Give me your hand: this hand is moist, my lady.
…This argues fruitfulness and liberal heart:
Hot, hot, and moist: this hand of yours requires
A sequester from liberty, fasting and prayer,
Much castigation, exercise devout;
For here’s a young and sweating devil here,
That commonly rebels. ‘Tis a good hand,
A frank one.
– William Shakespeare
Othello, Act 3, Scene 4. In Othello’s speech about Desdemona’s hand, we see his suspicions grow about his wife. Taking her hand, he personifies it as arguing her "fruitfulness and liberal heart." Here he is hinting that she is disloyal and loves too much. When Othello describes her hand as "Hot, hot, and moist," there is a suggestion of sexual promiscuity and he in fact advises her to fast and pray. And if we were under any illusion as what he is thinking, Othello makes it very clear in his use of the metaphor, "a young and sweating devil." This implies that Desdemona has too much sexual appetite. Othello’s changing emotions towards his wife are displayed in his speech, which betrays his mistrust of her. His focus on her hand foreshadows the fate he has in store for her, when he uses his own hands to smother her, believing that she has cheated on him with Cassio.