EMILIA

wife of Iago in Shakespeare's Othello. Unaware of her husband's truly evil intent, Emilialike so many other characters in this playbecomes a pawn in Iago's brilliantly executed game of revenge against Othello. Yet her moral centre and strength of character come through at the end, and she pays for her loyalty to Desdemona with her life. sister of Hippolyta, loved by Palamon and Arcite in The Two Noble Kinsmen by William Shakespeare and John Fletcher. Emilia is bride-habited, / But maiden-hearted, torn by her fear of marriage and her inability to choose between her noble suitors. also spelled Aemilia, wife of Egeon and an abbess of Ephesus in Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors. The patient and moral Emilia brings the play to its conclusion, initiating the reunion of her family and offering counsel to her daughter-in-law Adriana on her troubled marriage.