Act Four, Scene Two Flashcards
Scene Two
> interior location
interrogation
O: You have seen nothing then?
> wants confirmation of D’s guilt
E: Never, my lord
> categorical denial
triadic structure
E: Lay down my soul at stake
> prophetic irony
stout defence
painful - intrinsically linked to D’s guilt
E: If any wretch have put this in your head, let heaven requite it with the serpent’s curse
> biblical allusion - genesis
compares Iago to Satan (unknowingly)
calls for divine justice/ divine retribution
cosmic context - magnitude
O: She’s a simple bawd
> keeper of the brothel
Iago’s conditioning
believes E profiting off D’s infidelity
Othello’s fall
all appearances must be false
whore discredits her intelligence
O: Leave procreants alone and shut the door
> Emilia enacting brothel keeping
entitlement over her - she’s not his wife
(Desdemona) kneeling
> symbol of subservience
prayer
mirroring I+O
O: Be like one of heaven
> theological language cast O as righteous avenger
exposes lack of knowledge of Christianity
identity built around following rules of good Christian/ Husband
O: Therefore be double damned
> she is damning herself by telling a lie
fair has become foul
obsession with holiness - polarizes D
D: To whom, my lord? With whom? How am I false?
> string of questions
poignancy to confusion
D: If you have lost him, I have lost him too
> disown her father if its what he wants
O: Given to captivity
O: Sores and shames
> melodramatic exposure of his turmoil
prefer physical pain
already escaped slavery
O: To make me a fixed figure for the time of scorn
> imagines himself as a statue being mocked
strong element of self-concern
O: Where I must live or bear no life
O: My current runs or else dries up
> talking in extremes
D’s love differences between life and death
O: As summer flies are in the shambles
> foul, grotesque
flies infiltrating corpses
O: Thou weed
> unable to remove the problem
aligning D with out of his control
O: Public commoner
> subjected to similar treatment as Bianca
seen as inhuman
O: That would to cinders burn up modesty
> extension of hell
O: The moon winks
> symbol of chastity
O: Are not you a strumpet?
> dialogue so far removed from act 1
O: That cunning whore of Venice
> society’s words
Iago’s words
O: There’s money for your pains
> gives her hush money
D: Faith, half asleep
D: Who is thy lord
> dreamlike quality
