ACT IV Scene III

Othello tells Desdemona to go to bed, and dismiss Emilia; Emilia regrets Desdemona's marriage, although Desdemona cannot say that she does not love Othello. Desdemona knows that she will die soon; she sings a song of sadness and resignation, and decides to give herself to her fate. Desdemona asks Emilia whether she would commit adultery to win her husband the world. Emilia, the more practical one, thinks that it is not too big a price for a small act; Desdemona is too good, and too devout, to say that she would do so. Emilia pronounces what seems like a theme of the play, up until this point; "let husbands know, their wives have sense like them Šthey see, and smell, and have their palates both for sweet and sour, just as their husbands have" (IV.iii.96-99).