Emilia (Othello) exits and reappears after the brawl which disgraces Cassio. At the end of the scene, Iago is alone and plots to have Emilia "move for Cassio to her mistress". In 3.1, Cassio asks Emilia, "Give me advantage of some brief discourse with Desdemona alone." and Emilia allows him to enter. In 3.3, Emilia is present when Desdemona and Cassio confer, and present again when Desdemona urges Othello to receive the lieutenant. In the same scene, Emilia finds Desdemona's handkerchief, but, she hands it over to Iago as he had been urging her to steal it. He takes it and forbids
Desdemona 1669. Pepys was present for a performance of "Othello" at the Cockpit on 11 October 1660, noting in his diary: "a pretty lady that sat by me called out to see Desdemona smothered." In the eighteenth century, the play was sometimes cut to heighten the tragic nobility of the protagonist. Bell's acting version, for example, omitted several moments including Desdemona's conversation with Emilia before her death—a death which is accomplished in Bells' version by stabbing rather than strangulation. In the nineteenth century, behind-the-scenes events in the lives of the play's performers garnered for "Othello" a shocking and sensational reputation. Charles