Act 3 Scene 3

Question 1

Scene 3 Summary

Answer 1

• Desdemona vows to help Cassio be reinstated
• Iago plants the seeds of doubt about Cassio and Desdemona
• Desdemona begs to have Cassio reinstated
• Iago pretends to conceal his thoughts and it angers Othello who forces it out of him
• Othello shows the first signs of madness
• Emilia steals the handkerchief
• Othello’s insecurities present themself but he still seeks ocular proof
• Iago has Othello bind himself to him for duty and he is fully under Iago’s control now

Question 2

‘Good Cassio I will do all my abilities in thy behalf’

Answer 2

Desdemona - Empathetic and loyal with the belief that she can truly persuade Othello

Question 3

‘I’ll perform it to the last article. Thy solicitor shall rather die than give thy cause awat’

Answer 3

Desdemona - Puts her life on the line to have Cassio reinstated which is the catalyst for the scheme that leads to her death so is foreshadowing in a sense

Question 4

‘I like not that’

Answer 4

Iago - Authorial Method; Mumbling to himself with the intention that Othello will overhear, calculated

Question 5

‘Was not that Cassio parted from my wife?’

Answer 5

Othello - Doesn’t immediately buy into the paranoia Iago pushes

Question 6

‘I prithee call him back’

Answer 6

Desdemona - To Othello regarding Cassio, shows the command she holds over him as wives would not typically talk to their husbands in this way

Question 7

‘I deny thee nothing’

Answer 7

Othello - Can’t help but be won over by Desdemona’s long pleading

Question 8

‘When I love thee not chaos is come again’

Answer 8

Othello - Irony as this does eventually happen

Question 9

‘Did Michael Cassio when you wooed my lady known of your love?’/’He did from first to last. Why dost thou ask?’/’But for a satisfaction of my thought’

Answer 9

Iago/Othello - Intentionally provoking because he knows Othello will eventually cave because Iago does not act like this without reason

Question 10

‘Is he not honest?’/’Honest my lord?’/’Ay Honest’

Answer 10

Othello/Iago - Further provocation to create doubt

Question 11

‘By heaven he echoes me as if there were some monster in his thought too hideous to be shown’

Answer 11

Othello - Example of one of the many times that people say something about Iago that is correct but for the wrong reasons

Question 12

‘My lord you know I love you’

Answer 12

Iago - Contrasts the amount of times he has said he hates him and tries to deflect

Question 13

‘I know thou art full of love and honest and weighs thy words before thou gives them breath’

Answer 13

Othello - Evidence of their once close relationship and also Iago’s duplicitous nature

Question 14

‘Men should be what they seem!

Answer 14

Iago - Authorial Method; emphasis on the word should as he tries to push Othello to the conclusion himself instead of saying it

Question 15

‘My jealousy shapes faults that are not’

Answer 15

Iago - Admittance of his true feelings in another context but removes blame from himself in this situation

Question 16

‘Good name in man and woman is the immediate jewel of their souls’

Answer 16

Iago - Juxtaposes what he tells Cassio about reputation and proves he just says what benefits him in the moment

Question 17

By heaven I’ll know thy thoughts’

Answer 17

Othello - Impatience with Iago shows that his scheme is beginning to seriously affect him

Question 18

‘O beware of jealousy my lord, it is the green eyed monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on’

Answer 18

Iago - Knows from experience but will use this to act as a warning to Othello despite knowing he won’t listen; removes blame as he can say he did try to warn him

Question 19

‘Think’st thou I’d make a life of jealousy?’

Answer 19

Othello - Convincing himself but speaks it aloud to rationalise it and appear unbothered

Question 20

‘I’ll see before I doubt’

Answer 20

Othello - Need for ocular proof

Question 21

‘In Venice they do let God see the pranks they dare not show their husbands’

Answer 21

Iago - Plays on Othello’s feeling of otherness to promote his own cause

Question 22

‘She did deceive her father marrying you’

Answer 22

Iago - Reminds him of Brabantio’s words to exploit his insecurity

Question 23

‘I do beseech your pardon for too much loving you’

Answer 23

Iago - Tries to guilt trip Othello into feeling bad for doubting him

Question 24

‘If more thou dost perceive let me know more, ser on thy wife to observe’

Answer 24

Othello - Mistakenly allows Iago to implicate Emilia, pretends he doesn’t care but shows his curiosity

Question 25

'This fellows of exceeding honest and knows all qualities with a learned spirit of human dealings'

Answer 25

Othello - Constant awareness of Iago's emotional intuition, it as if his whole life has built him up to have a remarkable outward character to have him play this out

Question 26

'Haply for I am black and have not those soft parts of conversation that chamberers have, or for I am declined into the vale of years'

Answer 26

Othello - Authorial Method; Soliloquy where he reveals his insecurities to the audience

Question 27

'Tis the plague of great ones'

Answer 27

Othello - Fits the definition of an Aristotelian tragedy

Question 28

'Why do you speak so faintly, are you not well?'

Answer 28

Desdemona - Evidence of the doting wife and creates sympathy as she is unaware of what has just happened (Authorial method of her wiping his brow with the handkerchief and dropping it)

Question 29

'My wayward husband hath a hundred rimes wooed me to steal it'

Answer 29

Emilia - Has stopped questioning him (keeps her safe from domestic abuse?)

Question 30

'Foolish wife'/'Good wench'/'Go, leave me'

Answer 30

Iago - Disrespect towards women despite the fact that she has done what he asked

Question 31

'Thou hast set me on the rack'

Answer 31

Othello - Begins descent to madness as he feels tortured by the unknown situation

Question 32

'Othello's occupation's gone'

Answer 32

Othello - Begins referencing himself in the first person and feels his identity is lost proving how quickly he is affected by the suspicion

Question 33

'Give me the ocular proof'

Answer 33

Othello - Enters a period of grief and begs for visual proof so he can retain denial until then

Question 34

'Give me a living reason she's disloyal'

Answer 34

Othello - Anger creates implied directions that he places a hand on his sword and begins to threaten Iago because of his distress

Question 35

'I lay with Cassio lately, in his sleep I heard him say sweet Desdemona, and then kissed me hard, then laid his leg over my thigh and sighed and kissed'

Answer 35

Iago - Excellent storyteller and despite it being ridiculous he has fun with this as he knows Othello will believe it (Sexuality link)

Question 36

'I'll tear her all to pieces'

Answer 36

Othello - Blames his wife over the man in the situation

Question 37

'Have you sometimes seen a handkerchief in your wife's hand'/'I gave her such a one'

Answer 37

Iago/Othello - Iago knows he can exploit this because he has the proof on him, but provokes Othello into looking out for this as psychological torment

Question 38

'Arise black vengence'

Answer 38

Othello - Authorial Method; kneels in stage direction so he is below Iago as his madness has reached a point of no return and he now relies on Iago

Question 39

'Witness here that Iago doth give up the execution of his wit, hands, heart to wronged Othello's service'

Answer 39

Iago - Authorial Method; kneels in stage directions to pretend that they are equals when this is untrue and pretends to submit to make Othello believe everything is his own plan (When they rise Othello is reborn into his full state of revenge)

Question 40

'Let her live'

Answer 40

Iago - Wants to appear reasonable at first

Question 41

'I am your own forever'

Answer 41

Iago - Says things like this as he knows Othello believes he weighs all his words carefully before saying them and thus means them