At this point, each individual (besides the ringmaster Iago) has a different perception of reality. They all play into a reality predetermined for them by Iago. He has Othello asking his wife "Are not you a strumpet?" (Act IV.ii.84). Iago ensures that every situation that falls upon Othello's eyes appears exactly as he wishes it: to point to an affair between Cassio and Desdemona. In reality, there is no proof that suggests that this is going on, but Othello's reality has been so tainted by Iago's lies and innuendos that he believes it. Desdemona and Emilia are mostly in the dark, as Iago wishes it and their innocence is the only hope for reality to penetrate the minds of Othello and Cassio as the play progresses. Cassio is also definitively outside of "the know" and cannot understand why Othello carries added resentment for him.
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