magic spell but because that's just the way men are.

It's somewhat ironic, to say the least, that it should be Emilia of all people to impart such feminist pearls of wisdom. She is, after all, a woman who positively dotes on her husband, a man who is himself prone to fits of jealousy.

This line is spoken in the context of a dispute between Othello and Desdemona, where Othello, paranoid with jealousy and convinced of her unfaithfulness, demands to know what has become of the handkerchief he had given her (believing that she had given it to Cassio). Desdemona is left overwhelmed and confused by her husband's change in character, and it is here that Emilia states the line in question.

This line is a metaphor, where the relationship between men and women is compared with the relationship between stomachs and food, and in the process, Emilia expresses her resentment at men in general for the degree to which women suffer abuse and mistreatment at their hands. (And note that Desdemona herself has just experienced that same mistreatment at the hand of her husband.)

In Emilia's words, women are chewed up and devoured, and then belched back up afterwards. The entire metaphor is nothing less than an image of intense victimization, one that is addressed not just towards men and women on an individual level but also on a universal one. She isn't speaking towards one man or a handful of men; rather, she is speaking towards all men and all women, stating that their interactions are inherently brutal by their very nature. In this, her commentary seems to serve a critical part of the play's subtext, one that reaches outside of the play to address larger and vital social issues.

In this quote, Emilia tells us what she really thinks about men. The phrase "Tis not a year or two shows us a man" likely means that it can take more than a year or two for a wife to decipher her husband's true character or nature. Alternatively, another interpretation may be that it takes more than a year or two for a husband to become the kind of man a woman would be proud to be married to. Either way, Emilia is voicing a very negative opinion about men here.

She uses the stomach as a metaphor to illustrate her idea of men. This, of course, is not very complimentary at all. The implication is that men often exhibit inscrutable behaviors that seem very arbitrary to a woman. When they find reason to, they often "belch" (vomit) or expel women from their lives. In other words, men can't be trusted to be discerning or even rational. Emilia's words are actually full of foreboding here. Recall that previously, in Act III, Scene III, Othello's suspicions about Desdemona's supposed infidelity had already been summarily inflamed by Iago's wily suggestions.

Othello then becomes obsessed with Desdemona's handkerchief in Act III, Scene IV. This, of course, makes no sense to Desdemona. Poor Desdemona doesn't help her case much when she argues for Cassio's reinstatement as Othello's lieutenant. Meanwhile, Othello carries on about the history of Desdemona's handkerchief and how the handkerchief used to be his mother's. He tells Desdemona that the handkerchief had magical powers that assured his mother her husband's love as long as the handkerchief was in her possession.

Now that the handkerchief has been gifted to Desdemona, Othello asserts that she must never lose it, as "To lose ’t or give ’t away were such perdition / As nothing else could match." He further tells Desdemona that the handkerchief was made from "hallowed" (sacred) worms and that it was dyed in "mummy," or fluid from embalmed "maidens' hearts." Othello's words show that he's not dealing in the rational realm; his possessiveness is a visceral reaction to all of Iago's insinuations. In this light, Emilia's words are prophetic. Othello does later "belch" Desdemona from his life by smothering her to death.