| ‘Trifles light as air/ Are to the jealous confirmations strong/ As proofs of holy writ’ | Shakespeare’s view of jealousyDestructive + irrational ‘trifles light as air’ – meaninglessProof doesn’t need to be substantialEmilia says this Comparison to religious truths |
| ‘Thou hast set me on the rack!’ | Othello to IagoImagery of torture + pain – extent of sufferingBlames Iago for suffering but doesn’t know the full extent of his involvement – ironic |
| ‘I think my wife be honest and I think she not’ | Othello Duplicity of women – shows how torn he is as he sees her faithfulness but could see her being unfaithful like all Venetian women portrayed by Iago’honest’ repeated throughout – highlights characters misreadings of each otherAntithesis- contradiction in one sentence |
| ‘I’ll tear her all to pieces!”O blood, blood, blood!’ | Deeply violent – diabolical – out of control violence This breakdown of his speech reflects the way Iago speaks Repetition of gory image – more sounds of pain + less articulation |
| ‘fair devil’ | Othello about Desdemona Oxymoron – her pure/ innocent exterior but corrupt inside |
| ‘Pish! Noses, ears, and lips. Is’t possible? Confess! Handkerchief! O devil!’ | Othello before he collapses to the ground Fractured + disjointed language + structure – disjointed mind Exclamatory punctuation Focusing on sexuality + physical body parts – physical nature of his jealousyObsession with handkerchief |
| ‘Was this fair paper, this most goodly book/ Made to write ‘wh*re’ upon?’ | This is Iago’s misogynistic world view of women – debased language Imagining her as the bible – reading + misreading linked to jealousy |
| ‘Dost thou in conscience think- tell me- Emilia-/ that there be women do abuse their husbands/ In such gross kind?’ | Desdeomona – Emilia after Othello has accused her + his behaviour becomes more abusive towards herPathos – deep sense of sympathy for Desdemona Shows complete lack of comprehension of women cheating on men Her dependenace on Emilia to teach her Gross + abused – emotive language |
| ‘he hath a daily beauty in his life/ That makes me ugly’ | Iago to CassioShows Iagos world view Reductive powers of jealousyVoicing how the goodness in people is something he can’t deal with Paradoxical language of beauty + ugly |
| ‘This sorrows heavenly/ It strikes where it doth love’ | Othello before he murders DesdemonaSeeing the opposition within Othello + his conflicted feelings’sorrows heavenly’ – paradoxical language |
| ‘That’s he that was Othello’ | Othello about himself in act 5 – after discovering her innocence and murdering herPast tense – lost himself 3rd person – distancing himself from himselfSense of disgust and horror at what he’s doneCould be seen as over-dramatisation – distance himself from crime he’s done – Leavis interpretation |
| ‘Like the base Indian threw a pearl away/ richer than all his tribe’ | Othello in relation to DesdemonaImagery of value + treasure in relation to Desdemonafocusing more on her loss than her death- objectifying heradmittance of genuine remorse |
| ‘whip me ye devils…Blow me about in winds, roast me in sulphur/Wash me in steep-down gulfs of liquid fire’ | Othello about himselfUse of diabolic language + imagery – often used by Iago now taken on by Othello – infection from IagoImagery of torture + hell paints the image of his remorseImperatives – sense of most hideous of punishments Un-realistic punishments sense of over-dramatic scale again |
| ‘he was great of heart’ | Final lines of the play – Cassio about OthelloCassio is still loyal to him Contextually still great due to military rank but killed his wifeNaivety of Cassio and poor judgement of characters |
| ‘ I do perceive here a divided duty’ | Audience – first direct view of DesdemonaContradicts earlier impression of her being naiveShows self awarenessShows rationality compared to OthelloThings were disrupted before Iago |
| ‘It is merely a lust of the blood and permission of the will’ | Iago to RoderigoHis description of love – no differentiating between love + lustLove is physical function Something that is a choiceEmotionally he isn’t oevrwhelemed |
| ‘I am not what I am’ | Highlights Iagos duplicityIagos prose – direct + straightforwardDirect/ ironic bible reference – warped religionStructure riddle-like – deceptive to the ear |
| ‘I hate the moor/ And it is thought abroad that ‘twixt’ my sheets/ He’s done my office’ | Iago from his soliloquyThematic think of jealousy- destructive + not confined to Othello suggests he’s susceptible to sexual envy’Moor’ = racial slur + disrespect’thought’ = jealousy doesn’t need substantial proof’he’s done my office’ = baseness of language’and’ = isn’t a justification of his hatred – just extension for it |
| ‘The thought of/ Doth like a poisonous mineral gnaw my innards’ | Thematically important- imagery connected to jealousyJealousy personified – ‘gnawing’ gruesome + animalistic – idea jealousy is corrupt + corrosive Poison imagery – used to show damaging affect |
| ‘O my souls joy’ | Othello to Desdemona Shakespeare emphasis on the overwhelming nature of their loveDepends on Desdemona for happiness = dangerous |
| ‘Iago is most honest’ ‘honest Iago’ | Deep dramatic irony – epithetRepeated throughout play – reminded how many people are manipulated by IagoStated by multiple characters |
| ‘I will turn her into pitch/ And out of her own goodness make the net/ That shall enmesh them all’ | Iago about DesdemonaRelationship with audience – awareness of his motivesCorruption of goodnessLight + darknessScale of his victims = all the characters in the playPredatory imagery – purposeful + skilled |
| ‘When I love thee not/ Chaos is come again’ | Othello to DesdemonaExcessive love – warned of desperate state of mind Othello will soon have |
| ‘O beware my lord, of jealousy! It is the green- eyed monster which doth mock/ The meat it feeds on’ | Irrational + destructive nature of jealousySense of familiarity of Iago with jealousyPersonifies jealousyIt reduces characters of the play |
| ‘She had eyes and chose me’ | Conscious of his raceEchos self-assurance + trust that he had in Desdemona |
| ‘O curse of marriage!’ | Quickly alters state of mind, influenced by IagoOxymoron – illustrating conflict within him |
OTHELLO QUOTE BANK
August 18, 2019