Characterisation Flashcards
Who are the significant characters in Othello?
- Othello
- Desdemona
- Iago
- Cassio
- Brabantio
- Roderigo
- Emilia
Othello
‘the gross clasps of …’ (Roderigo)
‘gross clasps of a lacivious Moor’ (1,1)
Iago
I follow him…
‘I follow him to serve my turn upon him’ a1s1
Cassio
“The ____ Desdemona”
‘The divine Desdemona’ a2s1
Othello
‘I ____ his daughter’
‘let her speak…’
‘I won his daughter’ a1s3
‘let her speak before her father’
Othello
‘the ____ affects in me _____’ a1s3
‘the young affects in me defunct’ a1s3
Othello
‘pertains to feats of….’ a1s2
‘pertains to feats of broil and battle’ a1s2
Desdemona
‘with a greedy ear…
‘draw from her… (Othello a1s3)
‘with a greedy ear devour up my discourse’
‘draw from her a prayer of earnest heart
Desdemona
‘my noble father I do perceive…
‘but here’s my husband:…’
‘my noble father I do perceive a divided duty’ a1s3
‘but here’s my husband: And so much as my mother showed to you, preferring you before her father”
Desdemona
‘I saw Othello’s visage… a1s3
‘I saw Othello’s visage in his mind’ a1s3
What does Othello call Desdemona in A1S3?
‘my fair warrior’
‘my soul’s joy’
How does Iago and Cassio describe Desdemona in a2s3?
Iago ‘she is sport for Jove’
Cassio ‘indeed she’s a most fresh and delicate creature’
Iago paradox
‘were I the Moor, I would not be …’
Were I the Moor, I would not be Iago. In following him I follow but myself’ a1s1
Iago
‘I do suspect the ____ Moor hath… a2s1
“I do suspect the lusty Moor hath leaped into my seat.. Doth like a poisonous mineral gnaw my inwards’ a2s1
Iago describing Cassio
in a2s1
a knave very voluble’
‘a slipper and subtle knave’ a2s1
Cassio describing Desdemona in a2s1
“ our great captain’s captain”
“a maid that paragons description and wild fame” a2s1
“the riches of the ship have come ashore”
Brabantio
‘O ____ of the ____’ a1s1
“ O treason of the blood” a1s1
Brabantio’s lack of understanding of his daughter’s character
“she shunned the …. a1s2
“a maiden never ____, of spirit…. a1s3
“ she shunned the wealthy, curled darlings of our nation” a1s2 137
“a maiden never bold, of spirit so still and quiet”
Iago’s soliloquy outlining his plan to get Casssio drunk- depiction of Roderigo a2s3
‘my sick fool Roderigo, for whom love…
‘my sick fool Roderigo, for whom love hath turned the wrong way out’
Othello’s rage after Cassio hitting Montano a2s3
‘Are we turned Turks? and to ourselvs do that…
‘honest Iago.. on thy love…
‘Are we turned Turks? and to ourselves do that which heaven hath forbid the Ottomites?’
‘honest Iago… on thy love I charge thee’
Othello is ruled by passion soliloquya2s3
My blood begins my safer guides to rule…
,My blood begins my safer guides to rule and passion, having my best judgement collied, assays to lead the way
Reputation Cassio a2s3
‘Reputation, reputation, reputation!… I have lost…
I have lost the immortal part of myself- and what remains is bestial
Reputation Iago a2s3
‘Reputation is an idle and…
‘Reputation is an idle and most false imposition, oft got without merit and lost without deserving. You have lost no reputatiotion at all, unless you repute yourself such a loser’
Iago about Desdemona
a2s3
‘our general’s wife is now…
‘she is of so free, so kind, so…’
‘our general’s wife is now the general’
‘she is of so free, so kind, so apt, so blest a disposition that she holds it a vice in her goodness not to do more than she is requested’
Othello mirroring Iago’s language a3s3
‘Excellent ____! Perdition….’
Excellent wretch! Perdition catch my soul But I do love thee! and when I love thee not chaos is come again’
-Desdemona also says ‘Whatever you be, I am obedient’ beforehand
Iago manipulating his language to make Othello feel a certain way
O: ‘If thou dost love me…
O: ‘If thou dost love me show me thy thought’
I: ‘My lord, you know I love you’
Desdemona’s agency used for and against her loyalty a3s3
O: ‘For she had eyes and ____ me’
I: ‘she did deceive her ___ marrying you’
I: ‘To seal her father’s …
O: ‘For she had eyes and chose me’
I: ‘she did deceive her father marrying you’
I: To seel her father’s eyes up, close as oak’
Othello’s soliloquy a3s3 which is the peripeteia of choosing to listen to I not D
Falconry imagery
‘Though that her jesses were…
‘Though that her jesses were my dear heart-strings, I’d whistle her off and let her down the wind to prey at fortune’
O still loves D but would still cast her away if she were unfaithful
Othello’s hamartia in believing I soliloquy a3s3
‘This fellow’s of exceeding ____ and…
‘This fellow’s of exceeding honesty and knows all qualities, with a learned spirit’
Othello’s soliloquy a3s3 which is the peripeteia of choosing to listen to I not D
Othello’s insecurities
‘haply for I am black….
‘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’
Othello’s soliloquy a3s3 which is the peripeteia of choosing to listen to I not D
marriage and motif of appetite
‘O curse of marriage that we can call these ____ creatures ours…
‘O curse of marriage that we can call these delicate creatures ours and not their appetites’
Othello is upset with Desdemona a3s3
‘Her name, that was as fresh as ____, it is now…
‘Her name, that was as fresh as Dian’s visage, is now begrimed and black as mine own face. ‘
Othello’s transformation to villain a3s3
‘I’ll tear her….
‘Damn her, lewd____
‘I’ll tear her all to pieces’
‘Damn her lewd minx’
Desdemona and Emilia talk about the handkerchief
D: ‘Where should I lose that handkerchief, Emilia?’
E: I _____ madam
D: my noble moor is true of mind, and …..
‘I know not madam’
‘My noble moor is true of mind, and made of no such baseness as jealous creatures are’
Emilia as wise a3s4
‘(Men) are all but stomachs, and we all but ____
‘(Men) are all but stomachs, and we all but food: They eat us hungerly, and when they are full they belch us’
Cassio’s pressure on Desdemona a3s4
‘Exist, and be a member of his love whom I…
‘Exist, and be a member of his love whom I, with all the office of my heart entirely honour’
Desdemona realising O’s change
‘My lord is not… a3s4
My lord is not my lord
Emilia echoes Iago a3s4
‘But jealous souls will not be answered so…
‘But jealous souls will not be answered so: They are not ever jealous for the couse but jealous for they’re jealous. It is a monster begot upon itself, born on itself’
Exclamatives from Othello
a4s1 ‘Lie with her? lie on her?…
‘Lie with her? lie on her? We say lie on her when they belie her! Lie with her, zounds that’s fulsome! Handkerchief! confessions! handkerchief!’
What os the significance of Othello when ‘He falls in a trance.’ in a4s1?
Shows the degradation of his mind to the point where he is powerlessness to his feelings
Cassio’s degradation of Bianca a4s1
‘this is the monkey’s own giving out’
‘she haunts me in every place’
‘so hangs and lolls and weeps upon me’
Othello’s conflict of love and hate with Desdemona A4S1 PROSE
‘ay let her rot and perish…
‘my heart is turned to …’
‘o the world hath not a ____ creature’
‘I will ___ her into messes….
‘Ay let her rot and perish and be damned’
‘my heart is turned to stone: I strike it, and it hurts my hand’
‘O the world hath not a sweeter creature’
‘I will chop her to messes. Cuckold me!’
Emilia defending D religious imagery a4s2
‘lay down my ___ at stake’
‘let heaven requite it with the _____ curse for if she be not…
‘lay down my soul at stake’
‘let heaven requite it with the serpent’s curse,for if she be not honest, chaste and true there’s no man happy’
Othello calling D a whore a4s2
‘This is a subtle whore, a ___, lock and key…
‘This is a subtle whore, a closet, lock and key, of villainous secrets’
Emilia as mouthpiece for audiece a4s2
‘hath she forsook so many noble matches…
‘hath she forsook so many noble matches, her father, and her country, and her friends to be called whore? would it not make one weep?
Desdemona as frustratingly passive a4s2
‘It is my ___ fortune’
‘it is my wretched fortune’
When is Iago presented as Machiavellian in Act 5?
When he ‘stabs Roderigo’ in secret, this shows how quick he is to abandon loyalty when there is the opportunity to promote himself
Treatment of Bianca a5s1
‘O fie upon thee, ____
‘I do suspect this trash to be a…
‘O fie upon thee, strumpet!’ (Emilia)
‘I do suspect this trash to be a party in this injury’ (Iago)
Saintly imagery to describe Desdemona a5s2
‘you ___ stars’
‘I’ll not…scar that …
‘you chaste stars’
‘I’ll not…scar that whiter skin of hers than snow
Emilia’s exclamatives a5s2
‘You told a lie, a ____ lie!’
‘Nay lay thee down and roar for thou…
‘You told a lie, an odious, damned lie!’
Nay lay thee down and roar for thou hast killed the sweetest innocent that e’er did lift up eye’
Othello’s self loathing torture imagery a5s2
‘roast me in ___, wash me in…
‘ I took by the throat the circumcised …
‘roast me in sulphur, wash me in steep-down gulfs of liquid fire!’
‘I took by the throat the circumcised dog and smote him-thus!’
Othello removing himself from blame a5s2
‘An honourable murderer, if you will…
‘Speak of one that loved…
‘An honourable murderer, if you will For nought I did in hate, but all in honour’
‘Speak of one that loved not wisely, but too well’
Cassio’s gallant reputation
“ a ____ arithmetician…
“a great arithmetician… a Florentine… That never set a squadron in the field”
* Florence was associated with intellect and progress
* Iago doesn’t believe Cassio isn’t fit for war because he is a man of logic and strategy, not action
Cassio as easily manipulated
‘They have given me a ____ already”
‘Let me go, sir; or I’lll….
“They have given me a rouse already”
“Let me go, sir; or I’ll knock you o’er the mazzard”
Cassio as gallant
‘____ to thee,lady”
‘I may again exist and be a member…
‘Hail to thee, lady”
“I may again/ Exist and be a member of his love/ Whom I, with all the office of my heart entirely honour”
Cassio’s duplicitous nature
Calls Bianca his ‘___ love’
but she ‘hangs and lolls and…
‘____ me in every place’
‘sweet love
‘hangs and lolls and weeps upon me’
‘haunts me in every place’
Cassio’s cowardice that takes advantage of Desdemona
‘solicitor’
‘I pray you pardon me, I cannot speak’
Emilia as the jaded housewife
‘you shall not ___ my praise’
‘I nothing to ____ his fantasy’
‘you shall not write my praise’
‘I nothing to please his fantasy’
Emilia
‘It is their husbands fault if wives…
“It is their husbands’ fault if wives do fall. The ills we do, their ills instruct us so”
Emilia as a martyr
‘The Moor hath…
‘So speaking as I think…
‘Lay me by…
“The Moor hath killed my mistress”
“So speaking as I think, I die, I die”
“Lay me by my mistress’ side”
