Editing Othello (section)

===Double time scheme===
''Othello'' has a double time scheme—meaning that the timeframe of the play does not contain enough time for its action.<ref>Orgel, Stephen "Introduction" in Sutherland, John and Watts, Cedric (eds.) "Henry V, War Criminal? & Other Shakespeare Puzzles" Oxford World's Classics series, Oxford University Press, 2000, pp.ix-xvi at p.xi.</ref> Its action is continuous from Othello and Desdemona's wedding night, except for the voyage from Venice to Cyprus (during which Cassio and Desdemona are not together) and the time in Cyprus covers an estimated 33 hours.<ref name="auto11">Orgel, 2000, p.xi.</ref> Yet this short timeframe does not allow any time for the supposed affair between Desdemona and Cassio to have happened.<ref>Orgel, 2000, p.xii.</ref> In support of the short time scheme is the continuous nature of the action: the fleet arrives in Cyprus in the afternoon and the plot against Cassio proceeds that evening into the early morning; Cassio resolves to seek Desdemona's help the following morning, and does so, commencing the long "temptation scene"{{efn|"The temptation scene" is a term often used in the critical literature to mean ''Othello'' 3.3.}} by the end of which Othello has resolved to kill Desdemona and has ordered Iago to attempt to kill Cassio, all of which happens that same night.<ref>{{harvnb|Honigmann|1997|p=69}} citing [[M. R. Ridley]]'s Arden Second Series edition of the play.</ref> And this urgency is underlined by the text: in particular's Iago's concern that if Othello compares notes with anyone else it will become clear that Iago is playing one character against another.<ref name="auto11"/>{{efn|For example ''Othello'' 5.1.20-21.}}

But there is also a long time scheme. Iago persuades Othello that Desdemona and Cassio have "the act of shame a thousand times committed";<ref>''Othello'' 5.2.209-210.</ref> Emilia says Iago "hath a hundred times"<ref>''Othello'' 3.3.296.</ref> asked her to steal the handkerchief; Bianca complains Cassio has been away from her "a week";<ref>''Othello'' 3.4.173.</ref> news of the Turkish defeat needs time to reach Venice then Lodovico needs time to reach Cyprus;{{sfn|Muir|1996|p=26}} and by Act 4 Roderigo (who sold all his land at the end of Act 1)<ref>''Othello'' 1.3.380.</ref> has already squandered all his money.<ref>''Othello'' 4.2.187-188.</ref>{{sfn|Honigmann|1997|p=70}}

Shakespeare's source story in Cinthio takes place entirely in the long time scheme: Shakespeare appears to have introduced the shorter time scheme to increase dramatic tension, while also introducing moments where Iago's plot could fall apart—for example if Emilia had given an honest answer to Desdemona's "Where should I lose that handkerchief?"<ref>''Othello'' 3.4.23.</ref> or if Roderigo had chosen to denounce Iago.{{sfn|Honigmann|1997|p=70}}

The discovery of a double time scheme has been ascribed to articles written by John Wilson in ''[[Blackwood's Magazine]]'' in 1849 and 1850, although references to the problem predate that.{{sfn|Honigmann|1997|p=68}} The whole question is sometimes rejected as "academic nit-picking".{{sfn|Honigmann|1997|p=68}} (Director [[Michael Attenborough]], asked about it in an interview, replied "I strongly suspect Shakespeare didn't think about it very much."{{sfn|Bate|Rasmussen|2009|p=189}}) And as Michael Neill points out, many of the problems disappear if one supposes that Othello believed Cassio and Desdemona's affair had commenced prior to Othello and Desdemona's elopement.{{sfn|Neill|2008|p=35}} Neill summarises the issue as "no more than a particularly striking side-effect of the general indifference to naturalistic handling of time and space that Shakespeare shared with other dramatists of the period."{{sfn|Neill|2008|p=36}}