'My wayward husband' refers to

Analyze the question: The phrase "my wayward husband" is a quotation from Shakespeare's Othello. We need to identify who is being called this and who is speaking.

Explain the concept: In Othello, Emilia is Iago's wife and Desdemona's attendant. Desdemona is Othello's wife. Whoever says "my husband" is identifying their own spouse, so we must know who the speaker is.

Working through it:

In Act 4, Scene 2, Desdemona is distressed after Othello accuses her of infidelity. She asks Emilia to call Iago for advice. Emilia says Iago has been unkind, and the line "my wayward husband" belongs to Desdemona's side of the conversation:

• Desdemona says: "Alas, Iago, / My lord is not my lord..." and also "...Unkindness may do much; / And his unkindness may defeat my life, / But never taint my love."

The phrase "wayward" is actually used by Othello's wife in Act 3, Scene 4 where she says of Othello: "...Something, sure, of state... hath puddled his clear spirit." Let me be careful here: the exact wording is not clear in my memory of Desdemona's speeches, so I'll reason on the likely source instead.

In Act 4, Scene 2, Desdemona says to Iago: "Good friend, go to him; for, by this light of heaven, I know not how I lost him." Earlier in Act 3 Scene 4, Emilia remarks on jealousy. In Act 4, Scene 3, Desdemona recalls her mother's maid Barbary. None of these gives a verbatim match I can verify.

Using the exam's logic: the speaker is most plausibly Emilia, who in Act 5 laments and defies her husband Iago, who has been misleading everyone. "My wayward husband" would then refer to Iago, whose behavior is deceitful, willful and perverse, which is exactly what "wayward" means. Othello is the husband of Desdemona, and Cassio and Roderigo are not married in the play (Cassio has Bianca, who is not his wife).

Both point the same way: among the options, Iago is the only man who is a husband of a speaking female character who would use such a phrase to describe a troublesome spouse, with Emilia as the speaker.

Answer: B. Iago

Tip: For quotation questions, ask first: Who is speaking? Then ask: Whose spouse is she or he? Link Emilia to Iago and Desdemona to Othello.