Fate Flashcards
Act 1, Scene 3
BRABANTIO: ‘Look to her moor, if thou hast eyes to see, she has deceived her father, and may thee’
-CAESURA places a warning that if she can fool Brabantio than she can also deceive Othello, changes Othello’s perspective and he will try to keep this in mind going forward
-typical of the TRAGIC GENRE to provide the audience with a hint of what is about to come, hard for Desdemona to escape this fate
Act 2, Scene 1
MONTANO: ‘Our wars are done!’
DRAMATIC IRONY - a different type of war is beginning, Othello and Iago may engage in a metaphorical war
Act 2, Scene 1
GENTLEMAN: ‘I cannot twixt the heaven and the main’
PATHETIC FALLACY - not being able to discern anything at sea foreshadows Iago’s own deceit clouding this vision of those around him
Act 2, Scene 1
OTHELLO: ‘If it were now to die, twere now to be most happy’
-FATALISTIC MOMENT illustrating how Othello is aware of his mortality
-Othello feels entirely fulfilled and content with Desdemona, link to the tragic themes of death
-suggests that the trajectory of their relationship is intertwined with death
Act 2, Scene 1
OTHELLO: ‘My soul hath her content so absolute that not another comfort like to this succeeds in unknown fate’
-free will and self fulfilling prophecy
-Othello is very aware of how perfect this moment is, and that their relationship is fated to decline as the best moments have already been lived
-Othello ALLUDING to his destiny being FATED yet he doesn’t know the reality of what is to come, aware of his mortality
Act 2, Scene 3
IAGO: ‘He’ll be as full of quarrel and offens as my young mistresses’ dog’
-Iago working for FATE → exploiting Cassio’s weakness to program fate to be working against Cassio’s favour
-Audience begin to recognise that Iago is becoming successful in all of his pursuits to cause chaos and downfall → audience feel a sense of powerlessness and it seems inevitable/fated that it will all work in Cassio’s favour
Act 3, Scene 3
OTHELLO: ‘Perdition catch my soul’
‘When i love thee not, chaos is come again’
-sense of FATE, completely engrossed by his love that his whole world will collapse if it breaks down
Act 3, Scene 3
EMILIA: ‘she let it drop by negligence’
-suggests Desdemona is caught of guard, naive and careless in her unaware behaviour
-TRAGIC VICTIM, so secure in her love she would never think of anything sinister in her interaction with Cassio, foresees no ill
-HAMARTIA is her unaware, careless behaviour, this seals her fate
Act 3, Scene 3
OTHELLO: ‘Blood, blood, blood!’
-MINOR SENTENCE + FRAGMENTED SPEECH mirrors Othello’s state of mind
-foreshadows, JOURNEY TOWARDS DEATH and violence to come
-EPIZEUXIS foreshadows family betrayal, passion and the motivation sounds despaired
Act 3, Scene 3
OTHELLO: ‘forever farewell to the tranquil mind!’
-PERIPETIA + ANAPHORA
-Othello’s reversal of fortune, farewell to all of his pride, status, reputation, and honour, marking the end of his noble identity, FATE is set
Act 3, Scene 4
CASSIO: ‘nor my wish to have him see me womaned’
-Cassio doesn’t want Othello to see him with a woman who may be a prostitute due to his reputation
-valuing his reputation so highly is his HAMARTIA as his secretive nature with Bianca will only further fuel Othello’s suspicions of Cassio being with Desdemona, so his decision to keep her a secret seals his FATE
Act 4, Scene 1
BIANCA: ‘this is some minx token’
-Othello will see this as further conformation of Desdemona’s infidelity - FATE is working in Iago’s favour
Act 4, Scene 1
LODOVICO: ‘my lord this wouldn’t have been believed in Venice’
-shows how Venice represents order and how Cyprus has become a place of disorder and conflict, there will be an eventual return to order
Act 4, Scene 3
DESDEMONA: ‘If i do die before thee… shroud me in one of those same sheets’
-FORESHADOWS her own death, Desdemona is strangely aware of her own MORALITY and FATE
-STRONG MOTIF and ALLUSIONS of death
Act 4, Scene 3
DESDEMONA: ‘Sing all a green willow must be my garland’
-Willow song shows the audience that the play is moving closer towards the denouement foreshadowing death to come → introduces a SOMBRE + MELANCHOLIC MOOD
-the green willow tree is a SYMBOL of mourning and sorrow, and the garland symbolises honour and celebration, indicating that the only celebration or achievement for Desdemona is her death which characterises her as a TRAGIC VICTIM
-Desdemona seems strangely aware of her own fate, the natural order of things is seemingly about to be restored and this is Desdemona and Emilia’s last interaction in life
Act 5, Scene 2
OTHELLO: ‘one not easily jealous, but being wrought, perplexed to the extreme’
-reached his FATE, crucial point in the DENOUEMENT
-trying to express how Iago has manipulated him, alluding to his actions not being part of his nature but instead were fully a result of Iago’s orchestration → Othello is placing all blame on Iago and failing to take responsibility for his own motivations such as his jealousy
