Othello Important Quotations Act 2

He hath achieved a maid/ That paragons description and wild fame;/ One that excels the quirks of blazoning pens,/ And in the essential vesture of creation/ Does tire the ingener Speaker: CassioContext/Significance:Talking to Montano about Othello’s wife. Montano asks if he is married and says that his wife is God’s masterpiece.
Let it not gall your patience, good Iago,/ That I extend my manners; ’tis my breeding/ That gives me this bold show of courtesy. Speaker: CassioContext/Significance:He is talking to Iago about kissing his wife. He says that it is a “bold show of courtesy” from where his comes from.
with as little a web as this will I/ ensnare as great a fly as Cassio. Speaker: IagoContext/Significance:He is talking to himself about Cassio and Desdemona holding hands. He is planning Cassio’s downfall.Metaphor
Knavery’s plain face is never seen till used. Speaker: IagoContext/Significance:Iago is only serving under Othello to take advantage of him because of the accusation of him sleeping with Othello’s wife. and not giving himself the job that he deserves.
IAGO. She is sport for Jove.CASSIO. She’s a most exquisite lady.IAGO. And, I’ll warrant her, full of game.CASSIO. Indeed, she’s a most fresh and delicate creature.IAGO. What an eye she has! Methinks it sounds a parley of provocation.CASSIO. An inviting eye; and yet methinks right modest. Context/Significance:Talking about how Desdemona is very good looking and how she is probably good in bed. They say that she is very ladylike but modest too.Allusion to classical mythology
I could well wish/ courtesy would invent some other custom of/ entertainment. Speaker: CassioContext/Significance:Cassio is saying that he wishes that people wouldn’t drink as much and that it wouldn’t be a social pleasure. He doesn’t like drinking.
I hold him to be unworthy of his/ place that does those things. Well, God’s above all;/ and there be souls must be saved, and there be souls/ must not be saved. Speaker: CassioContext/Significance:He is saying that God is in charge of everyone and it is no one’s choice or decision to go to heaven or hell, that is God’s.
The lieutenant is to be saved before the ancient. Let’s have/ no more of this; let’s to our affairs.—Forgive us our/ sins!—Gentlemen, let’s look to our business. Do not/ think, gentlemen, I am drunk: this is my ancient; this/ is my right hand, and this is my left: I am not drunk/ now; I can stand well enough, and speak well enough. Speaker: CassioContext/Significance:Cassio is saying that he he isn’t drunk and has only had a few drinks. However, everyone else knows that he has had more than a few and that he is very drunk. He tries to prove it by showing them that he can still tell his right hand from his left.
Hold, ho! Lieutenant,—sir—Montano,—/ gentlemen,—/ Have you forgot all sense of place and duty?/ Hold! the general speaks to you; hold, hold, for/ shame! Speaker: IagoContext/Significance:He is talking to Othello and Montano because they are not acting like gentlemen.
I know, Iago,/ Thy honesty and love doth mince this matter,/ Making it light to Cassio. Speaker: OthelloContext/Significance:Othello is talking to Iago about how Iago is doing it for the benefit of Cassio
Reputation is an idle and/ most false imposition: oft got without merit, and/ lost without deserving: you have lost no reputation/ at all, unless you repute yourself such a loser. Speaker: IagoContext/Significance:He is saying that reputations are not real and should be ignored. He thinks that they are useless. He states that you cannot lose a reputation until you think that you have lost it.
And what’s he then that says I play the villain?/ When this advice is free I give and honest,/ Probal to thinking and indeed the course/ To win the Moor again? Speaker: IagoContext/Significance:Iago is asking why everyone thinks that his advice is not good. He thinks that it is the best way to win the Moor back, Othello.
Ha! I like not that. Speaker: IagoContext/Significance:Iago says this as he sees Cassio leave the room without talking to him or Othello. He says this to get Othello’s attention and point the matter out to Othello.
By heaven, thou echo’st me/ As if there were some monster in thy thought/ Too hideous to be shown. Speaker: OthelloContext/Significance:Othello is pressing Iago to share his doubts about Cassio after they are implied by Iago.
These stops of thine fright me the more:/ For such things in a false disloyal knave/ Are tricks of custom, but in a man that’s just/ They are close delations, working from the heart/ That passion cannot rule. Speaker: OthelloContext/Significance:Othello is wondering why Iago is pausing when he talks about Cassio as if there was something Iago was hiding from Othello. Othello is falling into Iago’s trap.
Men should be what they seem;/ Or those that be not, would they might seem none! Speaker: IagoContext/Significance:Iago is explaining to Othello that a person’s appearance should show who they are so if they were not honest they shouldn’t look like they are.
Who steals my purse steals trash; ’tis something, nothing;/ ‘Twas mine, ’tis his, and has been slave to thousands:/ But he that filches from me my good name/ Robs me of that which not enriches him/ And makes me poor indeed. Speaker: IagoContext/Significance:Iago is telling Othello that if you steal a mans money it won’t make a difference because many people will get it eventually but if you take away someone’s reputation that makes them poor because it is something people value most.
O, beware, my lord, of jealousy!/ It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock/ The meat it feeds on. Speaker: IagoContext/Significance:Iago is using a metaphor to compare the traits of jealousy to that of a monster that mocks its prey(CAT)
She did deceive her father, marrying you;/ And when she seem’d to shake and fear your looks,/ She loved them most. Speaker: IagoContext/Significance:Iago is telling Othello how Desdemona loves Othello alot and that she was willing to lie to her father to do so.
This fellow’s of exceeding honesty,/ And knows all qualities, with a learned spirit,/ Of human dealings. Speaker: OthelloContext/Significance:Othello is trusting Iago and believing his lies about Desdemona because he knows a lot about human behavior.
You have a thing for me? It is a common thing… To have a foolish wife Speaker: IagoContext/Significance: He is mocking and messing with his wife calling her foolish
I should be wise, for honesty’s a fool/ And loses that it works for. Speaker: IagoContext/Significance:Iago is saying when he is Honest he ends up losing his friends even when he is trying to help them
‘Tis not a year or two shows us a man:/ They are all but stomachs, and we all but food;/ They eat us hungerly, and when they are full,/ They belch us. Speaker: Emilia Context/Significance:Emilia is talking to Desdemona about how men are all nice in the first few years of knowing them but after that they show their real selves and how they just use women and when they are bored of them they get rid of them.
August 13, 2019