Othello Act 1 Scene 1 Quotes

Flashcards covering key quotes and analysis from Shakespeare's Othello, Act 1, Scene 1.

"I know my price, I am worth no worse a place."

Iago says he knows his own worth and believed his deservedness to be promoted.

"One Michael Cassio, a Florentine, / A fellow almost damn'd in a fair wife; / That never set a squadron in the field, / Nor the division of a battle knows"

Iago speaks scornfully and jealously of Cassio, pointing out that he is from Florence, not Venice, and that he is an accountant with no experience of the battlefield. At the time, Florence and Venice were separate city-states, so Iago is disgusted that a man he considers a foreigner has been promoted above him.

"I follow him to serve my turn upon him."

Iago tells Roderigo that he only serves Othello in order to take advantage of him when the opportunity arises.

"Were I the Moor, I would not be Iago; / In following him I follow but myself."

Iago may mean to say that if he were a general, like Othello, he would not want to be a trusty man like Iago, or he may mean that if he were an honest and good man like Othello, he wouldn't be himself.

"You'll have your daughter covered with a Barbary horse; you'll have your nephews neigh to you;"

Iago is punning on the word 'corsairs' and 'equines'. Corsairs were pirates from the North coast of Africa or those parts of Spain occupied by people from north-west Africa: in other words, Moors.

"I am not what I am."

This is a very important quote. Iago tells Roderigo that he is not what he seems to be and cannot be trusted. It is a perversion of the line in the Bible in which God tells Moses 'I am that I am'. Thus, Iago is linked with evil. Shakespeare's audience would have been aware of the connection.

"An old black ram is tupping your white ewe"

Iago uses crude sexual imagery when talking to Brabantio. He suggests that Othello is like a black ram (male sheep) mating with a white ewe (female sheep). The bestial imagery shows Iago's twisted view of love and relationships between men and women.