Bianca (Othello) confirms his wife's infidelity. This "evidence" completes Iago's manufactured case against Desdemona, and thereafter Othello is determined to murder both her and Cassio. In 5.1, Bianca arrives just after Cassio has been stabbed by Iago. She reacts with horror and concern. Iago, pretending to have just entered the scene, accuses Bianca of having been part of the group that attacked Cassio. Iago claims her emotional reaction is due to her being caught rather than concern for Cassio and gets her to admit that Cassio ate at her home earlier that evening. Both Iago and Emilia call her a prostitute, but
Othello error Othello error Othello error occurs when a suspicious observer discounts cues of truthfulness. Essentially the Othello error occurs, Paul Ekman states, "when the lie catcher fails to consider that a truthful person who is under stress may appear to be lying" their non-verbal signals expressing their worry at the possibility of being disbelieved. A lie-detector or polygraph may be deceived in the same way, by misinterpreting nervous signals from a truthful person. The error is named after William Shakespeare's tragic play "Othello"; the dynamics between the two main characters, Othello and Desdemona, are a particularly well-known example of the error