| “Excellent wretch! Perdition catch my soul but I do love thee! And when I love thee not, chaos is come again.” Act 3, scene 3 | Othello to Deswonderful girl, god help me. I love you! Chaos will happen when I stop loving you.foreshadowingDes is asking Othello to invite Cassio over |
| ” How poor are they that hath not patience! What wound did ever heal but by degrees? Thou know’st we work by wit and not by witchcraft, and wit depends on dilatory time.” Act 2, scene 3 | Iago is talking to RoderigoYou are a poor man if you are this impatient. It takes time for a wound to heal. We gain things by knowledge not magic. It takes time to make smart plans. After Cassio and Montano fight |
| “I will be hang’d, if some eternal villain, some busy and insinuating rouge, some cogging, cozening slave, to get some office, have not devised this slander; I’ll be hang’d else.” Act 4, scene 2 | Emilia is talking to Iago and DesI bet my life that there is someone working very hard to start these rumors. IronyAfter Othello accuses Des of cheating |
| “Reputation, reputation, reputation! O, I have lost my reputation! I have lost the immortal part of myself and what remains is bestial!” Act 2, scene 3 | Cassio says this to IagoReputation, reputation. I have lost my reputation! Now I am no better than an animal. repetitionAfter Othello suspends Cassio |
| “I will a round unvarnished tale deliver of my whole course of love; what drugs, what charms, what conjuration and what mighty magic, for such proceeding I am charged withal, I won his daughter.” Act 1 scene 3 | Othello to the DukeI will tell you how I won the love of his daughter and about all the drugs and magic he claims I used to do so. IronyAfter Barbantio learns the news of the elopement |
| “O thou invisible spirit of wine, if thou hast no name to be known by, let us call thee devil!” Act 2, scene 3 | Cassio is talking to IagoIf wine is nothing else it is the devil. metaphor After Cassio is suspended |
| O though foul thief, where hast thou stow’d ,my daughter? Damn’d as thou art, thou has enchanted her; for I’ll refer me to all things of sense, if she in chains of magic were not bound, whether a maid so tender, fair and happy, so opposite to marriage that she shunn’d the wealthy curled darlings of our nation, would ever have, to incur a general mock, run from her gaurdage to the sooty bosom of such a thing as thou….” Act 1, scene 2 | Barbantio to OthelloYou evil thief, where have you taken my daughter? Devil, you’ve used magic on her! Anybody could tell you that a beautiful and happy young girl like her, who has refused to marry all of the handsome young men of the city, wouldn’t run off with someone like you. IronyAfter Barbantio discovers that Des is gone |
| “My advocation is not now in tune; my lord is not my lord, nor should I know him were he in favour as a humor alter’d so help me every spirit sanctified.” Act 3, scene 4 | Des is talking to Iago and EmiliaMy husband’s not himself. If his face changed as much as his personality did, I wouldn’t be able to recognize himironyAfter Othello asks to see the handkerchief |
| “O curse of marriage, that we can call these delicate creatures ours, and not their appetites! I had rather be a toad, and live upon the vapour of a dungeon, than keep a corner in the thing I love for others’ uses.” Act 3, scene 3 | Othello is speakingMarriage is a curse! We think our beautiful wives are ours’ but their desires roam free! I’d rather be a toad in gross basement than to have only a part of someone I love, while sharing the rest of her with others. hyperboleAfter Des asks Othello to forgive Cassio |
| “I have done the state some service, and they know’t, no more of that. I pray you, in your letters, when you shall these unlucky deeds relate, speak of me as I am; nothing extenuate, nor set down aught in malice. 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; of one whose hand, like the base Indian, threw a pearl away. Richer than all his tribe.” Act 5, scene 2 | Othello is talking to Lodovico and otherI’ve helped Venice, and they know it. But enough about that. When you record these sad events in your letters, please describe me exactly as I am. Don’t tone things down or exaggerate them out of hostility. If you’re being fair, you’ll have to describe me as someone who loved too much, but who wasn’t wise about it. I was not easily made jealous, but once I was tricked and manipulated, I worked myself into a frenzy. Describe me as a fool who threw away a precious pearl with his own hands, like a silly Indian who didn’t know what it was worthmetaphorAt the very end after des dies |
| “Good name in man and woman, dear my lord, is the immediate jewel of their souls: who steals my purse steals trash; ’tis something, nothing; ’twas mine, ’tis his, and has been slave to thousands; robs me of that which not enriches him and makes me poor instead.” Act 3, scene 3 | Iago is talking to OthelloA good reputation is the most valuable thing we have—men and women alike. If you steal my money, you’re just stealing trash. It’s something, it’s nothing: it’s yours, it’s mine, and it’ll belong to thousands more. But if you steal my reputation, you’re robbing me of something that doesn’t make you richer, but makes me much poorer.metaphorAfter Des asks Othello to forgive Cassio |
| “The Moor is of a free and open nature, that thinks men honest that but seem to be so; and will tenderly be led by the nose as asses are.” Act 1, scene 3 | Iago is talking to the audienceThe Moor is open and straightforward. He thinks any man who seems honest is honest. People like that are easy to manipulate. So it’s all decided. I’ve worked it out. With a little help from the devil, I’ll bring this monstrous plan to success.foreshadowingRight after Des and Othello are discovered by Barbantio |
| “It is the cause, it is the cause, my soul: let me not name it to you, you chaste stars! It is the cause. Yet I’ll not shed her blood, nor scar that whiter skin than snow and smooth as monumental alabaster. 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, should I repent me: but once put out the light Thou cunning’st pattern of excelling nature, I know not where is that Promethean heat that can thy light relume. When I have pluck’d the rose, I cannot give it vital growth again.” Act 5, scene 2 | Othello is speakingI have to do it, I have to do it. I have to keep my reason in mind. I won’t say out loud what my reason is, but I have to do it. But I won’t shed any of her blood or scar that beautiful skin, whiter than snow and smooth as the finest marble. But she’s got to die, or she’ll cheat on other men. Put out the light of the candle, and then put out the light of her heart. If I extinguish the candle, I can light it again if I regret it. But once I kill you, you beautiful, fake woman, I do not know the magic that could bring you back. When I’ve plucked this rose, I can’t make it grow again; it will have no choice but to wither and die. Metaphor repetition As Othello is about to kill Des |
| “[jealousy] is the green-eyed monster, which doth mock the meat it feeds on: that cuckold lives in bliss who certain of his fate, loves not his wronger but O, what damned minutes tell her o’er who dotes, yet doubts, suspects, yet strongly loves.” Act 3, scene 3 | Iago says this to OthelloBeware of jealousy, my lord! It’s a green-eyed monster that makes fun of the victims it devours. The man who knows his wife is cheating on him is happy, because at least he isn’t friends with the man she’s sleeping with. But think of the unhappiness of a man who worships his wife, yet doubts her faithfulness. He suspects her, but still loves her.simileforeshadowingAfter Othello asks Des for the handkerchief |
| “she loved me for the dangers I had pass’d, and I loved her that she did pity them. This only is the witchcraft I have used here comes the lay, let her witness it.” Act 1, scene 3 | Othello is talking to Barbantio and the Duke She said she loved me for the dangers I’d survived, and I loved her for feeling such strong emotions about me. That’s the only witchcraft I ever used. Here comes my wife now. She’ll confirm everything.ironyAfter Barbantio learned of the marriage |
| ‘zounds | an oath: Christ’s wounds |
| s’blood | an oath: God’s blood |
| Prithee | I pray thee |
| knave | a boy or rascal |
| temptest | storm |
| wight | person, creature |
| rogue | rascal |
| rout | brawl |
| perdition | destruction, hell |
| aught | anything |
| vile | shameful |
| filtch | steals |
| strumpet | prostitute |
| Caitiff | wretch |
| The Sagittary | an inn |
| yerked | stabbed |
| Ottomites | Turks |
| Cuckold | to cheat |
| Ancient | navy officer (Iago) |
| Prate, prating | going on and on |
| choler | fury |
| billeted | staying, lodged |
| shrift | confession |
| haggard | unfaithful |
| napkin | handkerchief |
| Obsequious | obedient, dutiful |
| provender | food, provisions |
| visages | aspect; appearance |
| timorous | full of fear, fearful |
| distempering | disorder, disturbance |
| ruffians | a tough, lawless person; bully |
| lascivious | expressing lust |
| ewe | a female sheep |
| valiant | brave, courageous, brave |
| preposterously | senseless |
| err | sin |
| beguile | influenced by trickery, flattery |
| conjure | to affect or influence by spell |
| consecrate | to make or declare sacred |
| bereft | deprived |
| perdurable | permanent, durable |
| conveyance | communication |
| palpable | seen, heard, perceived |
| peril | cause injury, destruction |
| nuptial | marriage ceremony |
| pate | top of the head, crown |
| satiety | surfeit |
| voluble | talkative |
| castigation | reprimand, punish to correct |
| simile | a figure of speech involving the comparison of one thing with another thing of a different kind, used to make a description more emphatic or vivid |
| metaphor | a figure of speech that describes a subject by asserting that it is, on some point of comparison, the same as another otherwise unrelated object |
| personification | the attribution of a personal nature or human characteristics to something nonhuman, or the representation of an abstract quality in human form |
| parallelism | a balance within one or more sentences of similar phrases or clauses that have the same grammatical structure |
| irony | the expression of one’s meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite, typically for humorous or emphatic effect. |
| paradox | a statement that apparently contradicts itself and yet might be true |
| hyperbole | the use of exaggeration as a rhetorical device or figure of speech. It may be used to evoke strong feelings or to create a strong impression, but is not meant to be taken literally |
| repetition | The act or process or an instance of repeating or being repeated |
| foreshadowing | be a warning or indication of (a future event). |
| oxymoron | a figure of speech that juxtaposes apparently contradictory elements |
| allusion | a figure of speech, in which one refers covertly or indirectly to an object or circumstance that has occurred or existed in an external context |
Othello
September 8, 2019