act 3 scene 3

Question 1

desdemona:

‘thy solicitor shall rather die than give thy cause away’

Answer 1

foreshadows her death

desdemona is loyal and noble

a.c bradley - ‘eternal womanly’

fatal choice, as the audience is very much aware. iago’s long term plan is starting to play out as he intended. irony that she does have to die for his cause eventually, as told by iago.

solicitor is an unnatural role for a woman in patriarchal society - objection to female liberation?

Question 2

cassio:

‘i am very ill at ease, unfit for my own purposes’

Answer 2

has to leave

embarrassed about his drunk behaviour

reputation ruined

emphasises the importance of reputation for tudor men

Question 3

othello:

‘what dost thou say?’

iago:

‘nothing my lord’

Answer 3

makes you want to know more - removes responsibility from iago

rhetorical devices

layers of manipulation

temptation - snake in garden of eden

Question 4

desdemona:

‘shall’t be tonight at supper?’

Answer 4

desperate

women not supposed to boss men around

Question 5

othello:

‘excellent wretch! perdition catches my soul, but I do love thee; and when i love thee not, chaos is come again’

Answer 5

refers to himself as an ‘excellent wretch’, an oxymoron that characterises his status as a foolish, out-of-control lover

acknowledges that his love for desdemona has the power to influence him negatively

iago knows this well and capitalises on it

prophetic

the moment they stop there will be chaos

elizabethans believed that before creation was a state of chaos, so would it be following the world had ended.

can be interpreted as othello’s fear of falling out of love with desdemona, that when the day comes it will be catastrophic. another way is that when their love ends, he will adopt some personal chaos, as proven with iago.

cannot see a natural world where he doesn’t love desdemona.

ironically, it is not for natural reasons that he hates her - it is all contrived by iago.

Question 6

iago:

‘indeed?’

Answer 6

not saying much

creates tension and doubt

gaslighting

immoral

Question 7

othello:

‘as if there were some monster in thy thought too hideous to be shown.’

Answer 7

gaslighting is working

suspects that iago is hiding something from him and it is too horrible to say, this is of course the perfect opportunity for iago to reveal how he feels about cassio and begin convincing othello of cassio and desdemona’s relationship

iago is the monster

Question 8

iago:

‘men should be what they seem’

Answer 8

ironic - ‘i am not what i am’

dramatic irony

but then he doesn’t appear as he actually is, as he his different faces to everyone

proves himself right.

Question 9

iago:

‘i am not bound to that all slaves are free to. utter my thoughts!’

Answer 9

not going to tell

othello isn’t going to want to know

plays with othello’s mind to make him think there’s more to the story and triggers his inquisitive nature

Question 10

iago:

‘green eyed monster’

Answer 10

jealousy

renaissance men often suspected their wives of adultery because of the stigma around being a ‘cuckold’. a cuckold man faced both social humiliation and ruined credit. such harsh consequences led to frequent paranoia, also called horn-madness because of the metaphorical horns that supposedly sprout from the cuckold’s brow. othello’s anxiety, though unfair, is understandable.

green and yellow are both emblematic of jealousy, so jealousy is a ‘green-eyed monster’. iago argues that the fortunate man knows his wide is adulterous, while the unfortunate man is plagued by the anxiety of unconfirmed suspicion

ironic as iago wants othello to be jealous in order to ruin his marriage and as part of his revenge.

linking othello to a monster - racial connotations - jealousy as a disease - seven deadly sins. iago plays an innocent role from othello’s perspective - but not to everyone else.

can be consumed by jealousy as one can be consumed by any number of maladies such as typhus

Question 11

iago:

‘poor and content is rich, and rich enough’

Answer 11

okay to be poor if you’ve never known rich

better not to fall in love than find out someone’s cheated on you

content in life in a material sense - divide in society based on class.

highlights divide in perspective between othello and desdemona.

Question 12

othello:

’ tis not to make me jealous to say my wife is fair, feeds well, loves company, is free of speech, sings, plays and dances well; where virtue is, these are more virtuous’

Answer 12

not the jealous type - reasonable

othello is naive

military thinking - black and white - simple

Question 13

iago:

‘i know our country disposition well: in venice they do not let god see the pranks. they dare not to show their husbands’

Answer 13

iago knows the way venetians work

women’s progression

reinforces othello as a outsider

Question 14

iago:

‘could give out such a seeming to seel her father’s eyes up close as oak he though twas witchcraft’

Answer 14

desdemona could deceive her father even when she was young

shakespeare demonstrates that iago refers back to the beginning of their marriage. iago reminds othello of brabantio’s curse-like warning which indicated that desdemona had deceived him and therefore would be likely to deceive othello as well

also reminds othello of brabantio’s accusations that othello had used witchcraft to seduce edsdemona.

imagery of ‘oak’ which its connotations of age to emphasise that desdemona was able to deceive a man as experienced as brabantio.

iago manipulates othello exploiting the complications that were exposed in their initial elopement.

Question 15

iago:

‘long live she so and long live you to think so!’

Answer 15

othello has become sufficiently aware of thinking to permit him the attitude of thought, though not much of the actual process

may she be be honest for a long time. and that you will think she’s honest for a long time.

creates doubt

Question 16

othello:

‘o curse of marriage, that we can call these delicate creatures ours and not their appetites! i had rather be a toad and live upon the vapour of a dungeon’

Answer 16

links to chain of being - expected to be introspective

cuckoldry

dialogue grows darker.

throughout the entire play iago’s dialogue has been laced with mentions of demons, beastly animals, and semi- biblical atrocities such as plagues. othello’s dialogue has been much lighter and more noble, with imagery highlighting his love, civility, and nobility. iago’s psychological poison goes to work on his victims, they start to talk like him - iago’s mentality is itself an infectious disease.

public perception of black people as violent and savage , and how even the noble and loving othello can have a monster brought out from inside him. It is interesting to note that othello’s emerging monstrosity sounds like the white man who’s manipulating him, implying that this same savagery resides in all races, and in fact might be easier to bring out in ourselves than in people different from us.

Question 17

othello:

‘i have a pain upon my forehead here’

Answer 17

manifesting cheating

physically affecting him

medieval folklore - a man who was cuckolded grew horns

Question 18

emilia:

‘what he will do with it, heaven knows not i’

Answer 18

no emotional connection - typical

iago asked emilia to steal handkerchief

thou shall not steal - please/ obey husband

Question 19

iago:

‘trifles light as air are to the jealous confirmations strong as holy writ’

Answer 19

jealous people lose reason

things which don’t usually bother you before, bother you in a relationship

handkerchief is like the bible - honest in truth. taken seriously because most Venetians strong religious believers

Question 20

othello:

‘farewel! othello’s occupation gone’

Answer 20

saying goodbye to his old self

hubristic

Question 21

othello:

‘prove it that the probation bear no hinge nor loop to hang doubt on’

Answer 21

burden of proof law - beyond reasonable doubt

proof or death

Question 22

iago:

‘monstrous world! take note, take note, o world, to be direct and honest is not safe. i thank you for this profit, and from hence
I’ll love no friend, sith love breeds such offence’

Answer 22

blame shifting

iago fights othello’s emotion’s angrily

we despise iago yet he’s admirable

rhyming couplet, shows iagos control over his exertion of manipulation. and how calculated and controlled iago is at this point in the play and juxtaposes that of when he is found out and almost speechless

semantic field of godliness

Question 23

othello:

‘i think my wife be honest, and think she is not’

Answer 23

military background - yes or no answers

destructive grey of the world

jonathan burton - on line 265, othello tries to counter the psychological effects - ‘i am black, and have not those soft parts of conversation’

Question 24

othello:

‘dian’s visage, is now begrimed and black as my own face’

Answer 24

othello’s insecurities - internalising them

goddess of chastity and the moon

desdemona, who othello says resembled diana, has now seemingly had her purity stained and blackened

used to be proud of his race

madonna whore complex - women are either perfect or a whore, shows misogyny

Question 25

othello:

‘poison or fire or suffocating streams, i’ll not endure it’

Answer 25

is it realistic that someone so calm and collected could go so violent so quick?

to a contemporary jacobean audience, this reads as confirmation of their racist beliefs that black people are inherently violent. however, to a modern audience this may read as less realistic, or outright racist.

Question 26

iago:

‘if imputation and strong circumstances which lead directly to the door of truth’

Answer 26

bringing down the burden of proof - lowering threshold of evidence

on the balance of probability - civil case

Question 27

iago:

‘cry o’ sweet creature! and kiss me hard’

Answer 27

gay

talk in their dreams about what they’ve done in the day

wangh - homosexuality is repressed

Question 28

othello:

[he kneels]

Answer 28

giving into desire

falling down the chain of being

everyone has darkness

iago is above him in control

Question 29

othello:

‘like to the pontic sea, whose icy current and compulsive course ne’er feels retiring ebb but keeps due on to the propontic and the hellespont’

Answer 29

compares othello’s rage with the immense power of the sea

reference to ‘hellespont’ alludes the story of hero and leander in greek mythology. leander drowned as he swam across the sea to his lover hero, who then drowned herself to be with him.

suggests that othello sees himself as the young lover wedded to desdemona, but she is across a sea of betrayal and infidelity

translates to the ‘black sea’ - could relate to othello’s status as a moor as, contextually, moors were thought to be uncivilised and unruly – the sea is both of these things so shakespeare referring to the black sea could show othello is returning to (what people in the renaissance era thought was a black person’s) ‘natural state’ of anger and savagery

the currents of this sea flow strongly and unceasingly toward “the propontic and the hellespont” – the former being the small inland sea connecting the black sea and the mediterranean, and the latter being the final narrow strait that joins the two.

In response to iago’s suggestion that his mind may change, othello answers that his “bloody thoughts” are propelled toward an inevitable end, as the waters of the pontic sea are propelled toward the narrow rush of the hellespont.