Act 4 Scene 1 Flashcards
Scene 1 Summary
- Othello falls into a trance from the distress
- He receives the ocular proof as Iago makes a conversation with Cassio appear to be about Desdemona
- Othello wishes to kill them both
- Othello strikes Desdemona in front of the elite of Cyprus and Desdemona’s cousin
‘The devil their virtue tempts and they tempt heaven’
Othello - He begins to embody the crude language of Iago and the attitudes towards women as he falls into madness
‘It comes over my memory as doth the raven over the infected house’
Othello - Speaking of the thought of the handkerchief (raven is a sign of death)
‘Confess? Handkerchief! O devil’
Othello - before he falls into a trance; the once calm general is so worked up over the suspicion of Desdemona cheating that it is inevitable it will create his downfall
‘This is his second fit, he had one yesterday’
Iago - To Cassio; evidence that Othello is completely broken by this news
‘Good sir, be a man’
Iago - Almost scolding towards Othello proving the power he now holds over him
‘I say but mark his gesture’
Iago - Clever of him to make the man who overthinks everything rely on the gestures of an overly affectionate man (pairs with Othello hiding on stage; once noble man reduced to hiding in a corner and foaming at the mouth’
‘Do you triumph Roman?’
Othello - Sees Cassio as a conqueror, he uses frequent asides to react to the casual way Cassio speaks of Desdemona (Bianca)
‘She is persuaded I will marry her out of her own love and flattery’
Cassio - His respect only extends to those in/married to those in positions of power
‘By heaven that should be my handkerchief’
Othello - After Cassio constantly laughs and degrades Desdemona (Bianca) he finds the ocular proof he would deny it without and he can no longer be convinced otherwise
‘How shall I murder him Iago’
Othello - The general looks to the lieutenant for advice (role reversal as Othello diminishes in status)
‘Get me some poison Iago’
Othello - Still has some agency as a general but only when it suits his rage
‘As for Cassio, let me be his undertaker’
Iago - Poses this as a service to Othello but really fuels his desire for personal revenge
‘For the love I bear to Cassio’/’Fire and brimstone’
Desdemona/Othello - Desdemona seals her fate so soon after the proof given to Othello and his madness is apparent to people other than Iago and the audience
‘I have not deserved this’
Desdemona - After Othello strikes her, the love she holds for him and her knowledge of who he was before he changed (and she doesn’t know the reason for this change) make it all the more emotionally painful
‘This would not be believed in Venice’
Lodovico - Desdemona’s cousin, reinforces Othello’s status as an outsider
‘Each drop she falls would prove a crocodile’
Othello - Despite knowing his wife and her emotions well, he believes her sadness is fake due to the false image he creates of her because of Iago’s scheme
‘He is much changed’
Iago - Pretends to be confused and upset at Othello’s actions
