While certainly not the only change in both the relationship and dialogue between Othello and Iago, the largest factor that is at play here is Iago’s more malevolent way in which asks seemingly inconspicuous questions. After Emilia and Desdemona have left, Iago asks a simple question, “Did Michael Cassio, when you wooed my lady, Know of your love?” (3.3.105) to which Othello replies that he did and asks why Iago thought of such a thing (3.3.107). From then until line 121 Iago avoids and dodges Othello’s questioning, which cleverly riles Othello up without Iago having to explicitly state anything at all. And even when Iago speaks directly, it takes the guise of flattery and faux loyalty to mask his true intentions well. So while this action …show more content…
Present in Act 4 which was not present before was the pokes and prods that allow Othello’s fury to grow yet are still subtle enough that Iago has more direction in his attempt to push Othello over the brink. Iago often trails off when speaking (4.1.11,19,32), usually right before an important point so that Othello can see clearly the point he is getting at as well as the use of vague statements rather than questions which allows Othello to come to the conclusions seemingly by himself thus not implicating Iago directly. That said, there are some increasingly direct questions Iago asks that were not present in Scene 3 Act 3 such as “She may, I think, bestow’t on any man” (4.1.15) and “Why, that he did: I know not what he did” (4.1.37) and when those statements are combined with the other aforementioned rhetorical tricks he uses, the difference between the two acts is that this act has a considerable active hostility by Iago towards Othello. Iago’s way of undermining Othello’s mental state has gone from vague questioning in Act 3 to increasingly non-veiled innuendo filled statements in Act