Act 1, Scene 3 Flashcards
A1, S3: Duke: “Valiant Othello”
Immediately addresses him positively, speaking of Othello’s strengths. The Duke sees Othello as a soldier, which dehumanises him - he only respects Othello because of what Othello can do for them in the military
A1, S3: Brabantio: “Take hold on me; for my particular grief / Is of so flood-gate and o’erbearing nature / That it engluts and swallows other sorrows”
- Floods and water imagery reminds us of Venice (importance of Venetian society)
- Speaks purposefully and hyperbolically - extent of his emotions
A1, S3: Brabantio: “My daughter! O my daughter!”
- Dramatic speech; short emphatic sentences, exclamation marks
- Similar to Shylock in ‘Merchant of Venice’, and there is a variant of this scene in ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ in which Egeus (Hermia’s father) accuses Lysander of using witchcraft
- > Shakespeare is never on the side of the father in these situations as he believes the daughter should be free to marry who she wants which was a modern view for the time. Similarly, he is not opposed to interracial relationships
A1, S3: Othello: “Rude am I in my speech / And little blessed with the soft phrase of peace”
- Othello is honest about and aware of his simplicity and inarticulacy
- He contrasts Brabantio as he is much calmer and more polite
A1, S3: Brabantio: “A maiden never bold; / Of spirit so still and quiet, that her motion / Blushed at herself”
Brabantio tries to prove Desdemona is pure and innocent to almost incriminate Othello and imply he has taken advantage of her. His speech this comes from also contains many words from the semantic field of war
A1, S3: Othello: “The trust, the office I do hold of you / Not only take away, but let your sentence / Even fall upon my life”
This foreshadows the end of the play, and “Even fall upon my life” is its own isolated line, not complete in itself - more emphatic
A1, S3: Othello: “This to hear / would Desdemona seriously incline”
Leaning into him, but has dual meanings. It shows she is forward - unconventional due to the expectations of women at the time
A1, S3: Othello: “She wished she had not heard it, yet she wished / That heaven had made her such a man. She thanked me, / And bade me, if I had a friend that loved her, / I should but teach him how to tell my story, / And that would woo her”
- Desdemona is aware of the fact that their relationship would be taboo and almost codes the message that she loves him - but she is able to look past racial differences - loves him as he is a man who has not been presented as a suitor and loves him for who he is, not the assets he has (showing she is not shallow and does not want to follow what her father has set out for her)
- Fairly flirtatious comment - unconventional for a woman at that time
A1, S3: Othello: “She loved me for the dangers I had passed / And I loved her, that she did pity them”
- His adventures and hardship are what has won her love
- He loves her because she pitied him - Othello isn’t used to this? He is only used to being treated as a soldier and being dehumanised
A1, S3: Duke: “I think this tale would win my daughter too. / Good Brabantio, / Take up this mangled matter at the best”
- “Tale” is a phallic pun, implying Othello’s masculinity is enough to win anyone’s daughter over, as well as the obvious relationship to telling stories
- Gives a verdict before he hears any evidence from Desdemona
- He makes it clear that it is not ideal for Brabantio but he will have to accept it - Othello is needed as a soldier - hypocrisy of the Venetian state - uses Othello for what he is good at, but won’t let him in to the inner circle of their society
A1, S3: Brabantio: “I am glad at soul I have no child, / For thy escape would teach me tyranny / To hang clogs on them”
Typical Shakespearean father - wants to control his daughter’s life but fails, and Shakespeare makes him deliberately unsympathetic
A1, S3: Desdemona: “So that, dear lords, if I be left behind, / A moth of peace, and he go to the war, / The rites for which I love him are bereft me”
- Shows extent of their love and what she is willing to risk for him
- “A moth of peace” shows that she does not want to be seen as weak or inferior and implies that she would be lost without him
A1, S3: Othello: “So please your grace, my ancient; / A man he is of honesty and trust”
Talking about Iago - ironic foreshadowing, also refers to him by his job title as Cassio has done previously
A1, S3: Duke: “If virtue no delighted beauty lack, / Your son-in-law is far more fair than black”
Racist implications in this heroic couplet, shows how Othello’s insecurity is because of how he has been treated by others because of his colour, which is what makes him easy to manipulate and why he is trusting
A1, S3: Brabantio: “Look to her, Moor, if thou hast eyes to see, / She has deceived her father, and may thee”
Another heroic couplet that sows the first seed of doubt in Othello - this is the first time that someone has explicitly questioned her virtues
