Othello Key Quotes

Time In 1603. During the Jacobean and Elizabethan Era
Setting -Begins in Venice-Duke sends Othello to Cyprus
Act One – Iago steals of Roderigo and tell him Othello made him a cuckold.- Iago tells Brabantio Desdemona has gone – Brabantio blames Othello of witch craft- Desdemona and Othello confesstheir love for each other- Iago reveals his malicious intentions
‘But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve for daws to peck at’ Iago. (1.1)-Cryptic manner or speech- ‘will’- certainty, hubris- ‘Heart’- emotionless, Doesn’t care, emotions will stay hidden, malicious- ‘sleeve’. coverage, visible, – ‘daws to peck at’- brutal, painful. slow unravelling of the truth
‘I am not what I am’ Iago (1.1)- Contradicts the words of God to Moses, ‘I am what I am’. Devil?- Causes fear in the Christian audience
‘Zounds, Sir.’ Iago (1.1)Profanity,(gods wounds) fear in audience, doubt his intentions, close to the devil
‘Your heart is burst, you have lost half your soul’ Iago (1.1)Fetish for hearts. ‘Burst’- violent imagery. Pain and anguish. Deception. Emotionless. Pity. Fear for B and of I. ‘Lost’- soul. Religious. No remorse and regret.’Half’ desdemona is half his soul. Foreshadow no return
‘An old black ram is tupping your white ewe’ Iago (1.1)’An’ refers to anybody. Suggesting desdemona is a *****? ‘Old’- othellos age. Disgust. Pity. Bad image.othellos not worthy of status ‘Ram’- uncastrated male sheep. Painful and sugevst rape. Zoomorphic imagery’Black’ – racism. Horror as to interracial marriage. black soul. Suggest pain and anguish. Impure. Soulless. Devil. ‘Tupping’ – sex between sheep. Blatant imagery. How does her dad feel? Kayo is revert manipulating. ‘White’- purity. Racism. ‘Superior’ character. Interracial. Clear imagery. ‘Ewe’- literally a female sheep. Homophone. Sounds like ‘you’. Brabantios ‘Lost’ ‘soul’. Direct wound
”You’ll have your daughter covered with a Barbary horse; You’ll have your nephews neigh to you’ Iago (1.1)’You’ll’- certainty. Inevitable. ‘Daughter’ – blood. Causes pain. Traitorous’Barbary horse’- African horse. ‘Moor’. Pity. Violent imagery. Sounds like barbarian. Othello has been portrayed as an animal before his introduction. Iago a coward? ‘Covered’- no freedom. Hidden away. ‘Lost’. Suffocating. Pain. Anguish.’nephews neigh’- zoomprphic imagery. Nephews are his grand children. Demeaning. Alliteration emohasies its finality. Be barbaric. Loss of status. Pity and fear. Uncontrolled. Jacobean comedy. Tragic trope. No discipline. ‘Moors’
‘Thou art a villain’ Brabantio (1.1)Iago is a viallin. Portrayed from the beginning of the text. Foreshadow
‘Making the beast with two backs’ Iago (1.1)Having sex right now. Offspring will be a ‘beast’. Zoomporphic imagery. Twobacks suggests sex.
‘Oh heaven, how she got out? O treason of the blood’ Brabantio (1.1)’Oh’- sigh of frustration. Pain and worry. Looking for answers. ‘Heaven’ brababtio opposes iagos character and swears to yeh heaven’s instead. ‘How…out’- blatant confusion. She was trapped? No freedom. Out suggests that she was a prisoner in her own home.’Treaseomn’ is punishable by death. Evokes Fear in the audience. Own blood rebels. No trust. Brababtio has been deeply wounded but feel pity for Desdemona.
‘But that I love thee gentle Desdemona, I would not my unhoused free condition’ Othello (1.2)’Love’- Othello has revealed his weakness to Iago. Audeicne question if it is live after iagos vicious descriptions. He would not Give away his freedoms and marry her if he didn’t love her. ‘Condition’ illness. Disease.
‘Not I, I must be found. My parts, my title and my perfect soul shall manifest me rightly’ Othello (1.2)- Feels he has to face the truth and justify himself- ‘Must’- bravery, possibly hubris (ego)- ‘Not I’- Warrior, status, leader, brave- ‘Found’- Lost? relates to his past as a ‘slave’- ‘My parts, my title and my perfect soul’- Hubris, status, better than others- ‘My parts’- Honesty, importance, ‘My’, personal pronoun–> relates to his hubris and power (status) compared to Iago-‘My Title’- rights. honor and dignity. -‘perfect soul’- hubris, ‘perfect’ Othello sees nothing wrong with his character, pride will cause his downfall, thinks he won’t be able to miss anything (Iago however, manipulates him)-‘Manifest’- justify him. metaphor? his ‘parts’ are not going to talk, he is. His ‘rude’ speech will manifest him. He has to act modest and not like he has an ego the size of an elephant.-‘My’- repetition of ‘my’ suggests Othello is possibly self centered and sees nothing in relation to those lower than him. he must maintain respect to live up to his status.
‘By Janus! I think not’ Iago (1.2)-‘By Janus’- swearing by a pagan deity with two faces. (beginning and end). Iago begins all the issues and they all end when he gets caught, even if the majority of the character die.’Janus’- represents Iago as he has two different faces with everybody. evokes fear in the audience-‘!’ exclamation mark. horror and disbelief in Othello’s opinion. He believes in Janus, the pagan deity.
‘Damned as thou art, thou has enchanted her’ Brabantio (1.2)- This repeated emphasis on magic on t he part of Brabantio is part of a theme which includes and then culminates in Iago’s seemingly magical control of Othello. Brabantio thinks that Othello has “charmed” his daughter. He cannot conceive that she chose him of her own free will. Similarly Othello falls under the control of someone who manipulates him in ways that subvert his reason.
‘Valliant Othello’ Duke (1.3)Othello’s status. ‘Brave’ and thus, presenting what noble man should be.
‘The bruised heart was pierced through the ear’ Brabantio (1.3)-Bruised’- pain, violence, heartbreak, deceit, tragedy, pity, ugly-‘Heart’- love, pain, betrayal, Desdemona’s love has become ugly and painful to him-‘pierced’- violent, pain, stab, permanent, ‘heart is burst’- ‘through the ear’- Brabantio heard the news. Metaphor- wasn’t really pierced but it hurts. kind of awkward to be poked through the ear. lies. word hurt…
‘My ancient: a man he is of honesty’ Othello (1.3)Talking about Iago.-‘Man’- Iago does not have a status higher than a ‘man’. He is not noble or anything, just an ‘ancient’. Old age.- ‘Honesty’- Dramatic Irony. the audience know he does not wish anyone well. Evokes pity and fear
‘My life upon her faith honest Iago’ Othello (1.3)-Othello will sacrifice himself. he trust Desdemona with his life. Foreshadows domestic tragedy. ‘Honest Iago’
‘We must obey the time’ Othello (1.3)-Fate. Othello is possibly aware that he has not control over the current time, but he is ignorant to the fact that he can not control the ‘time’ he dies- ‘obey’. Personifies ‘time’ like it’s a person. time is important?-‘must’- No questions. Othello can not have a lot of time with Desdemona. Lack of ‘time’ foreshadows the start of domestic tragedy
‘Virtue? A fig!”Our bodies are gardens, to which our wills are gardeners… sect or scion’ Iago (1.3)-‘virtue’- Iago denies morality and standards, claiming they are rubbish.’Garden’- new things, visible, beauty, plant and growth’-‘wills are gardeners’- Free will, you choose what to plant. Iago is purposely causing havoc and chaos. Iago will slowly feed the seed of doubt that will grow and become bigger until finally, it needs to be destroyed.-Both “sect” and “scion” mean a slip taken from a tree and planted to produce a new growth. So Iago is telling Rodrigo that his so-called “love” is a mere cutting taken from a much grander reality, which may or may not grow into something of substance in itself-When Iago makes an analogy between gardening and exercising free will, we’re reminded of the way that Iago is the ultimate master gardener, so to speak. Part of what makes him such a brilliant manipulator of Othello is his ability to plant the seeds of doubt and jealousy in Othello’s mind.
‘Hell and night must bring this monstrous birth to the worlds light’ Iago (1.3)-‘Hell’- fear, infatuation with death and evil’ -‘night’- darkness, fear, danger, black could relate to Iago’s perception of ‘the moor’-‘monstrous birth’- Othello.
August 21, 2019