Othello Act IV

Othello
William Shakespeare

Scene 2 opens with what I think to be a misunderstanding between Othello and Emilia who are discussing his wife with Cassio.  I think Othello is asking about their intimacy when he asks "What, did they never whisper?"(IV.ii.6), and I think Emilia assumes he means normal speech.  Othello is now looking for reasons to distrust and incriminate Des, so I think he assumes the worst and wants a reason.  Even Emilia's constant assurances that Des is loyal and a faithful wife cannot convince Othello, as his even more loyal companion Iago has already fed him a string of lies--which he believes of course, or this would not be a Shakespearian tragedy...  I alays hate scenes like this, where the audience knows one character is being honest, yet the other character does not believe her.   Well,  I guess we don't know for sure if she is being faithful or not, but I think she is because we are privy to only the protagonist's thoughts, which include orchestrating lies about Desdemona.  I am confused about a couple parts of their conversation--why did she bring up her father?  I think I might have missed part of the connection between him and Othello, or maybe I misread that part of the conversation.  Also, she claims that she understands his fury...she just doesn't understand why he is furious a her.  That does not make sense because we have no previous knowledge of her thoughts, and why would she think his anger appropriate.