One of the most important messages in Act 4, and arguably the whole play, is that which Emilia makes when speaking to Desdemona about the concept of cheating on one’s husband. Desdemona is definite about never cheating on her man, not even in exchange “for the whole world” (4.3.64). In fact, she goes into the conversation not claiming, “I do not think there is any such woman” (4.3.60) who could do such a thing.
Emilia disproves Desdemona’s belief by saying, ” I think I should, and undo ’t when I had/ done,” (4.3.56-7) claiming that she would commit the act if she could undo it immediately afterwards. She calls adultery a “small vice,” (4.3.53) and explains that it would be worth doing in exchange for much less than the entire world.
When confronted by Desdemona about her unconventional approach to the issue, she explains her beliefs surrounding the relativity of right and wrong:
“Why the wrong is but a wrong i’ th’ world, and
having the world for your labor, ’tis a wrong in your
own world, and you might quickly make it right.”
Emilia’s approach to this moral dilemma makes a strong point focused around the play’s theme of manipulation. With this quote, Emilia is expressing that the wrongness of one’s actions is solely determined by the way in which one decides to view them. In the society they currently live in, adultery is deemed as wrong. Since this is something they were socialized to agree with, they also view it as the wrong thing to do. Emilia is arguing that when we place wrongful actions in the context of yielding positive results, or when we simply decide view it separate from it’s negative connotations, it can become a positive action.
By posing the question, “who would not make her/ husband a cuckold to make him a monarch?” (4.3.60-1) Emilia is exemplifying the way a wrongful action like adultery can become positive when placed in a different or positive instance.
This ability to perceive and support one’s actions as good or bad depending on a chosen perspective gives explaination as to how characters have come to behave they way they do in previous acts. For example, applying this thought process to Iago’s actions and intentions allows the reader to justify his ruthlessness. Perhaps, the reason why he is able to instigate so much heartache and negativity is because he has convinced himself that it is not the wrong thing to so. Furthermore, this method of thinking can be seen in Iago’s manipulation of Othello and Roderigo. Iago is able to successfully play both of these characters because he fools them into thinking the bad degree hey agree to do for him are justified by the positive results they yield.
You bring up many interesting posts throughout this post. For one thing, I think that this plays very much into the fact that Iago is a master manipulator. An argument could be made that all three of the women in the play (Desdemona, Emilia, Bianca) have the highest moral grounding, and are probably the most decent people in the entire play. However, Iago’s extremely sexist diatribe towards the beginning of the play does what his words to Othello does; he plants the seeds of doubt. Desdemona and Emilia were nothing, if not completely loyal, yet he casts women as a whole in a very unflattering light that paints them as untrustworthy harlots. Combine this with all of the grief that he ends up putting these women through, it forces them to start thinking differently, and fall into his trap. Not once had he ever physically made somebody do something that they did not want to do, but his words work as a carnivorous and mentally crippling poison.
In this context, Emilia’s position on adultery comes off as being troublingly solipsistic rather than empowering. Her assertion that it matters not what everyone else agrees is morally right, but only what the individual deems to be right, is concerning. Moral correctness often relies on societal consensus: what the people of a society believe to be ethical is so. This is an existentialist idea, that there is not a divinely sponsored list of morals which are universally true, but rather what is morally right is what everyone agrees to be morally right. That ethical truth may be something another society disagrees with. Today we view adultery and cheating to be a negative and traitorous thing, but certainly not an act which would justify a killing. Shakespeare’s time was different, and the response to adultery would have been a lot more dramatic. Emilia’s rejection of the moral code does not come from a place that understand that cheating does not constitute execution, she rejects it because she appears to believe that the ethics she holds in her mind are more true than those held by the collective. Emilia is arguing that reality is subjective and that because of that, she can believe whatever she wants.