602TLN 602: I saw Othello's visage in his mind,

This line has occasioned extensive commentary but not a lot of agreement among scholars. Cavell suggests that "it is commonly felt that she means she overlooked his blackness in favor of his inner brilliance," and argues instead that "what the line more naturally says is that she saw his visage as he sees it, that she understands his blackness as he understands it, as the expression . . . of his mind" (129). Honigmann suggests that the line means "'I saw (the color of) Othello's face in (the quality of his mind)', i.e. his face was transformed, in her eyes, by his mind." Bristol claims the line as proof that Desdemona's "initial attraction to [Othello] was not provoked by his physical appearance" (11). Bullough notes a connection to the play's Italian source, Giraldi's Gli Hecatommithi: "he who wishes to form a true judgment of beauty must admire not only the body, but rather the minds and habits of those who present themselves to his view" (7.240).