In his first soliloquy, Iago says: “It is thought abroad that ’twixt my sheets / He has done my office” (I.iii.369–370). This is one of the reasons that Iago gives for justifying his revenge against Othello.
We think, because he says it in soliloquy, that Iago is telling the truth. I doubt it. It is doubtful that Othello would desire Emilia, an older married woman, of lower social standing, not known for beauty. No, Desdemona was his focus. She was all this and the daughter of a Senator. Desdemona was Othello's prize.
Iago is paranoid. He is using this obvious racist fear (that a black man is a better lover than a white man and, therefore, able to seduce the white man's woman) as a means of rationalizing his revenge plot. In this way, he is convincing the predominately white European audience to join him in his racial fear. He is seducing us the way he fears that either Othello has seduced Emilia or Emilia let herself be seduced by the Moor.
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