Othello Flashcards

Act 1, Scene 2 - Relationships

Iago, feigning friendship, questions whether Othello and Desdemona have consummated their marriage. Consummation was crucial in Christianity for cementing the marriage. This is connected to Brabantio's influence in the senate and potential to ruin Othello's reputation due to his line, ‘the magnifico is much beloved’.

Act 1, Scene 1 - Race

References to Othello as a black man, possibly a slave. This creates a negative early perception of Othello.

Act 1, Scene 2 - Love & Masculinity

Othello is willing to give up his freedom for Desdemona, valuing their relationship over his independence. He says, ‘But that I love the gentle Desdemona, I would not my unhoused free condition put into circumscription and confine for the sea's worth’. Othello has known Desdemona briefly, suggesting lust or need may be a factor.

Act 1, Scene 2 - Love

‘The goodness of the night’ refers to positivity from Othello's marriage and ‘friends’ presents him as polite, contrasting Iago and Brabantio's depictions in Act 1, Scene 1.

Act 1, Scene 2 - Relationships & Sexuality

Iago implies Othello married Desdemona for social status and money, calling Desdemona a ‘land carrack’, objectifying her as treasure. He says, ‘Faith, he tonight hath boarded a land carrack. If it prove lawful prize, he’s made for ever’.

Act 1, Scene 3 - Love and Relationships, Femininity

Othello wants Desdemona to speak for herself before the senate, showing respect and legitimizing their marriage. His certainty in Desdemona shows control. He says, ‘I do beseech you, send for the lady to the Sagittary, and let her speak of me before her father’.

Act 1, Scene 3 - Love & Relationships

Othello reflects on the mutual nature of his love with Desdemona, suggesting genuine care with the line: ‘How I did thrive in this fair lady's love, and she in mine’.

Act 1, Scene 3 - Relationship (Parental & Marital)

Insights into Desdemona's character and relationship with Othello, balancing personal desires and familial duties. She is eager to hear Othello's stories, displaying attentiveness. However, house affairs draw her away, showing her adherence to responsibilities. The quote is as follows: ‘This to hear would Desdemona seriously incline; but still the house affairs would draw her thence, which ever as she could with haste dispatch, she'd come again’.

Act 1, Scene 3 - Love

Alliteration of ‘Devour' and ‘Discourse' connotes animalistic desires, opposing Desdemona's chastity, ‘with a greedy ear devour up my discourse’.

Act 1, Scene 3 - Love

Othello attributes their love to his adventurous past and Desdemona's empathy. He believed she wished to marry him despite his race. This foreshadows potential issues. ‘She lov'd me for the dangers I had pass'd,And I lov'd her that she did pity them’.

Act 2, Scene 3 - Love

Cassio describes Desdemona as ‘a most exquisite lady’, emphasizing her exceptional qualities, including beauty, grace, and moral excellence.

Act 1, Scene 1 - Betrayal

Iago presents himself as a double agent.

Act 1, Scene 1 - Betrayal & Loyalty

Roderigo says, ‘Your daughter, if you have not given her leave, I say again, hath made a gross revolt’, creating instability by presenting Desdemona as unfaithful.

Act 1, Scene 1

Iago doesn't want to be caught betraying Othello, suggesting deeper plans with his quote: ‘It seems not meet, not wholesome to my place, to be produces - as if I stay, I shall -against the Moor’.

Act 1, Scene 1 - Betrayal

Brabantio sees his life as bitter due to Desdemona leaving with the line: ‘Gone she is, And what's to come of my despised time Is naught but bitterness’.

Act 1, Scene 1 - Betrayal

Brabantio no longer trusts Desdemona and sees her betrayal as painful because she's his only daughter: ‘O, she decieves me past thought’ ‘O treason of the blood!’.

Act 1, Scene 2 - Loyalty

Iago's dramatic irony presents his motivation: ‘I lack iniquity'. ‘In following him, I follow but myself.’.

Act 1, Scene 2 - Loyalty and Betrayal

Iago's slanderous words foreshadow his intentions. The phrase 'little godliness I have' is dramatic irony. He says, ‘Nay but he prated and spoke such scurvy and provoking terms against your honour, that with the little godliness I have I did full hard forbear him’.

Act 1, Scene 2 - Loyalty

Othello believes his loyalty will prove his worthiness: ‘My services which I have done the signory, shall out-tongue his complaints. ’Tis yet to know - which, when I knw that boasting is an honour, I shal promulgate - I fetch my life and being from men of royal siege; and my demerits may speak unbonneted to as proud a fortune as this that I have reached’. ‘yet to know’ refers to his hesitancy to share happy news until certain.

Act 1, Scene 2 - Loyalty and Betrayal

‘It is Brabantio. General, be advised; He comes to bad intent'.

Act 1, Scene 2 - Betrayal

‘For I'll refer me to all things of sense’

Act 1, Scene 2 - Loyalty

‘What if I do obey?’

Act 1, Scene 2 - Loyalty and Betrayal

‘The Duke himself, or any of mt brothers of the state, cannot but feel this wrong as ’twere their own For if such actions may have passages free, bondslaves and pagans shall our statesmen be’.

Act 1, Scene 3 - Control and Manipulation

‘I do not so secure me in the error, but the main article I do approve in fearful sense'

Act 1, Scene 3 - Loyalty

‘I did not see you; welcome gentle signor, we lacked your counsel and help tonight.’

Act 1, Scene 1 - Race

‘the Moor’ is a derogatory term for a black African man, disregarding his humanity.

Act 1, Scene 1 - Race

‘thick-lips' is an abusive description, showing racial prejudice was common. This escalates internalized racism, affecting Othello's self-esteem.

Act 1, Scene 1 - Race

Iago uses zoomorphic imagery to incite hatred within Brabantio: ‘an old black ram is tupping your white ewe’.

Act 1, Scene 1 - Race

Iago uses zoomorphic imagery to incite anger within Brabantio, comparing Othello to animals with connotations of evil, sexuality, and virility: ‘a knave of common hire’.

Act 1, Scene 1 - Race

Iago attempts to incite anger by suggesting Desdemona's honor is disgraced: ‘you'll have your daughter covered with a Barbary horse; you'll have your nephews neigh to you; you'll have coursers for cousins, and jennets for germans’.

Act 1, Scene 1 - Race

‘a lascivious Moor' suggests all African men are the same, wanting status and lust.

Act 1, Scene 1 - Race

Roderigo insults Othello, suggesting he has no honor: ‘Tying her duty, beauty, wit, and fortunes in an extravagant and wheeling stranger of here and everywhere’.

Act 1, Scene 1 - Race

Brabantio highlights racial prejudice, preferring anything else to Desdemona being with a black man: ‘With the Moor, say'st thou? Who would be a father!’

Act 1, Scene 1 - Race

Brabantio wishes Roderigo had married Desdemona due to racial prejudices: ‘O would you had had her!’.

Act 1, Scene 1 - Race

‘knave’ refers to Othello being a liar, and ‘gondolier’ suggests he used his status for seduction: ‘a knave of common hire, a gondolier’.

Act 1, Scene 1 - Race

‘lascivious Moor' implies Othello is lustful, reinforcing racial prejudices and depicting him as predatory.

Act 1, Scene 1 - Race

Internal rhyme scheme suggests Desdemona made a mistake because Othello has no honor: ‘Tying her duty, beauty, wit, and fortunes/ In an extravagant and wheeling stranger/ Of here and everywhere’.

Act 1, Scene 1 - Race

‘With the Moor, say'st thou? - Who would be a father!’ shows distress over Desdemona being with Othello.

Act 1, Scene 1 - Race

‘Who would be a father!’ implies any suitor is preferable to Othello, revealing racial bias.

Act 1, Scene 1 - Race

Brabantio is distressed, linking it to racial prejudice: ‘O would you had had her!’ His desire for Roderigo to marry Desdemona indicates a desire for control.

Act 1, Scene 2 - Race

‘Down with him, thief!’ implies Othello is stealing from Brabantio. This illustrates Brabantio's perception of Othello as a deceptive outsider.

Act 1, Scene 2 - Race

Brabantio accuses Othello of deception, emphasizing racial prejudice: ‘O thou foul thief (…) Damned as thou art, thou hast enchanted her’. This conflates Othello's blackness with witchcraft.

Act 1, Scene 2 - Race

Brabantio expresses disdain for Desdemona's choice, showcasing racism: ‘t'incur a general mock - Run from her guardage to the sooty bosom of such a thing as thou; to fear, not to delight’.

Act 1, Scene 2 - Race

Shakespeare presents Brabantio's reliance on his status: ‘I therefore apprehend, and do attach thee for an abuser of the world’. This reflects the intersection of race and class.

Act 1, Scene 3 - Race

Repetition of ‘Valiant’ reflects Othello's nobility despite his race: ‘the valiant Moor' ‘Valiant Othello'.

Act 1, Scene 3 - Race

Brabantio's accusation is directed at the Duke, implying Othello's status is illegitimate: ‘this Moor, whom now it seems your special mandate for the state affairs hath hither brought’.

Act 1, Scene 3 - Race

‘Rude am I in my speech’ implies Othello is uneducated and acknowledges his outsider status.

Act 1, Scene 3 - Race

‘And little of this great world can I speak' reinforces the stereotype of the 'uncivilized' outsider, making him easier to manipulate.

Act 1, Scene 3 - Race

Brabantio implies Othello should be looked down upon: ‘and she, in spite of nature, Of yeards of country, credit, everything, to fall in love with what she feared to look on. It is a Judgement maimed and most imperfect that will confess perfection so could err against all rules of nature’. ‘against all rules of nature’ brings back the negative perception of interracial relationships.

Act 1, Scene 3 - Race

The Duke challenges social norms of prejudice: ‘Without more wider and more overt test Than these thin habits and poor likelihoods of modern seeming do prefer against him’.

Act 1, Scene 3 - Supernatural and Race

The senator questions if their courtship was due to supernatural infatuation or true love: ‘Did you by indirect and forced courses Subdue and poison this young maid's affections?’ Or came it by request, and such fair question, as soul to soul affordeth?’

Act 1, Scene 3 - Race

Othello makes Brabantio complicit, questioning if their romance was love or intrigue.

Act 1, Scene 3 - Race and Religion

Othello's backstory gains sympathy: ‘And sold to slavery; of my redemption thence, And portance in my travels’ history; Wherein of antres vast and deserts idle, Rough quarries, rocks, and hills whose heads touch heaven. It was my hint to speak - such was the process; And of the Cannibals that each other eat’. ‘hills whose heads touch heaven' is religious imagery.

Act 1, Scene 3 - Race, Love + Relationships

Othello believed Desdemona wished to marry him despite his race, suggesting pure love: ‘She wished she had not heard it, yet she wished That heaven had made her such a man’.

Act 1, Scene 3 - Race

The Duke diffuses the situation, reminding Brabantio: ‘When remedies are past, the griefs are ended By seeing the worst, which late on hopes depended. To mourn a mischief that is past and gone Is the next way draw new mischief on.’

Act 1, Scene 3 - Race

Desdemona acknowledges Brabatio’s unhappiness: ‘To put my father in impatient thoughts By being in his eye’. Describing his thoughts as ‘impatient’ suggests he's judging him prematurely.

Act 1, Scene 3 - Race

‘his honours and his valiant parts’.

Act 1, Scene 3 - Race

'Still questioned me the story of my life From year to year - the battles, sieges, fortunes, That I have passed.’ By emphasizing Othello's 'honours' and 'valiant parts,' Desdemona counters bigoted views.

Act 1, Scene 3 - Race

‘If virtue no delighted beauty lack, Your son-in- law is far more fair than black’ suggests Othello behaves more like a white person. The Duke favors Othello.

Act 1, Scene 3 - Race

Iago's metaphors suggest Othello's mentality is due to his race, presenting hatred: ‘Ere I would say, I would drown myself for the love of a guinea-hen, I would change my humanity with a baboon’.

Act 1, Scene 3 - Race

‘These Moors are changeable in their wills’ equates Othello with a slave.

Act 1, Scene 3 - Race

Iago's juxtaposition suggests Othello and Desdemona don't belong together: ‘If sanctimony and a frail vow betwixt an erring barbarian and a supersubtle Venetian be not too hard for my wits and all the tribe of hell, thou shalt enjoy her’.

Act 1, Scene 3 - Race

Repetition of ‘hate’ presents wrath: ‘I hate the Moor’.

Act 1, Scene 3 - Control, Manipulation & Race

Iago plans to use Othello's nature against him, noting Othello's place in social hierarchy: ‘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’.

Act 1, Scene 1 - Jealousy, Context

‘And what was he? […] a great arithmatician […] a Florentine’

Act 1, Scene 3 - Race

I re-tell thee again and again, I hate the Moor’.