Iago Character Quotes Flashcards
Quotes to show Iago’s desire for revenge on Othello.
“I follow him to serve my turn upon him”
“In following him, I follow but myself”
“Heaven is my judge, not I for love and duty,
But seeming so, for my peculiar end;”
“I will wear my heart upon my sleeve
For daws to peck at; I am not what I am.”
“I hate the Moor”
“He holds me well;
The better shall my purpose work on him”
He plans a “double knavery” - to destroy Cassio and Othello
Quotes to show Iago believes Othello slept with his wife
“It is thought abroad that ‘twixt my sheets
H’as done my office”
“I know not if’t be true,
But I, for mere suspicion, in that kind,
Will do, as it for surety”
“I do suspect the lusty Moor
Hath leaped into my seat”
Quotes to show Iago believes Cassio slept with his wife
“I fear Cassio with my nightcap too”
Quotes to show Iago’s desire for revenge on Cassio
He describes Cassio as a man “that never set squadron in the field,
Nor the division of a battle knows”
“Mere prattle without practice,
Is all his soldiership”
Quotes to show Iago’s deceitful nature
Ironically Iago is repeatedly described as honest - this shows that Iago is such a skilled manipulator:
Cassio says that he “never knew a Florentine more kind and honest”
Desdemona declares “O, that’s an honest fellow”
He persuades Othello that his “honesty and love doth mince this matter” when the opposite is true.
This creates ironic tension between different meanings of honest because Iago uses his “honest” reputation to destroy Cassio’s honour and Desdemona’s chastity.
Even after Othello kills desdemona he still calls Iago “My friends…honest, honest Iago.”
Yet Iago is aware that he is a “super subtle venetian” and reveals to the audience
“I am not what I am”
Iago’s last line in the play to show his true evil nature.
“Demand me nothing. What you know, you know.
From this time forth I never will speak word.”
Iago showing his contempt for Othello’s “weak function”
“His soul is so enfettered to her love
That she may make, unmake, do what she list”
Othello says, “when I love thee not/ Chaos is come again”
-He reveals to Iago that if he begins to doubt Desdemona then there will be disorder, her moral goodness keeps him in order and without moral goodness in the world there will be anarchy.
Iago presented as evil
“divinity of hell”
“So I will turn her virtue into pitch
And out of her own goodness make the net that shall enmesh them all”
Quotes to contrast Iago under the cover of Darkness and In the light
“I hate the moor”
“My lord, you know I love you”
Quotes of Iago which encourage Othello to question Cassio
“Did Michael Cassio, when you wooed my lady
know of your love?” - plants seed
“I did not think he had been acquainted with her” - plants another seed
“Look to your wife observe her well with Cassio”
“I would not have your free and noble nature out of self-bounty be abused. Look to’it”
“What if I had said I had seen him do you wrong”
Quotes to show that Othello had been affected by what Iago has said in Act 3 Scene 3.
Othello immediately asks:
“Is he not honest?” - awful dramatic irony
Othello is provoked by Iago’s manipulative ways and says “What dost thou say…Why dost thou ask…Why of thy thought…what dost thou think?”
“Why did I marry?”
Quotes to show Iago’s horrible tactics
“The moor already changes with my poison”
“In Cassio’s lodging I will lose this napkin”
“My medicine works! Thus credulous fools are caught”
Iago lies about Cassio’s dream about Desdemona & his sexualised language
“I lay with Cassio lately…In sleep I heard him say, “Sweet Desdemona…”
“And then, sir, would he gripe and wring my hand,
Cry ‘O sweet creature! Then kiss me hard.”
he claims Cassio said when sleeping “Cursed fate
That gave thee to the Moor!”
Quotes to show Iago’s scheming becomes darker & Iago being the “opportunist”
“Do it not with poison. Strangle her in her bed, even the bed she hath contaminated”
“wether he kill Cassio,
Or Cassio him, or each do kill the other,
Every way makes my gain”
Quotes to show Iago kills Roderigo
“O damned Iago! O inhuman dog!” - shows he is predatory, lack of humanity
