| “I am not what I am.” (Iago) | Act 1 Scene 1: Iago is established as a dishonest villain from the very first scene. |
| “O, she deceives me past thought!” (Brabantio) | Act 1 Scene 1: Brabantio’s reaction on finding out his daughter has married a black man without his consent. |
| “O heaven! How got she out? O treason of the blood!” (Brabantio) | Act 1 Scene 1: Desdemona has slipped out unnoticed. |
| “O thou foul thief! Where hast thou stowed my daughter?” (Brabantio) | Act 1 Scene 2: Brabantio accuses Othello of stealing his daughter. |
| “It is most true; true I have married her” (Othello) | Act 1 Scene 3: Othello explains to the Senate he is not a thief, just a married man. |
| “Vouch with me, heaven, I therefore beg it not / To please the palate of my appetite” (Othello) | Act 1 Scene 3: Othello reassures the Senate that he does not want Desdemona’s company in Cyprus for purely sexual reasons. |
| “Look to her, Moor, if thou hast eyes to see. / She has deceived her father, and may thee.” (Brabantio) | Act 1 Scene 3: Brabantio warns Othello that he may be deceived by his wife. |
| “My life upon her faith!” (Othello) | Act 1 Scene 3: Othello has such confidence in Desdemona’s honesty that he swears his life upon it. |
| “Thus do I ever make my fool my purse” (Iago) | Act 1 Scene 3: Iago confesses to the audience that Roderigo is his Machiavel (puppet strung along for money). |
| “The Moor is of a free and open nature, / That thinks men honest that but seem so” (Iago) | Act 1 Scene 3: Othello is established as gullible. |
| “With as little a web as this I will ensnare as great a fly as Cassio.” (Iago) | Act 2 Scene 1: Iago’s reaction to Cassio kissing Desdemona’s hand. |
| “O, you are well tuned now, / But I’ll set down the pegs that make this music, / As honest as I am.” (Iago) | Act 2 Scene 1: Iago schemes to un-tune Desdemona and Othello’s marriage. |
| “she first loved the Moor, but for bragging and telling her fantastical lies.” (Iago) | Act 2 Scene 1: Iago leads Roderigo to believe Othello won Desdemona with lies. |
| “Good night, honest Iago.” (Cassio) | Act 2 Scene 3: Cassio calls Iago honest. |
| “And what’s he then that says I play the villain, / When this advice is free I give, and honest” (Iago) | Act 2 Scene 3: Iago defends his ‘honest’ advice in an aside. |
| “I will turn her virtue into pitch” (Iago) | Act 2 Scene 3: Iago schemes to make Desdemona’s goodness look like infidelity. |
| “I never knew a Florentine more kind and honest.” (Cassio) | Act 3 Scene 1: Cassio calls Iago honest. |
| “O, that’s an honest fellow!” (Desdemona) | Act 3 Scene 1: Desdemona calls Iago honest. |
| “Honest, my lord?” (Iago) | Act 3 Scene 3: Iago echoes Othello to tempt him into not trusting Cassio with reverse psychology. |
| “She did deceive her father, marrying you” (Iago) | Act 3 Scene 3: Iago muses over Desdemona’s deception of her father. |
| “I am your own for ever.” (Iago) | Act 3 Scene 3: Iago vows him allegiance to Othello. |
| “If that the earth could teem with women’s tears, / Each drop she falls would prove a crocodile.” (Othello) | Act 4 Scene 1: Othello accuses Desdemona’s tears as false. |
| “I durst, my lord, to wager she is honest” (Emilia) | Act 4 Scene 2: Emilia swears to Othello that his wife is honest to him. |
| “This is a subtle wh*re” (Othello) | Act 4 Scene 2: Othello suspects that Desdemona is sneaky. |
| “Your wife, my lord; your true and loyal wife.” (Desdemona) | Act 4 Scene 2: Desdemona defines herself by her loyalty to her husband. |
| “Come, swear it, damn thyself” (Othello) | Act 4 Scene 2: Othello challenges Desdemona’s honesty. |
Othello: Truth and Deception
August 24, 2019