ACT 4 SCENE 2

Structure

• starts in medias res

  • pace increasing again

  • offstage drama

“This is a subtle whore, a closet lock and key of villainous secrets; and yet she’ll kneel and pray”

• AO2: here Othello is speaking in private, just like how Iago does

• AO2: metaphor for adultery

• AO2: othello’s line here presents Desdemona as a highly duplicitous character → the language mirrors Iago from act 3, scene 3

“Was this fair paper, this most goodly book, Made to write ‘whore’ upon? What committed?”

• AO2: latches onto Desdemona’s language when she says “Alas, what ignorant sin have I committed?” → pathos

• AO2: “fair paper” is a metaphor for desdemona’s skin

• AO2: “godly book” refers to her christianity and the bible

• AO3: “whore” shows patriarchal views

“I took you for that cunning whore of Venice That married with Othello.”

• AO2: 3rd person → no longer that person, breakdown of speech