| a force that is easily destroyed | ‘her very nature will instruct her in it”she’s framed as fruitful as the free elements’ |
| vulnerable or fragile | ‘why did I marry?’ |
| easy to manipulate | ‘the moor already changes with my poison’ iago 3:3 |
| an overwhelmingly powerful force | ‘of one who loved not wisely, but too well’ Othello 5:2 |
| little more than sex | ‘she that in wisdom never was so frailto change the cod’s head for the salmon’s tail’ iago 2:1 |
| a source of joy | ‘but that our loves and comforts should increase, even as our days do grow”I cannot speak enough of this content; it stops me here; it is too much joy.’ o+d 2:1 |
| Othello’s love as destructive | ‘I am abused and my relief must be to loathe her”i’ll tear her all to pieces’ |
| Othello’s love as malleable | ‘I will kill thee and love thee after.”O the world hath not a sweater creature…’ |
| Othello’s love as vulnerable from the outset due to his insecurities | ‘as Dian’s visage in now begrimed and black as my own face”O cursed, cursed slave’ |
| Othello’s love as strong and true in the first half of the play | ‘she loved me for the dangers I had passed…’ |
| Othello’s love as manipulated by iago | ‘I will chop her into messes: Cuckold me!”of one, not easily jealous, but being wrought/perplexed in the extreme.’ |
| Des love as selfless | ‘heaven pardon him’ 4:2 |
| Des love as self-sacrificing | ‘Nobody. I myself. Farewell. Commend me to my lord’ 5:2 |
| Des love as pure | ‘she was chaste and she loved thee’ Emilia 5:2 |
| Des love as honest | ‘your true and loyal wife’ 4:2 |
| Des love as innocent | ‘a maiden never bold, of spirit so still and quiet that her motion blushed at itself.’ Brab 1:3 |
| Des love as unconditional | ‘I saw Othello’s visage in his mind’ 1:3 |
| Des love as unwavering | ‘but that our love and comforts should increase as our days do grow’ 2:1 |
| Iago’s relationship with love as fuelled by hatred | ‘I must show out a flag and sign of love/which is but a sign’ Iago 1:1 |
| Iago’s relationship with love as defined by jealousy | ‘I hate the Moor/and it is thought abroad that twixt my sheets/he’s done my office.’ Iago 1:3 |
| Iago’s relationship with love as entirely selfish | ‘demand me nothing. what you know./From this time forth I never will speak word.’ Iago 5:2 |
| Iago’s relationship with love as self love | ‘I follow him to serve my turn upon him.’ Iago 1:1 |
| Iago’s relationship with love as a tool to manipulate others | ‘O beware my lord of jealousy;/it is the green eyed monster which doth mock/the meat it feeds on’ Iago 3:3 |
| Iago’s relationship with love as cynical | ‘O you are well tuned now!/But i’ll set down the pegs that make this music’ Iago 2:1 |
| Iago’s relationship with love as misogynistic | ‘she was a wight… to suckle fools and chronical small beer’ Iago 2:1 |
| marriage presented as futile | ‘they are all but stomachs and we are all but foods…’ Emilia 3:4 |
| marriage presented as subject to infidelity and jealousy | ‘it is their husbands’ faults if wives do fall’ Emilia 3:4’in venice they do let God see the pranks they dare not show their husbands.’ Iago 3:3 |
| marriage presented as threatened by others’ perceptions | ‘villain, be sure thou prove my love a wh0re’ Othello 3:3 |
| marriage presented as capable of being destroyed | ‘heaven knows thou are false as hell’ Othello 4:2’villain, be sure thou prove my love a wh0re’ Othello 3:3’forth of my heart those charms, thine eyes, are blotted.’ Othello 5:1 |
| marriage presented as fundamentally subject to imbalances in power | ‘ I must be circumstanced’ Bianca’they are but stomachs…’ Emilia |
| lovers presented as doubtful | ‘why did I marry? this honest creature doubtless sees and knows more, much more, than he infolds.’ Othello 3:3 |
| lovers presented as doomed (Othello as tragic hero doomed to fall in love – 17th century view) | ‘these moors are changeable in their wills…’ Iago 1:3 |
| lovers presented as foolish and irrational | ‘arise, black vengeance, from the hollow hell. Yield up, O love, thy crown and hearted throne to tyrannous hate.’ Othello 3:3’Of one that loved not wisely, but too well… like the base Indian, threw a pearl away richer than his whole tribe.’ Othello 5:2 |
| lovers presented as harmonious and happy | ‘O my fair warrior’/’My dear Othello’ O+D 2:1’if it were now to die/’twere now to be most happy.’ Othello 2:1 |
Aspects of Love in Othello
September 9, 2019