Othello Key Quotes and Terms

Quotes and terms under "term" significance or definition under "definition"

“Your son-in-law is far more fair than black.” (Duke to Brabantio)

Illustrates conditional acceptance: Othello’s worth is measured against is skin. Even authority figures reflect unconscious bias, showing racism’s insidious reach. Intended complement words imply fair (good) and black (evil), imply to are opposites. Othello praised despite race, not independent of.

“A guiltless death I die.” (Desdemona’s last words)

Desdemona takes responsibility and forgives Othello, her purity and loyalty contrast sharply with male jealousy and violence exposing the destructive consequences of misogyny and patriarchal dominance.

“If wives do fall… let husbands know / Their wives have sense like them.” (Emilia to Desdemona)

Emilia’s defiance, challenging male standards of female rationality and moral equality, exposes the systematic misogyny, underpinning both Othello’s jealous and Iago’s manipulation.

“I took by th’ throat the circumcised dog, / And smote him, thus.” (Othello’s last words)

Shows Othello’s tragic assimilation of Venetian prejudice. Even in death, he seeks validation from the racist patriarchal system that destroyed him.

“O, beware, my lord, of jealousy; / It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock / The meat it feeds on.” (Iago manipulating Othello)

This moment fuses deceit and honesty: Iago’s apparently wise advice conceals his destructive purpose, twisting truth into a weapon. This is one of the pivotal moments in the play: jealousy becomes personified and central. It shows how Iago manipulates Othello into believing an acting on suspicion. It also foreshadows the self-destructive spiral of jealousy that overtakes Othello.

“But jealous souls will not be answered so; / They are not ever jealous for the cause, / But jealous for they are jealous: ‘tis a monster begot upon itself, born on itself.” (Emilia speaking to Desdemona after Othello’s suspicious behaviour)

This quote deepens our understanding of jealousy: it isn’t always triggered by real cause but becomes its own cause. It shows why Othello’s jealousy becomes unstoppable and why Iago uses it so effectively.

“I know my price, I am worth no worse a place.” (Iago explaining to Roderigo)

This line sets Iago’s motivation in motion: his envy sparks his decision to manipulate, revealing that his malice flows from not being chosen. It introduces the theme of envy as a root cause of tragedy.

“I hate the Moor” (Iago)

Captures Iago’s hatred and motives, also an example of his racist descriptions of Othello.

“When I love thee not, chaos is come again.” (Othello declaring to Desdemona)

Suggests Desdemona’s love gives Othello emotional and moral stability. Foreshadows his psychological unravelling as Iago’s lies take effect. Reveals that Othello’s control over his life and emotions is fragile and dependent on his perception of Desdemona’s fidelity.

“Good name in man and woman, dear my lord, / Is the immediate jewel of their souls.” (Iago manipulating Othello)

Reinforces how control in Othello operates through the concept of reputation. Both Othello and Cassio  by their anxiety about honour - a external measure of self-worth controlled by others.

“Put out the light, and then put out the light.” (Othello before killing Desdemona)

Demonstrates how Othello’s need for control culminates in destruction. His act of power - taking Desdemona’s life - is also his total loss of control over reason and morality. Also compares the two, candle can be relit, Desdemona’s life cannot be. He holds great power over her life, put out one light, then the next, the same as snuffing out a candle.

“Then must you speak / Of one that loved not wisely but too well; / Of one not easily jealous, but, being wrought, / Perplexed in the extreme.” (Othello’s final speech before his suicide)

Reveals the final tragedy: Othello recognises too late how deception destroyed his judgement and corrupted love into violence. Illustrates Shakespeare’s tragic view of power: even in repentance, Othello asserts control over how he will be remembered, showing how the desire for dominance persists beyond reason. This quote encapsulates the tragedy: jealousy has overtaken a noble man to destroy himself and the woman he loved. It links back to the theme of love corrupted by jealousy and shows the inevitability and fatality of his state.

“Reputation, reputation, reputation! O, I have lost my reputation! I have lost the immortal part of
myself, and what remains is bestial. My reputation, Iago, my reputation!” (Cassio lamenting after being dismissed by Othello)

Shows how deception damages not only Othello’s trust but also Cassio’s honour, reinforcing how Iago’s lies corrupt everyone’s sense of truth. Demonstrates how social power in Othello is built on fragile constructs of honour and appearance. Iago exploits this vulnerability to manipulate both Cassio and Othello.

“I thought you had received some bodily wound. There is more sense in that than in reputation. Reputation is an idle and
most false imposition, oft got without merit and lost
without deserving.” (Iago, brushing off Cassio’s loss of reputation)

Contrasts to Iago’s comments to Othello later.

“The Moor is of a free and open nature / That thinks men honest that but seem to be so; / And will as tenderly be led by th’ nose / As asses are.” (Iago’s soliloquy after Othello marries Desdemona)

Foreshadows the tragedy - Othello’s trust becomes his weakness; deception triumphs through insight into human nature.

“My life upon her faith!” (Othello’s defence of Desdemona before the Duke and senators)

Dramatic irony - Othello’s absolute trust will later crumble, demonstrating how complete faith can be turned into destructive doubt.

“No, by my life and soul! Send for the man / And ask him.” (Desdemona pleading to Othello to ask Cassio on the night of her death)

As Othello requested Desdemona speak for herself when Brabantio accused him of stealing her, Desdemona requests Othello hear Cassio’s story, but Othello dismisses her and remains uninformed, committing a horrible act.

“Send for the lady to the Sagittary /
And let her speak of me before her father.” (Othello when convincing the Duke he did not steal Brabantio’s daughter)

Here Othello asks the Duke and Brabantio to hear Desdemona’s story before making a decision, he believes if both parties to the story present their case the truth can be proven.

“He takes her by the palm: ay, well said, whisper: with as little a web as this will I ensnare as great a fly as Cassio.” (Iago when Cassio courteously greets Desdemona)

Illustrates Iago’s method - he manipulates innocent gestures to seem suspicious, highlighting the fragility of reputation and trust.

“I durst, my lord, to wager she is honest.” (Emilia defending Desdemona when Othello accuses his wife of infidelity)

Contrasts Iago’s false honesty with Emilia’s genuine moral truth - yet her honesty is ignored, showing how deception can drown out the truth.

"Look to her, Moor, if thou hast eyes to see: / She has deceived her father, and may thee" (Brabantio to Othello)

Foreshadowing Othello’s suspicions and planting the seed of doubt.

"Iago is most honest." (Othello)

Ironic - Othello trusts Iago’s honesty, yet he lies all through the play.

“To mourn a mischief that is past and gone / Is the next way to draw new mischief on.” (Duke to Brabantio)

Don’t dwell on past errors, a warning that is dismissed by Brabantio and that neither Othello nor Iago adhere to, leading to their tragic ends.

Envy

a feeling of discontented or resentful longing aroused by someone else's possessions, qualities, or luck

Jealousy

feeling threatened, protective, or fearful of losing one's position or situation to someone else

“O, it comes o’er my memory / As doth the raven o’er the infectious house.” (Othello)

Through the simile of a raven (an omen of death) flying over a house, Othello compares his jealousy to a plague, showing how his mind is penetrated by jealousy and corruption. This reflects one of the play’s major motifs: jealousy as contamination. It emphasises how Othello is now a victim of his own poisoned mind. The imagery of plague resonates with Iago’s earlier “pestilence” imagery and shows the irreversible damage jealousy causes.

“Iago knows / That she with Cassio hath the act of shame / A thousand times committed.” (Othello)

Othello explaining Iago knows that Desdemona had sex with Cassio and so his murder was justified

“I will speak as liberal as the north. / Let heaven and men and devils, let them all, / All, all, cry shame against me, yet I’ll speak.” (Emilia)

Shows Emilia’s determination to be honest, even if the truth will kill her

“thy father’s dead. / Thy match was mortal to him, and pure grief / Shore his old thread in twain.” (Gratiano, Brabantio’s brother and a nobleman, to Desdemona’s corpse)

Shows that Brabantio could not move on from Desdemona and Othello’s marriage and died of heartbreak instead.

“A horned man’s a monster and a beast.” (Othello)

The “horned man” (a cuckold) symbolises emasculation (the process of making a man feel less male by taking away his power and confidence). Othello equates the loss of sexual control with the loss of humanity. This highlights patriarchal power structures: Othello’s worth as a man depends on controlling his wife’s fidelity. His belief in this power dynamic, exploited by Iago, leads to tragedy.

“My parts, my title, and my perfect soul / Shall manifest me rightly.” (Othello defending himself before the Venetian council)

Shows Othello’s reliance on his merit, reputation and spiritual integrity as source of authority. Reveals his initial self-confidence and moral control, when contrasted to his later loss of composure it outlines the tragedy of power undone by insecurity and manipulation.