Emilia: “But I do think it is their husbands’ faults”

What is happening, what every line means, how to perform it, and how to use it in an audition, with the full text.

The Offbook team

Oct 8, 2026

What is happening

It is late at night in the castle on Cyprus. Iago, Emilia’s husband, has poisoned Othello’s mind with the lie that Desdemona is sleeping with Cassio. Today Othello struck Desdemona in front of Lodovico, the visitor from Venice, and called her a whore. Emilia, who serves Desdemona, is sure some villain has invented the slander, and has even said so in front of Iago without suspecting him. She also found Desdemona’s lost handkerchief and gave it to Iago, without knowing what he has done with it.

Othello has ordered Desdemona to bed and told her to send Emilia away. While Emilia helps her undress, Desdemona sings an old song about a woman whose lover abandoned her, then asks, almost in disbelief, whether there really are women who cheat on their husbands. Emilia jokes that she would do it if the prize were the whole world. When Desdemona says she does not believe there is any such woman, Emilia answers, “Yes, a dozen,” and then turns serious.

The speech is for Desdemona alone, a private talk between two women at bedtime. Desdemona replies with a two-line prayer that she may learn from bad behavior rather than copy it. Within hours Othello kills her, and Emilia, discovering the truth, exposes Iago and is stabbed by him.

Lines: 18
Words: 158
At 150 wpm: 1.1 min
Form: Verse

The speech, beat by beat

The full text in 4 beats. Under each beat: what it means in plain English, and a note for playing it.

Lines 1–6 · Blame the husbands

1But I do think it is their husbands’ faults
If wives do fall: say that they slack their duties,
And pour our treasures into foreign laps,
Or else break out in peevish jealousies,
5Throwing restraint upon us; or say they strike us,
Or scant our former having in despite;

In plain English But I do think it’s the husbands’ fault when wives go wrong. Say they neglect their duties to us and give what is ours to other women; or break out in petty jealousy and keep us locked up; or hit us; or cut back what we used to have, out of spite.

Acting note Each “or” adds a new charge. Some are things Desdemona has suffered today (“or say they strike us”); others, like jealousy and restraint, sound like Emilia’s own marriage to Iago.

Lines 7–10 · We can feel too

7Why, we have galls, and though we have some grace,
Yet have we some revenge. Let husbands know
Their wives have sense like them: they see and smell
10And have their palates both for sweet and sour,

In plain English Well, we have tempers. Though we have some patience and goodness, we also have some revenge in us. Husbands should know that their wives have senses just like them: they see and smell, and can taste what is sweet and what is sour,

Acting note Line 8 is the turn from complaint to warning. “Let husbands know” is addressed to men in general, but she is also thinking of one man in particular.

Lines 11–16 · Why do men stray?

11As husbands have. What is it that they do
When they change us for others? Is it sport?
I think it is: and doth affection breed it?
I think it doth: is’t frailty that thus errs?
15It is so too: and have not we affections,
Desires for sport, and frailty, as men have?

In plain English just as husbands can. So what are they doing when they swap us for other women? Is it for fun? I think it is. Is it caused by desire? I think it is. Is it weakness that makes them go wrong? That too. And don’t we have desires, an appetite for fun, and weakness, just as men do?

Acting note Three questions, three quick answers. Let each answer come faster and more certain, then turn the whole argument back on the men in lines 15 and 16.

Lines 17–18 · The warning

17Then let them use us well: else let them know,
The ills we do, their ills instruct us so.

In plain English So let them treat us well. Otherwise, let them understand this: whatever wrong we do, we learned it from the wrongs they do.

Acting note The speech ends in a rhyming couplet (“know”, “so”). Land it as a verdict, and let Desdemona’s silence be the reply you play against.

Hard words

Word	Line	Meaning
slack their duties	2	neglect their duties as husbands, including in bed
pour our treasures into foreign laps	3	are unfaithful, giving what belongs to their wives to other women
peevish	4	silly, childish
Throwing restraint upon us	5	restricting our freedom, keeping us shut in
scant our former having in despite	6	cut our allowance, out of spite
galls	7	tempers; the capacity to resent bad treatment
grace	7	goodness, mercy
sense	9	bodily senses and feelings
palates	10	tastes, appetites
change us for others	12	swap us for other women
sport	12	pleasure, especially sex
affection	13	desire, passion
frailty	14	moral weakness
use us well	17	treat us well

How to perform it

Decide why she says this to Desdemona. Is she trying to toughen her up, comfort her, or finally saying aloud what her own marriage has taught her? Choose one main aim and let the others show through. It is a private conversation at bedtime, not a lecture to the audience.
Mark the change of gear. Until now Emilia has been joking about doing it “for the whole world.” With “But I do think” she stops joking. Give that change a beat, so the panel feels her get serious.
Play the list as evidence. Lines 2 to 6 are a list of a husband’s wrongs, each one introduced by “say that” or “or.” Make each charge specific; picture the man who does it.
Use the question-and-answer pattern in lines 11 to 16. She asks her own questions and answers them, three times over. The rhythm is quick and dry, and it can be funny as well as angry.
Know what the audience knows. The jealous, controlling husband she describes sounds very like Iago, who is the hidden cause of everything that has happened to Desdemona. Emilia does not know that yet, but her anger is aimed closer to home than she realizes.
Common mistakes: lifting it out of its world (she is undressing her mistress, and Othello has said he will be back at once); playing only rage; and losing the verse. It is blank verse, so keep the line ends alive and save some weight for the final couplet.

Using it in an audition

Acting Coach Scotland lists this among the seven most popular Shakespeare monologues for women at drama school auditions, so panels know it well; their advice is not to avoid it but to do something original with it. At 18 lines it runs a little over a minute (about 1.1 minutes at 150 words a minute), so it fits a short slot without cutting, and there is no natural place to cut inside it. For a slightly longer piece, start one line earlier with “Yes, a dozen; and as many to the vantage as would store the world they played for,” the joke that sets the speech up. Worth knowing: the speech is found only in the 1623 First Folio and not in the 1622 Quarto, which is why the Folger edition prints it in square brackets. The play does not give Emilia’s age; the speech suits adult actors who can be blunt, funny and worldly. Pair it with something that shows a different side, such as Helena’s hopeful “Our remedies oft in ourselves do lie” or Rosalind’s comic “And why, I pray you?”

Emilia, Othello, Act 4, Scene 3. William Shakespeare. Public domain text.

How long it runs

Pace	Words a minute	Run time
Deliberate	130	1.2 minutes
Conversational	150	1.1 minutes
Brisk	170	54 seconds

These are speech times before pauses. To time your own run, paste the text into the monologue timer.

Practice it: first-letter version

Each word is cut to its first letter. Say the whole line from the letters, then check the text. Make cues from any script with the first-letter memorizer.

B I d t i i t h’ f

I w d f: s t t s t d,

A p o t i f l,

O e b o i p j,

T r u u; o s t s u,

O s o f h i d;

W, w h g, a t w h s g,

Y h w s r. L h k

T w h s l t: t s a s

A h t p b f s a s,

A h h. W i i t t d

W t c u f o? I i s?

I t i i: a d a b i?

I t i d: i f t t e?

I i s t: a h n w a,

D f s, a f, a m h?

T l t u u w: e l t k,

T i w d, t i i u s.

More lists: Shakespeare monologues, Monologues for women, Dramatic monologues.

Sources

Questions actors ask

How long is Emilia’s But I do think it is their husbands’ faults speech?

18 lines and 158 words. At 150 words a minute it runs about 1.1 minutes; a slower, more deliberate delivery at 130 takes about 1.2 minutes. Pauses add time, so time a full run out loud.

Is it a good audition monologue?

What is the fastest way to memorize it?

Learn it in sense units, not line by line: say each thought out loud until you can do it without looking, then add the next. The first-letter version below keeps the shape of every line in view while you test yourself.