The Fall of Othello The Othello of the fourth act is Othello in his fall. His fall is never complete, but he has changed a lot. Towards the end of the Temptation scene it becomes terrible at times, but its greatness remains almost unchanged. Even in the next scene (III iv), where he goes to test Desdemona on the question of the handkerchief, and receives the fatal confirmation of his guilt, our sympathy towards him is hardly affected by any feeling of humiliation. But in the fourth act "chaos arrived". A short time interval may be permitted here. It's only mild; for it was necessary for Iago to hurry, and it was terribly dangerous to leave the possibility of Cassio's meeting with Othello; and his understanding of Othello's nature taught him that his plan was to strike blow after blow, and never suffer his victim to recover from the confusion of the first shock. There is still a slight gap; and when Othello reappears we immediately see that he is a changed man. He is physically exhausted and his mind is confused. He sees everything blurred through a fog of blood and tears. He actually forgot the handkerchief incident and needs to be reminded of it. When Iago, realizing that he can now risk almost any lie, tells him that Cassio has confessed his guilt, Othello, the hero who seemed second only to Coriolanus in physical power, trembles all over; mutters incoherent words; a darkness suddenly interposes between his eyes and the world; he takes it for the trembling testimony of the nature of the horror he has just heard, [note 6] and falls to the ground unconscious. When he recovers it is to see Cassio, as he imagines, laughing at his shame. It is such a gross imposition, and should have been so dangerous, that Iago would never have ventured it before. But he's safe now. Sight only adds to the confusion of the intellect the madness of anger; and a ravenous thirst for revenge, struggling with impulses of infinite desire and remorse, conquers them. The delay until nightfall is torture for him. His self-control has completely abandoned him and he beats his wife in the presence of the Venetian envoy. He is so lost in his sense of reality that he never wonders what will follow the deaths of Cassius and his wife.