Act 3 Flashcards
I never knew a Florentine more kind and honest - Cassio
dramatic irony created at the extent that Iago has been able to deceive the entire character list. He has fooled every, the audience watch helplessly incapable of stopping the inevitable events to come.
“Why, then, tomorrow night, or Tuesday morn, On Tuesday noon, or night; on Wednesday morn.” - Desdemona
Desdemona is slowly unwittingly aiding towards her own tragic downfall through her continuous attempts to interrogate Othello over Cassio. The repeated use of the interrogatives and orders reveal the extent of Desdemona’s innocence, as she Is unaware of the distress and jealousy she could cause. Effectively, it is Desdemona’s flaws of trust and naivety that contribute to her death, flaws that were created in order to highlight how the traditional Elizabethan values relating to women were inappropriate in a real world situation.
“I cannot think that he would steal away so guilty-like” - Iago
This is the turning point of the play, often known as the scene of temptation as well see Iago tease and taunt Othello with suggestions of Desdemona’s infidelity, tempting him into a state of jealous rage. The sneering tone of Iago’s “Ha! immediately garners interest from Othello as Iago’s use of the word “Guilty” and “steal” creates negative images of the behavior between Desdemona and Cassio. The seed of doubt has been planted with the deceptively short and simple opening line, their honesty is no match for his duplicity. His pauses and hesitations are expressions and feelings too powerful to be exposed.
“Excellent wretch! Perdition catch my soul But I do love thee, and when I love thee not, chaos is come again” - Othello
Prophetic metaphor. Passionate and tender language. Reminder of passion in act 2.
“Honest, my lord?” “Think, my lord?” - Iago
disjunctive utterances
“O beware my lord, of jealousy: it is the green eyed monster that doth mock the meat it feeds on” - Iago
painfully ironic that iago embodies the moster who callously feeds on the jealousy he provkes in othello and desdemonas relationship
“For she had eyes and chose me” - Othello
“She did deceive her father marrying you” - Iago
Mirroring Brabantio’s words in Act2.
“I am bound to thee forever” - Othello
By using the word “bound”, a past participle of the very “bind”, it emphasizes to the audience the restricted and confined nature that Othello is in. He has increasingly become tied to Iago to such an extent that he greatly relies on his thoughts, convictions and judgements. Once again this highlights Othello’s loss of identity as the independent and confident war hero that the audience were introduced to at the beginning of the play is lost.
“Haply for I am black” - Othello
As soon as doubt of Desdemona’s infidelity begins, Othello loses his sense of manhood and begins to be affected by the racial prejudices he had previously shrugged off. His feelings reflect the racist society that he lives in and the audience is left to feel pathos towards the pitiful Othello.
“The moor already changes with my poison” - Iago
Snatching the handkerchief Iago regains an excusive control over directing the unfolding jealousy of Othello. By directly revealing his intentions to the audience again, they one again become explicit to the tragi downfall of Othello. This awareness of the scheme he is concocting shows once again the calculated nature of Iago. The destructive language and references to “poison” again reveal the corruption that Iago is creating in Othello’s mind. He has used references to diseases and medicines throughout the play, highlighting the admiring nature of his intelligence as even linguistically Iago is able to manipulate the language to his own advantage.
“Othello’s occupation gone” “Farewell the tranquil mind!”
Othello is now raving angry, and his anger can be portrayed on stage through him erratically pacing around the stage. The exclamatives, interrogatives as well as his use of rhetorical questions does highlight his hamartia of having such a quick temper and perhaps, jumping to such quick conclusions of jealousy. Furthermore, the repetition of “Farewell” highlights the continuing loss of identity for Othello.
“Give me the ocular proof” - Othello
Imperatives. Othello’s demand for ocular proof, that is, tangible evidence of his wife’s adultery, is the turning point in the play. It places Iago in a perilous position. He has to produce physical evidence to support all his false accusations or die. More ironically still, what follows is not physically ‘ocular’ at all, but a play on Othello’s fevered imagination.
“O blood, blood, blood”
Othello is resented as angry, his love towards Desdemona having truly been destroyed by Iago. The fact that he characterizes himself as “black” reveals the extent of his loss of identity, the man the Duke had previously referred to as “far more fair than black” has been destroyed. Once again, the eloquence and poetic language that the audience associated with the previous Othello has disappeared, his broken speech adds to the dramatic effect as his confusion vibrates around the stage and the audience can physically hear and see the consequences of his jealousy. Epizeuxis.
“There’s magic in the web of it” - Othello
The handkerchief is one of the most dominant props in the play, and Shakespeare highlights its significance by continually circulating its presence to the audience on stage whilst mentioning it over 30 times in the text. Here Othello cements the fact that it represents Desdemona’s infidelity, but it also seems to function as a representation of Othello’s exotic past. Ironically, the qualities that attract Desdemona towards Othello are the “charms” that eventually propel the tragic deterioration of their relationship. The fact that such small objects have such an enormous weight in the play intensifies the jealousy of sensitive minds, and the way that small incidents can be magnified into proofs of love and betrayal. Furthermore, this backstory imbues the handkerchief with added meaning and symbolic value, rendering it more like a precious artefact than a mere piece of cloth.
