Othello- Quotes

Iago "I am not what I am"

from the begining iago reveals tot he audience that he is duplicitous

"follow to serve my turn upon him:

We cannot all be masters, nor all masters

Cannot be truly follow'd"

Iago reveals he serves Othello only to serve himself. He points out to Roderigo that men cannot follow leaders if they want to lead themselves

If virtue no delighted beauty lack,

Your son-in-law is far more fair than black.

The Duke of Venice
black has a dual meaning - referring to Othello's race and also, according to usage of the time, meaning "ugly".
othello is good so he is more "fair",the the rest of his race- a backhanded compliment

I am not merry; but I do beguile

The thing I am, by seeming otherwise.

desdemona
While speaking to Iago Desdemona says that, though she pretends to be happy, she is really worried about Othello's safety. This passage shows the care she has for her husband

Reputation, reputation, reputation! Oh I have lost my reputation! I have lost the immortal part of myself, and what remains is bestial.

cassio
after a drunken brawl with Roderigo, Cassio is stripped of his position. Without his rank, he feels like he is nothing. This sentiment is echoed by Othello, who is motivated to kill Desdemona because her affair has besmirched the reputation that he has worked so hard to craft. Both Cassio and Othello believe a man is nothing more than "bestial" without his good name.

Trifles light as air

Are to the jealous confirmations strong

As proofs of holy writ.

In one of Iago's soliloquies, he observes that things that may otherwise seem insignificant are given outsized importance when they confirm an already held belief. In this way Iago, by planting Desdemona's handkerchief, will throw fuel on Othello's already burning jealousy.

O, beware, my lord, of jealousy!

It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock

The meat it feeds on.

iago
Iago warns Othello in order to incite his jealousy, while at the same time seeming to have his best interests at heart.
iago charcaterises the emotion as one that consumes whoever has it

It makes us or it mars us.

Having persuaded Roderigo to kill Cassio, Iago makes it clear to him that this act will be chief to their success or lead to their demise.

Yet she must die, else she'll betray more men.

Put out the light, and then put out the light:

If I quench thee, thou flaming minister,

I can again thy former light restore

othello
Trying to bring himself to kill Desdemona, Othello acknowledges the finality of what he is about to do. However, though he will kill her, he will not mar her beauty in doing so, as Desdemona's beauty/whiteness/light is a symbol of her goodness.

I have done the state some service, and they know't. no more of that

othello
Othello takes responsibility for what he has done and tells them that any good he has done in the past should not pardon him for this foolish act of passion

But here's my husband,
And so much duty as my mother showed
To you, preferring you before her father,
So much I challenge that I may profess
Due to the Moor my lord.

desdemona
Desdemona speaks to her father before the Venetian senate, are her first of the play. Her speech shows her thoughtfulness, as she does not insist on her loyalty to Othello at the expense of respect for her father, but rather acknowledges that her duty is "divided." Because Desdemona is brave enough to stand up to her father and even partially rejects him in public, these words also establish for the audience her courage and her strength of conviction. Later, this same ability to separate different degrees and kinds of affection will make Desdemona seek, without hesitation, to help Cassio, thereby fueling Othello's jealousy. Again and again, Desdemona speaks clearly and truthfully, but, tragically, Othello is poisoned by Iago's constant manipulation of language and emotions and is therefore blind to Desdemona's honesty.

Haply for I am black,
And have not those soft parts of conversation
That chamberers have; or for I am declined
Into the vale of years—yet that's not much—
She's gone.

othello
Othello seems to have at least partly begun to believe that he is inarticulate and barbaric
he begins to question what desdemona could possibly see in him
the first time that Othello himself, and not Iago, calls negative attention to either his race or his age

O curse of marriage,
That we can call these delicate creatures ours
And not their appetites!

othello
ugly imagery, he then likens himself to a "toad in a dungeon"
links to his later speach where he compares desdemona as "cistern for foul toads / To knot and gender in,"

That she reserves it evermore about her
To kiss and talk to.

emilias speach about the hankerchief
as the first gift Othello gave Desdemona, it represents their oldest and purest feelings for one another.

Of one that loved not wisely but too well,

Othello
in his suicide speach othello says he loved desdemona well, but the relationship was doomed from the start, it was not a wise relationship to be in as she in his eyes was laways too good for him

Like the base Indian, threw a pearl away
Richer than all his tribe;

othello
in his suicide speach he likens himself to a native indian, putting himself into another outgroup of venetian society, going along withthe western idea that these people were barbaric and uncivilised, he is also saying that desdemona is worth more then any balck woman, once again devalueing his own race because of venetian ideaology which he has been brainwashed with

Excellent wretch! Perdition catch my soul
But I do love thee! And when I love thee not
Chaos is come again.

othello
(wrecth is term of endearment)
timing is significant, this speach comes as the start of a scene during which othellos feelings for desdemona are fatally corrupted by iago.
his confesion of undying love is bitterly ironic.
the word "but allows for different readings of the line,
-othello would risk damnation for his love
-othello would deserve damnation if je ceases to love desdemona
his tragic dependance on his love for desdemona is made clear CREATING SYMPATHY!!!

"When devils will the blackest sins put on, they do suggest at first with heavenly shows, as I do now."

iago
he suggests he should not be taken at face value
in this soliliiquey he teases the audeince with an acknowledgment of his own complex duplicity
this speach is full of diabolic imagery ("HELL","DEVILS" ECT)
the juxtaposition between black and white continues the black and white opposistion
develops the theme of the importance of appearance vs reality

'They are all but stomachs, and we all but food, they eat us hungrily and when they are full they belch us'

emilia to desdemona
she is giving a low bestial view of relationships
makes explicit the idea that women are usually passive ad the victims of men, this idea foreshadows both of their fates

"Was this fair paper this most goodly book made to write wh0re upon?

othello to desdemona
des inquires as to what sin she has commitied in his eyes, he is bitter and rude. in his eyes she is now nothing more than a wh0re.
she is now seen by othello as a book, a passive object that can be catagorized by a male reader, as he has done to her.

"It is the cause, it is the cause, my soul./ Let me not name it to you, you chaste stars,/It is the cause."

othello
in othellos final scene he questions the cause of his actions which remains ambiguous, it may be that othello is unsure of his motivation or that the cause has somehow assumed a huge power that is impossible to name or withstand, he may be suggesting that desdemonas sin against him is so vile that he cannot name it as it would offend the stars above.
chaste reflects the focus on sexual loyalty by the characters, links to later when othello in his final graps og the truth speaks of her chastity

Demand me nothing. What you know, you know.
From this time forth I never will speak word.

iago
iago is unusual of shakespearean heroes and villains, in that he does not die before ht eend of the play, thi sfinal enigmatic refusual to speak by him is very striking as he has freely spooken alot during the play,
iago feels that by not revealing his plan and motives he is holding onto some sort of power which he has been hungry for the entire play

The Moor is of a free and open nature
That thinks men honest that but seem to be so,

iago
Iago delivers these lines in his soliloquy at the end of Act I. He begins his speech by declaring his intention to manipulate Roderigo for his own gain. Iago then turns his attention to Othello and his hatred for the man.
ago intends to use Othello just as he will use Roderigo, exploiting the man's naïve belief in the reality of appearances to lead him (like a trusting donkey) to his own destruction.

Men should be what they seem,
Or those that be not, would they might seem none!

Iago says these words to Othello during a discussion of Cassio's trustworthiness. Given Iago's previous claims about his own deviousness, these words have an ironic ring. Iago's words are doubly ironic, in fact, since he espouses the truism not just to cover up his own treachery, but also to cause Othello to doubt Cassio's honesty. The kind of duplicity Iago demonstrates here points to his deep-seated cynicism about the world. It also serves as a warning to the audience to remain wary of appearances.

Thus do I ever make my fool my purse.

iago
Iago makes it clear here that he intends to manipulate Roderigo in such a way that he will essentially function as Iago's "purse." Iago's confession is the first moment in the play where he indicates the depth of his treachery.

And, good
lieutenant, I think you think I love you.

iago
Iago speaks to Cassio in these lines. As implied by his use of the phrase "good lieutenant," the surface meaning of these words has a positive ring. Essentially, Iago tells him, "I think you know I am your friend." However, Iago's recursive use of "think" also conceals a deceptive second meaning. To say "I think you think I love you" implies love without actually expressing it. In a single move, then, Iago both comforts Cassio and undermines his trust.

o will I turn her virtue into pitch
And out of her own goodness make the net
That shall enmesh them all.

Iago utters these lines at the end of a soliloquy in which he further develops his treacherous plot against Othello. Here, he speaks specifically of Desdemona and how he plans to turn her goodness against her. Iago uses two ill-matched metaphors. He initially wants to "turn her virtue into pitch," which is a sticky, black, tar-like substance. But in mid-sentence Iago shifts from sticky pitch to the image of a web in which he can ensnare all of his enemies. Iago's treachery runs so deep that he cannot even commit to a single metaphor

Villain, be sure thou prove my love a wh0re;
Be sure of it. Give me the ocular proof,
Or, by the worth of mine eternal soul
Thou hadst been better have been born a dog
Than answer my waked wrath!

n response to Iago's insinuations about Desdemona's adultery, Othello demands "ocular proof"—that is, evidence that will visually verify the allegation against his wife. Othello's emphasis on the need for Iago to "prove [his] love a wh0re" demonstrates his commitment to justice. However, Othello's commitment to law and reason also comes into direct conflict with his emotional and irrational response to Iago's rumormongering. This conflict disrupts Othello's otherwise black-and-white understanding of the world and leads to disastrous consequences.

O perjured woman, thou dost stone my heart,
And mak'st me call what I intend to do
A murder, which I thought a sacrifice.

Othello addresses these lines to Desdemona. His word choice here once again signals his commitment to the law. Calling Desdemona a "perjured woman," he implies that by denying the allegations against her she has lied under oath. Desdemona's supposed false testimony has dire consequences for Othello's interpretation of her death. Whereas he sees her execution as lawfully necessary and therefore "a sacrifice," if she is actually speaking the truth it would make him a murderer. The uncertainty she causes in him turns his heart to stone.

That thou, Iago, who hast had my purse

As if the strings were thine

horriby stuffed with epithets of war

Iago about Othello Act 1 scene 1
-othello talks in an inarticulate way and struggles to express himself

Mere prattle without practice

Iago act 1 scene 1 about cassio
the alliteration makes him seem contemptious

thick lips

A1S1 roderigo about othello- a racist synecdoche

Even now, now, very now, an old black ram
Is tupping your white ewe.

A1S1 Iago to Brabantio, this is racist aswell as graphic

"You'll have your daughter covered with a Barbary horse"

A1S1 Iago to brabantio about Desdemona

to the gross clasps of a lascivious moor

A1S1 roderigo about Othello, he is trying to make Brabantio feel disgusted, concerned that his daughter is with a lustful and animalistic man.

"Though I do hate him as I do hell-pains, / Yet for necessity of present life, / I must show out a flag and sign of love, / Which is indeed but sign."

Iago A1S1- he needs to be there for Othello and feign kindness so Othello does not suspect his duplicity. this shows Iago's cunning and manipulation

O treason of the blood! Fathers, from hence trust not your daughters' minds by what you see them act

Brabantio A1S1 he is possesive and controlling over his daughter, who he feels has betrayed him.

"My services which I have done the signiory Shall out-tongue his complaints."

A1S2 othello- he is calm and confident, however also sees himself as only being valuable due to his use as a soldier.

I fetch my life and being from men of royal siege

A1S2 othello is high born- an aristotlian trope

That thou hast practiced on her with foul charms, abused her delicate youth with drugs or minerals that weakens motion

A1S2 brabantio accuses Othello of witchcraft- the only situation he can see Desdemona loving Othello is if she was bewitched- racist idea

"She is abused, stol'n from me, and corrupted By spells and medicines bought of mountebanks."

A1S2 brabantio about Desdemonas marriage to Othello

"rude i am in speech and little blessed with soft phrase of peace..."

A1S2 othello acknowledges that he lacks the vocabulary to explain himself- this is an insecurity of his.

She loved me for the dangers I had passed, and I loved her that she did pity them

A1S2 othello explains to Brabantio why Desdemona loves him

"Take up this mangled matter at the best./ Men do their broken weapons rather use than their bare hands"

A1S2 the duke addresses Brabantio, he tells him his daughter too would have fallen for Othello, he also says "mangled" this choice of adjective is not nie, he is saying it is not a good situation to be in but he should make the best of it- even the duke has a racist attitude.

i do here percieve a divided duty

A1S2 Desdemona to Brabantio and Othello. she feels split as due to her gender there are expectations of her

A man he is of honesty and trust

A1S2 othello to the duke about Iago- very ironic

If virtue no delighted beauty lack,
Your son-in-law is far more fair than black.

A1S2- the duke to brabantio
a heroic couplet, he says othello is as good as any whiteman.

Look to her, Moor, if thou hast eyes to see.
She has deceived her father, and may thee.

A1S2 Brabantio and Othello- plants the idea of infidelity in Othello's mind- othello replies "my life upon her faith"

"Our bodies are our gardens, to the which our wills are gardeners"

A1S3 Iago- he does not believe in love, he is arguing that when we think we love someone we have let our bodies take over our minds

Put money in thy purse.... It cannot be that Desdemona should long continue her love to the Moor—put money in thy purse

A1S3- Iago thinks this is comforting, he is telling Roderigo not to give up

there are many events in the womb of time, which will be delivered

A1S3- Iago begins a metaphor of pregnancy to symbolise the hatching of his plan

He's done my office

A1S3 iago thinks othello has slept with his wife

the moor is of a free and open nature,

Act 1, Scene 3 - Iago about Othellos nature, othello is credulous, he believes everyone

"I have't. It is engendered! Hell and night Must bring this monstrous birth to the world's light."

A1S3- Iago, heroic couplet, he had finally given birth to his plan

"He hath achieved a maid / That paragons description and wild fame; / One that excels the quirks of blazoning pens, / And in the essential vesture of creation / Does tire the ingener."

A2S1- Cassio talks about Desdemona, in his typical OTT and flowery way, he does not do this because he wants to sleep with her but because he is a nice person and is being polite. this section where Othello and Desdemona are not there is a dramatic ploy in order to allow the characters to disscuss each other, we find out Othello and Cassio are both very well liked

sie, would she give you so much of her lips as of her tongue she oft bestows on me

Iago about Emilia to cassio, shows his stereotypical and chauvanistic ideas about women

'You are pictures out of doors;
Bells in your parlours; wild-cats in your kitchens;
Saints in your injuries; devils being offended;
Players in your housewifery; and housewives
In your beds.'

A2S1- Iago about women, he is critical of everything women do, saying they are looking nice, but loud, crazy, make a bif fuss/deal out of small things, not good at cooking/cleaning and then dont behave sexually as he feels they should. Desdemona stands up to him and calls him a "slanderer"

With as little a web as this will I ensnare as great a fly as Cassio

A2S1- Iago in an aside about Cassio

if i were to die, twere now to be most happy

A2S1- othello to Desdemona, he is so happy if he were to die it would be ok

i cannot speak enough of this content; it stops me here; it is too much of joy

othello says his speach limits his expression

i prattle without fashion, and i dote

othello is embarressed, he feels he talks to much in an inarticulate way. he has a deep emotional inarticulousy as a result he is gullable and insecure

that you unlace your reputation thus,

A2S3 othello to cassio after the fight with Montano, the choice of words suggests a bodice, he is linking virginity and reputation, with the idea that women should be chaste

"Reputation, reputation, reputation! O, I have lost my reputation! I have lost the immortal part of myself, and what remains is bestial."

A2S3 cassio on reputation

Our general's wife is now the general

-iago to cassio
-telling cassio what he should do to get job back
-desdemona now is in charge over othello/has all the control over him
-iago actually has all the control

So I will turn her virtue into pitch

iagos fourth soliliquey so far, A2S3

I have been talking with a suitor here,

A3S3- desdemona to othello about cassio, this is a poor choice of words, othello misinterpretes and this adds to his suspision

"As, I confess, it is my nature's plague / To spy into abuses, and oft my jealousy / Shapes faults that are not."

Iago A3S3- he admits this to othello, it makes him seem more trustworthy and open, especially as he is attempting to manipulate Othello that Cassio may have slept with Desdemona

O beware, my lord, of jealousy: It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock The meat it feeds on.

A3S3- Iago to othello. this is a warning about jelousy, which Iago is possessed with inately

in venice they do let God see the pranks they dare not show their husbands

A3S3- Iago is saying women in venice are duplicitous and cheat.

"Not to affect many proposed matches / Of her own clime, complexion and degree"

Iago to othello, he is using race to persaude othello that thyre relationship is unusual- playing on his insecurity

'Haply for I am balck and have not these soft parts of conversation that chamberers have'

othello A3S3- othellos first soliloquey

'O curse of marriage that we can call these delicate creatures ours and not their appetites'

othllos soliloquey A3S3- othello talks about womens sexualality

'If she be false, O then heaven mocks itself'

Othello expresses that Desdemona's beauty conflicts with her supposed unfaithfulness

Farewell the tranquil mind! Farewell content!
Farewell the plumed troops and the big wars
That makes ambition virtue! Oh, farewell!

othello A3S3- anaphora, he feels imasculated and embarressed

I think my wife be honest and think she is not; / I think that thou art just and think thou art not"

othello A3S3- about Iago, he contradicts himself, in sentences linked by anaphora

Her name, that was as fresh
As Dian's visage, is now begrimed and black
As mine own face.

othello A3S3- he has been taught that his own race is not as good as white people, he sees black as meaning a sin

Arise, black vengeance, from thy hollow cell!

Othello uses negative racial imagery to talk about getting revenge on Cassio

Like to the Pontic sea, / Whose icy current and compulsive course / Ne'er feels retiring ebb, but keeps due on / To the Propontic and the Hellespont, / Even so my bloody thoughts, with violent pace, / Shall ne'er look back, ne'er ebb to humble love, / Till that a capable and wide revenge / Swallow them up

othello associates his rage with his race, A3S3

This hand is moist, my lady...
This argues fruitfulness and liberal heart.

othello A3S4- to desdemona, he is suggesting that her hand is moist and that this is evidence of her lust, he is saying her heart loves to easily- even perhaps with this meaning she sleeps around

A liberal hand. The hearts of old gave hands,
But our new heraldry is hands, not hearts.

Othello to Desdemona A3S4- this is implying that hands used to be for love- for marriage but that now this is superficial and you cannot trust that they are giving their hearts with their hands

the handkerchief

othello repeats this rudely to everything desdemona says A3S4

not that i love you not

cassio to bianca this seems like somethign Iago would say and makes us question his character due to the way he treats bianca and therefore his attitude in general to women

handerchief-confessions-handerchief

othello A4S1 he haslost the plot and falls inot a trance (fit) due to the understanding that Desdemona is cheating with Cassio which he know completely believes

unbookish jelousy

Iago says this about Othellos jelousy- it is meaning an ignorant/uneducated/poorly informed jelousy A4S1

and thither comes the bauble

cassio about Bianca A4S1- a baubel is a cheap adornment/trinket. this says alot about the way he sees women

"O the world hath not a sweeter creature"

othello about Desdemona A4S1 before he decides to kill her- othello asks for poisen- he does not want to physically kill her or change her appearance

Devil! [strikes her.]

Act 4, Scene 1 - Othello hits Desdemona infront of Lodovico and Iago, this shows how far othello's insanity has gone, this is out of norms for him.

O devil, devil! If that the earth could teem with woman's tears, each drop she falls would prove a crocodile. Out of my sight!

othello about women crying (in response to Desdemona professing to have not deserved to have been hit) A4S1

I will be hanged, if some eternal villain,
Some busy and insinuating rogue,
Some cogging, cozening slave, to get some office,
Have not devised this slander. I will be hanged else!

emilia to Iago and Desdemona, A4S2, she is beggining to suspect foul play, she is the only one catching on and this firghtens Iago

a halter pardon him and hell gnaw at his bones

Emilia to Desdemona, she would not forgive othello for calling her a wh0re, but Desdemona would- showing the niavity and difference in nature, emilia is gathering confidence in her theory, iago calls her a fool and tells her to go, he is veyr panicked

My mother had a maid called Barbary.

Desdemona to emelia A4S3, she begins the story of the willow song- the reference to barbary is oblique and may be to the moors or victimisation
-desdemona and emelia are close and have a good relationship, emelia is like her mother, older and wiser- this creates a moment of high pathos

The world's a huge thing. It is a great price/for a small vice.

emelia to Desdemona when asked if she would cheat for all the world, when desdemona says no emelia puts forward this argument. this shows the womens different ideas on gender politics and morality

But I do think it is their husbands' faults If wives do fall

emelia to desdemona when they are talking about gender politics and marriage- this is general commentary on the treatment of women by men A4S3

Let husbands know their wives have sense like them

Emilia, act 4 scene 3, female perspective on sexual desire- elizabethan ideal of outward female chastity versus the reality that women also have the capacity to desire

the ills we do, their ills instruct us also

emelia to desdemona, women act in a way they learn form men- the mistreatment. A4S3

'If Cassio do remain he hath a daily beauty in his life that makes me ugly'

iago about cassios life A5S1- he is jelous of cassios "beauty"- his personality and goodness of character, he is now acknowleding the concept of beauty and he resents being deprived of it

Forth of my heart those charms, thine eyes, are blotted, thy bed, lust-stained shall with lust's blood be spotted

othellos heroic couplet- he has decided to kill desdemona and this brings finallity to it

"O inhuman dog!"

roderigo to iago A5S1- the first time Iago is fully exposed for what he is

"FIE, fie upon thee strumpet"

emelia calls bainca a wh0re, however Bianca defends herself saying "I am no strumpet but of life as honest as you that thus abuse me"