Act 4 Scene 3

In another room in the castle, Othello, Lodovico, Desdemona, Emilia, and other company enter. Othello tells Desdemona to go to bed and to obey his order. Everyone exits, except for Emilia and Desdemona, who discuss Othello and how much Desdemona truly loves him. The ending of this scene, again, is extraordinarily important. Desdemona has an inkling that someone’s death is imminent, and in one of Shakespeare’s most incredible instances of dramatic irony, she sings a song about a maid’s lover who went mad and abandoned her. The song repeats “willow, willow, willow” which is symbolic of harmony and life, and yet Desdemona’s life is about to come to a dramatic end.