"In the peculiarly concrete vividness with which those two naked bodies on the bed are made to flash out of the darkness of uncertainty onto the screen of Othello's fantasy, this becomes a moment of rhetorical discovery -- a counterpart to the physical discovery of 5.2."
- Michael Neill, Unproper Beds: Race, Adultery, and the Hideous in Othello, page 401
"Naked in bed, Iago, and not mean harm!
It is hypocrisy against the devil.
They that mean virtuously, and yet do so,
The devil their virtue tempts, and they tempt heaven."
- William Shakespeare, Othello, Act 4 Scene 1
What discovery (mentioned by Neill) is made because of this scene?
This scene is basically saying that to lie naked in bed together without doing anything would be like tricking the Devil into thinking they were going to sin, but then not following through with it, ultimately tricking God too. This, along with the reappearance of the handkerchief, unravels the discovery that Desdemona has a hidden part of her symbolizing impurity and lies.
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