| Iago | Were I the Moor I would not be Iago.In following him I follow but myself;Heaven is my judge, not I for love and duty,But seeming so for my peculiar end.For when my outward action doth demonstrateThe native act and figure of my heartIn compliment extern, ’tis not long afterBut I will wear my heart upon my sleeveFor daws to peck at. I am not what I am. (I.i.57-65) |
| Iago | I hate the Moor:And it is thought abroad, that ‘twixt my sheetsHe has done my office: I know not if’t be true;But I, for mere suspicion in that kind,Will do as if for surety. (1.3.12) |
| Iago | Awake! what, ho, Brabantio! thieves! thieves! thieves!Look to your house, your daughter and your bags!Thieves! thieves! (1.1.7) |
| Brabantio/Iago | Brabantio: Thou art a villain.Iago: You are a senator. |
| Desdemona | My noble father,I do perceive here a divided duty.To you I am bound for life and education.My life and education both do learn meHow to respect you. You are the lord of my duty,I am hitherto your daughter. But here’s my husband,And so much duty as my mother showedTo you, preferring you before her father,So much I challenge that I may professDue to the Moor my lord. (I.iii.179-188) |
| Othello | Keep up your bright swords, for the dew will rust them.Good signior, you shall more command with yearsThan with your weapons. |
| Othello | My parts, my title, and my perfect soulShall manifest me rightly. |
| Othello | Then must you speakOf 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 awayRicher than all his tribe; of one whose subdued eyes,Albeit unused to the melting mood,Drop tears as fast as the Arabian treesTheir medicinable gum. Set you down this,And say besides that in Aleppo once,Where a malignant and a turbaned TurkBeat a Venetian and traduced the state,I took by th’ throat the circumcised dogAnd smote him thus. (V.ii.341-354) |
| Othello | Haply for I am black,And have not those soft parts of conversationThat chamberers have; or for I am declinedInto the vale of years—yet that’s not much— She’s gone. I am abused, and my reliefMust be to loathe her. O curse of marriage,That we can call these delicate creatures oursAnd not their appetites! I had rather be a toadAnd live upon the vapor of a dungeonThan keep a corner in the thing I loveFor others’ uses. Yet ’tis the plague of great ones;Prerogatived are they less than the base.’Tis destiny unshunnable, like death. (III.iii.267-279) |
| Emilia | I am glad I have found this napkin.This was her first remembrance from the Moor,My wayward husband hath a hundred timesWooed me to steal it, but she so loves the token— For he conjured her she should ever keep it— That she reserves it evermore about herTo kiss and talk to. I’ll ha’ the work ta’en out,And give’t Iago. What he will do with it,Heaven knows, not I.I nothing, but to please his fantasy. (III.iii.294-303) |
| Brabantio | Brabantio: My daughter! O, my daughter!Senator: Dead?Brabantio: Ay, to me. |
| Cassio | Reputation, reputation, reputation! O, I have lost my reputation! I have lost the immortal part of myself, and what remains is bestial.(epizeuxis) |
| Iago | How am I a villain…She shall undo her credit with the Moor.So will I turn her virtue into pitch… |
| Iago | Good name in man and woman, dear my lord,Is the immediate jewel of their souls. |
| Iago | But he that filches from me my good nameRobs me of that which not enriches himAnd makes me poor indeed. |
| Iago | It is the green-eyed monster which doth mockThe meat it feeds on. |
| Iago | She did deceive her father, marrying you,And when she seemed to shake and fear your looks,She loved them most. |
| Othello | Farewell the tranquil mind! Farewell content!Farewell the plumed troops and the big warsThat makes ambition virtue! O, farewell! |
| Emilia | For if she be not honest, chaste, and true,There’s no man happy. |
| Othello | O, ay, as summer flies are in the shambles,That quicken even with blowing! O thou weed,Who art so lovely fair, and smell’st so sweetThat the sense aches at thee, would thou hadstne’er been born! |
| Iago | If Cassio do remain,He hath a daily beauty in his lifeThat makes me ugly. |
| Cassio | Iago? O, I am spoiled, undone by villains.Give me some help! |
| Bianca | O, my dear Cassio,My sweet Cassio! O Cassio, Cassio, Cassio! |
| Iago | O notable strumpet! Cassio, may you suspectWho they should be that have thus mangled you? |
| Othello | Be thus when thou art dead, and I will kill theeAnd love thee after. |
| Othello | Thou art on my deathbed. |
| Othello | Ay, with Cassio. Had she been true,If heaven would make me such another worldOf one entire and perfect chrysolite,I’d not have sold her for it. |
Othello Character quotes
July 19, 2019