singing
this song and the significance of it. The weeping woman in the song accused her lover of being
unfaithful, and it is the end of the road for the weeping woman (as Othello’s jealous thoughts
about Des mark the end of the road for her.) Des’ determination to keep on loving Oth is not
going to save her life, but yet she still tries. We know (as a reader) that Des is truthful and for her
to sing the Willow song now is really ineffective because Des is not guilty of the crime Oth
accuses her of.