AO1- Key quotations

Question 1

“An old black ram is tupping your white ewe”
(A1S1 Iago)

Answer 1

-Iago uses animalistic imagery (zoomorphism) to contrast the races and ages of D+O
-Highlights Desdemona’s purity and innocence, compared to Othello who seems like a lascivious old man
-Verb tupping= violent to give the audience a prejudice view of Othello before they see him on the stage

Question 2

“But that I love the gentle Desdemona”
(A1S2 Othello)

Answer 2

-Othello’s soft language contrasts with his image painted by the other characters

Question 3

“I do perceive here a divided duty”
(A1S3 Desdemona)

Answer 3

-Duty shows the position of women at the time: obedient towards their fathers and husbands
-Othello hasn’t been approved by her father so she is unsure how to please both men

Question 4

“That I did love the Moor to live with him”
(A1S3 Desdemona)

Answer 4

-Desdemona is standing up to her father and the court
-Shakespeare presents her as a strong character who has stood up to the patriarchal society
-Speaks in iambic pentameter which suggests she is eloquent and well educated

Question 5

“Valiant”

Answer 5

-Repeated by different characters throughout the play
-Shows despite his race, he has a good reputation due to his military position

Question 6

“Moth of peace”
(A1S3 Desdemona)

Answer 6

-Portrays herself as useless while Othello is at war and wants to be with him
-Moths also seen as destructive creatures so this could be an ironic foreshadowing of how she unknowingly destroys her marriage and ultimately gets killed

Question 7

“Look to her Moor, if thou hast eyes to see: She has deceived her father, and may thee”
(A1S3 Brabantio)

Answer 7

-Rhyming couplet emphasises the ominous feeling of the warning
-Brabantio doesn’t trust Desdemona since she has fallen in love with Othello
-Othello does trust her which ironically foreshadows the end as Othello perceived her to be unfaithful and no longer trusts her, leading her to her death

Question 8

“I hate the Moor”

Answer 8

-Repeated by Iago throughout the play, showing his strong feelings for Othello
-Contrasts some critics who believe Iago was actually in love with Othello

Question 9

“Tis monstrous!” Iago

Answer 9

-Shakespeare’s use of punctuation is ironic, without the caesura of the exclamation mark, Iago himself is described as monstrous
-Subtle example of dramatic irony as audience knows how ‘monstrous’ Iago and is plan actually are

Question 10

“I’ll pour this pestilence into his ear”

Answer 10

-Poisoning is a persistent motif throughout the play
-Poisoning through the ear is repeated throughout ‘Hamlet’

Question 11

“As if there were some monster in thy thought”
(A3S3 Othello)

Answer 11

-Othello’s metaphor ironically echoes Iago’s description of his plot
-Highlights how awful Iago’s manipulative plan is

Question 12

“Swounds”
(A3S2 Othello)

Answer 12

-Othello swearing shows his decline in language and eloquence due to Iago’s manipulation
-Foreshadows Othello’s later fits of ‘epilepsy’

Question 13

“O beware, my lord, of jealousy! It is the green-eyed monster”
(A3S3 Iago)

Answer 13

-Link to Merchant of Venice when Portia refers to “green-eyed jealousy”
-Metaphor
-Green is emblematic of jealousy

Question 14

“I know my price: I am with no worse a place”
(A1S1 Iago)

Answer 14

-Already portrayed as a confident character who believes himself worthy of the position of lieutenant
-Opposite to how Othello is presented as protagonist
-Makes the audience suspicious of Iago straight away

Question 15

“O treason of the blood!”
(A1A1 Brabantio)

Answer 15

-Brabantio believes his bloodline has been corrupted
-Daughters belonging to their fathers back in the day and marriage should have caused happiness, not distrust

Question 16

“If Cassio do remain he hath a daily beauty in his life that makes me ugly”
(A5S1 Iago)

Answer 16

-Highlights the jealousy that becomes the motive behind Iago’s villainy
-Wants Othello to suffer in the same way he is?

Question 17

“O damned Iago! O inhuman dog!”
(A5S1 Roderigo)

Answer 17

-When Othello demands an explanation from Iago, he is silent
-If Iago is the devil incarnate, pure evil, then he needs no motives other than evil itself

Question 18

“This is the night that either makes or fordoes me quite” (A5S1 Iago)

Answer 18

-Shakespeare reflects some of Iago’s weakness in this quote although he has always been portrayed as more or director of a play within a play
-Shows ultimately that no one is really invincible in the tragic genre

Question 19

“Oh banish me my lord but kill me not”
“Kill me tomorrow but let me live tonight”
(A5S2 Desdemona)

Answer 19

-Clear struggle between Othello and Desdemona before her murder which shows courage
-Goes against expectations of women
-Courage is undermined by her unwillingness to see Othello’s jealousy

Question 20

“Nobody: I myself. Farewell” (A5S2 Desdemona)

Answer 20

-Creates more pathos from the audience through Desdemona’s undying love that she continues to feel for Othello
-Highlights her devotion towards him
-Also highlights the tragic flaws her character has
-Takes responsibility so may have come to the realisation that desiring a marriage that would have been portrayed as negatively towards the contemporary audience is her downfall

Question 21

“She’s like a liar gone to burning hell: Twas I that killed her!”
(A5S2 Othello)

Answer 21

-Othello is proudly declaring that he has killed his wife, moments after denying having any knowledge of her death

Question 22

“I told him what I thought, and told no more Than what he found himself apt and true” (A5S2 Iago)

Answer 22

-Highlights Iago’s villainy and once again is shifting the blame
-Also shows that Iago gave very little fuel to go by his claims and yet Othello readily let his jealousy get away from him
-Questions the extent of Othello’s own hamartia that caused his tragic downfall

Question 23

“That’s he that was Othello: here I am”
“O cursed cursed slave! Whip me ye devils”
(A5S2 Othello)

Answer 23

-Othello distances himself and almost creates two identities
-Shakespeare heightens the tragic downfall of the person that Othello once was and who he became as a result of his jealousy

Question 24

“Cursed slave”
“Spartan dog”
“Demi-devil”

Answer 24

-By the end of the play the characters finally come to the realisation of what Iago truly is
-However it’s all come too late to stop this tragedy from ensuring- heightens the tragic ending