Act 3, Scene 3

Question 1

A3, S3: Emilia: “I warrant it grieves my husband / As if the cause were his”

Answer 1

Image of Iago being upset by what has happened to Cassio - link to how he uses this to manipulate Othello

Question 2

A3, S3: Cassio: “Whatever shall become of Michael Cassio”

Answer 2

Cassio speaks about himself in 3rd person - sense of arrogance?

Question 3

A3, S3: Desdemona: “If I do vow a friendship, I’ll perform it / To the last article”

Answer 3

Desdemona pledges her allegiance to Cassio in a way that is almost over the top - could be read the wrong way?

Question 4

A3, S3: Iago: “Ha! I like not that”
Othello: “What dost thou say?”
Iago: “Nothing, my lord; or if - I know not what”

Answer 4

• Iago is deliberately vague to force Othello to come up with his own ideas - he says something then refuses to elaborate
• Othello completes Iago’s line - shows his urgency/stress

Question 5

A3, S3: Iago: “That he would sneak away so guilty-like, / Seeing you coming”

Answer 5

Iago allows Othello to speculate about what is happening to bait him into a response

Question 6

A3, S3: Desdemona: “I have been talking with a suitor here, / A man that languishes in your displeasure”

Answer 6

Referring to Cassio with a double meaning - Othello will infer the meaning of lover, not someone who pleads

Question 7

A3, S3: Desdemona: “Good my lord, / If I have any grace or power to move you”

Answer 7

Shows her subservience and weakness

Question 8

A3, S3: Othello: “Not now, sweet Desdemon, some other time”

Answer 8

• “Sweet” shows affection - implies he is still relatively calm
• He is still fairly cold to her - this is the first time they interact while Othello is jealous/worried - they complete each others’ lines through this section with Desdemona asking a question but Othello dismisses her quickly

Question 9

A3, S3: Desdemona: “But let it not / Exceed three days”

Answer 9

Desdemona gives Othello a limit - she is in control because of her feminist power

Question 10

A3, S3: Desdemona: “When I have spoke of you dispraisingly - / Hath ta’en your part; to have so much to do / To bring him in?”

Answer 10

Double meaning which suggests Cassio took his part in Othello’s relationship - leads Othello to take Desdemona’s words more suspiciously, especially since this would ‘explain’ why she spoke negatively

Question 11

A3, S3: Othello: “Whereon, I do beseech thee, grant me this / To leave me but a little to myself”

Answer 11

Othello wants to be left alone - surprising since they were recently married

Question 12

A3, S3: Othello: “But I do love thee; and when I love thee not, / Chaos is come again”

Answer 12

He was self assured and confident in act 1 but now he is less convinced as he sees himself in chaos and turmoil internally

Question 13

A3, S3: Iago: “But for a satisfaction of my thought; / No further harm”

Answer 13

Ironic that this comes from Iago, it also shows his manipulation

Question 14

A3, S3: Othello: “Is he not honest?”
Iago: “Honest, my lord?”
Othello: “Honest? Ay, honest.”

Answer 14

Ironic tripling of honest, as well as them completing each other’s lines

Question 15

A3, S3: Othello: “Alas, thou echoest me, / As if there were some monster in thy thought / Too hideous to be shown”

Answer 15

This could be a reference to the “green eyed monster”, Iago being a monster, or Othello himself being a monster - this implies Iago is a manifestation of Othello’s worry and inner problems

Question 16

A3, S3: Iago: “My lord, you know I love you”

Answer 16

Direct contradiction and explicit lie - manipulation is clear

Question 17

A3, S3: Iago: “Men should be what they seem; / Or those that be not, would they might seem none.”

Answer 17

Immediately tries to persuade Othello to stop believing Cassio, but subtly

Question 18

A3, S3: Iago: “Good name in man and woman, dear my lord, / Is the immediate jewel of their souls. / Who steals my purse, steals trash; ‘tis something, / nothing”

Answer 18

Iago discusses the importance of reputation, directly contradicting what he said to Cassio, and this idea is one he has actually taken from what Cassio says. He also references how he takes money from Roderigo

Question 19

A3, S3: Iago: “O beware my lord of jealousy; / It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock / The meat it feeds on”

Answer 19

Metaphor for jealousy that gives a sense he is speaking from personal experience - implies that Iago wants Othello to suffer the way he does/has - Othello isn’t innately jealous, but Iago is?

Question 20

A3, S3: Iago: “But O, what damned minutes tells o’er / Who dotes, yet doubts, suspects, yet fondly loves”

Answer 20

Alternates positive and negative verbs, juxtaposing them. Perhaps indicates Iago’s own internal conflict/disorder, but also what he intends to impose on Othello

Question 21

A3, S3: Iago: “Look to your wife; observe her well with Cassio; / Wear your eyes thus, not jealous nor secure”

Answer 21

Acts as though he is giving Othello advice, rather than the one causing his doubt

Question 22

A3, S3: Iago: “In Venice they do let God see the pranks / They dare not show their husbands”

Answer 22

Reinforces the idea of Venice being two faced, as well as referencing Iago once more. Perhaps another way that it is implied that Othello doesn’t really understand the way that Venetian society operates because of how they exclude him from the inner circle of their society

Question 23

A3, S3: Iago: “She did deceive her father, marrying you; And when she seemed to shake, and fear your looks, / She loved them most”

Answer 23

Implies Desdemona could easily lie to Othello, and this is what Brabantio said to Iago, which is something Iago wants to remind us of

Question 24

A3, S3: Iago: “I am to pray you not to strain my speech / To grosser issues, nor to larger reach / Than to suspicion”

Answer 24

Trying to act as though he doesn’t want Othello to look too deeply into what he has said - ironic

Question 25

A3, S3: Iago: “My speech should fall into such vile success / Which my thoughts aimed not”

Answer 25

Oxymoron indicates his duplicity

Question 26

A3, S3: Iago: “Not to affect many proposed matches / Of her own clime, complexion and degree”

Answer 26

Iago explicitly says Desdemona married outside of her social circle, and makes it clear that they can’t be expected to stay together because she as married outside her race

Question 27

A3, S3: Othello: “Why did I marry? This honest creature doubtless / Sees and knows more, much more, than he unfolds”

Answer 27

Shows that Iago’s persuasion is successful

Question 28

A3, S3: Othello: “This fellows of exceeding honesty”

Answer 28

Ironic

Question 29

A3, S3: Othello: “If I do prove her haggard… I’d whistle her off, and let her down the wind / To prey at fortune”

Answer 29

• Reference to an untamed bird - semantic field of falconry. A hawk would’ve been an accessory to a knight at the time, so Othello is trying to put the situation in terms familiar to him that he can understand
• He also says he is happy to let her go, something that is contradicted later in the play

Question 30

A3, S3: Othello: “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 30

Direct reference to Cassio and his way with words, as well as an acknowledgement that his language is ‘lesser’ than that of those around him

Question 31

A3, S3: Othello: “O curse of marriage! / That we can call these delicate creatures ours, / And not their appetites”

Answer 31

Use of an apostrophe, and he speaks possessively. Use of “appetites” as well indicates he is beginning to speak and think (Heidegger) more like Iago in dehumanising women and being more controlling

Question 32

A3, S3: Emilia: “My wayward husband hath a hundred times / Wooed me to steal it.”

Answer 32

Indicates she is aware he is not a good person, and it shows Iago’s persistency and therefore dedication to his plan

Question 33

A3, S3: Iago: “A thing for me? It is a common thing -“
Emilia: “Ha?”
Iago: “To have a foolish wife”

Answer 33

Iago twists her meaning as well as showing his misogyny and implying he is not attracted to her

Question 34

A3, S3: Emilia: “Why, that the Moor first gave Desdemona, / That which so often you did bid me steal”

Answer 34

Emilia also dehumanises Othello, and this line shows that Emilia has stolen the handkerchief to please Iago

Question 35

A3, S3: Iago: [Snatching it] “Why, what is that to you?”

Answer 35

Forceful verb to show his control over her which becomes more significant as there are few stage directions throughout ‘Othello’. It also shows how he treats her badly and takes advantage of her

Question 36

A3, S3: Iago: “Trifles light as air / Are to the jealous confirmations strong / As proofs of holy writ”

Answer 36

Ironic that Iago references the bible

Question 37

A3, S3: Iago: “The Moor already changes with my poison / Dangerous conceits are in their natures poisons, / Which at the first are scarce found to distaste / But, with a little, act upon the blood, / Burn like mines of sulphur”

Answer 37

References to hell and images with negative connotations. Iago references the way in which tragedy works; the catalysis of a harmartia. This implies that he may not be the antagonist, but instead is there to guide the audience through the workings of the play - post-modern idea of deconstruction

Question 38

A3, S3: Othello: “Thou hast set me on the rack”

Answer 38

Reference to torture equipment - shows the extent of Othello’s love for Desdemona in the level of emotional torment Iago is causing him

Question 39

A3, S3: Othello: “Farewell the tranquil mind; farewell content; / Farewell the plumed troops”

Answer 39

Tripling of farewell emphasises his emotional torment. Farewell is also repeated twice more in the same speech

Question 40

A3, S3: Othello: “Othello’s occupation’s gone”

Answer 40

He feels he has lost his purpose in life, which has even more significance since being a soldier is shown to be one of the most (if not the most) integral part of his character, in that it precedes all others

Question 41

A3, S3: Othello: “If thou dost slander her and torture me, / Never pray more; abandon all remorse; / On horror’s head horrors accumulate”

Answer 41

Uses informal second person mode of address. Othello believes no crime is worse than making him believe Desdemona is unfaithful - shows how important Desdemona is to Othello, but also shows his insecurity

Question 42

A3, S3: Othello: “I think my wife be honest, and think she is not. / I think that thou art just, and think thou art not.”

Answer 42

Parallel structure of the 2 lines - the second half of the sentence is a negation of the first, and it is ironic because Iago is almost entirely dishonest to Othello, but he still doubts his honesty to the same degree as Desdemona’s, despite her being honest to him

Question 43

A3, S3: “Her name that was as fresh / As Dian’s visage, is now begrimed and black / As mine own face”

Answer 43

Negative view of himself, shows his own insecurity from his treatment that comes as a result of his race. He almost pits himself against the purity associated initially with Desdemona (Diana was a virgin goddess) to further shows the negative connotations he has been forced to associate with his race

Question 44

A3, S3: Othello: “Arise black vengeance, from the hollow hell. / Yield up, o love, thy crown and hearted throne to tyrannous hate”

Answer 44

Racist part of play - Othello is allowing his ‘blackness’ to take over - his id

Question 45

A3, S3: Othello: “Pontic sea”

Answer 45

Part of Black Sea, and it is also in Turkey who they are at war with

Question 46

A3, S3: Othello: “Now art thou my lieutenant”

Answer 46

Iago has finally got what he wanted right at the end of the scene