Key Quotes Act 1

Question 1

Iago- ‘in personal suit to make me his lieutenant’

Answer 1

Iago wants the role of Othello’s lieutenant

Question 2

Iago- ‘one Michael Cassio/ that never set a squadron in a field’

Answer 2

Cassio has been offered the role of lieutenant, but he is a mathematician and not cut out for the job.

Question 3

Iago- ‘I follow him to serve my turn upon him’

Answer 3

Even though Iago hates Othello, he is being nice to him to get what he wants.

Question 4

‘Thick lips’

Answer 4

A racist term used against people of African descent. It could also be used to highlight his sexuality.

Question 5

Iago- ‘an old black ram is tupping your white ewe’

Answer 5

Presents Othello as being a mindless animal who has spoiled the pure Desdemona with his lust.

Question 6

Iago- ‘you will have your daughter covered with a Barbary horse, you’ll have your nephews neigh to you, you’ll have courses for cousins, and jennets for Germans’

Answer 6

A metaphor using animal imagery to enhance the racial attitudes towards Othello. The quote suggests that Brabantio will have animals for grand children, because that is what Othello will produce, because he is black.

Question 7

‘Lascivious Moor’

Answer 7

This means that Othello has a huge sexual desire towards Desdemona, almost raping her.

Question 8

‘Moor’

Answer 8

The name used for people originating from North Africa, including places like Morocco and Algeria. In Shakespeare’s time it was used as a generic way to refer to people of African descent.

Question 9

Iago- ‘I hate him as I do hell’s pains’

Answer 9

Iago hates Othello as much as he hates hell, showing the extent of his hatred.

Question 10

Brabantio- ‘ is there not charms by which the property of youth and maidhood may be abused’

Answer 10

Brabantio believes that his daughter has been put under a spell by Othello, in order to fall in love with him. He believes that Desdemona could never fall for Othello, so witchcraft must have been involved.

Question 11

Iago- ‘though in the trade of war I have slain men, yet I do hold it very the stuff o’the conscience to do no contrived murder’

Answer 11

I have killed men in battle, but I didn’t do it because I wanted to. This is ironic as in the end he drives Othello into killing his wife and Iago kills his own wife Emilia.

Question 12

Othello- ‘gentle Desdemona’

Answer 12

Genuinely loves his wife

Question 13

Othello- ‘my parts,my title, and my perfect soul’

Answer 13

My soul is guilt free so I am not worried about what is to happen

Question 14

Othello- ‘keep your bright swords, for the dew will rust them’

Answer 14

Othello is respectful as he does not want to fight.

Question 15

Brabantio- ‘that thou has practiced on her with foul charms’

Answer 15

He believes that Othello has used charms on Desdemona, as she would never fall in love with him without them.

Question 16

Brabantio- ‘sooty bosom’

Answer 16

In this insult, Brabantio is angered at Desdemona’s betrayal to him, “her guardage”, so that she can flee to Othello’s “sooty bosom.” “Sooty” is defined as dirty, and this refers to Othello’s skin, which appears dirty because of its dark color.

Question 17

Brabantio- ‘she is abused, stol’n from me’

Answer 17

Desdemona has been kidnapped by Othello supposedly.

Question 18

Othello- ‘my very noble and approved good masters’

Answer 18

Respectful

Question 19

Brabantio- ‘a maiden never bold of spirit so still and quiet’

Answer 19

Views on women at the time. She emerges from her father’s descriptions as an innocent, girlish figure. This version of Desdemona proves inaccurate when she speaks in Act I. However, by the end of the play Othello’s abusive treatment has turned Desdemona into the fearful girl Brabantio described. This is horribly ironic. Desdemona has been silenced and it seems her final role is to be a sacrifice to masculine pride

Question 20

Othello- ‘ she’d come again, and with a greedy ear/ of moving accidents by flood and field/ of hair-breadth scapes’

Answer 20

Desdemona was wooed by Othello’s stories, not by his witchcraft and charms.

Question 21

Othello- ‘she loved me for the dangers I had passed/ this is the only witchcraft I had used’

Answer 21

Justifying the situation

Question 22

Brabantio- ‘my jewel’

Answer 22

Desdemona is like his possession

Question 23

My noble father,
I do perceive here a divided duty.
To you I am bound for life and education.
My life and education both do learn me
How to respect you. You are the lord of my duty,
I am hitherto your daughter. But here’s my husband,
And so much duty as my mother showed
To you, preferring you before her father,
So much I challenge that I may profess
Due to the Moor my lord

Answer 23

These words, which Desdemona speaks to her father before the Venetian senate, are her first of the play. Her speech shows her thoughtfulness, as she does not insist on her loyalty to Othello at the expense of respect for her father, but rather acknowledges that her duty is “divided.” Because Desdemona is brave enough to stand up to her father and even partially rejects him in public, these words also establish for the audience her courage and her strength of conviction. Later, this same ability to separate different degrees and kinds of affection will make Desdemona seek, without hesitation, to help Cassio, thereby fueling Othello’s jealousy. Again and again, Desdemona speaks clearly and truthfully, but, tragically, Othello is poisoned by Iago’s constant manipulation of language and emotions and is therefore blind to Desdemona’s honesty

Question 24

‘Honest Iago’

Answer 24

Iago makes the characters in the play believe he is honest when in fact he is deceiving them and is going behind their backs to turn others against them. For example, in act 3 scene 3 “my noble lord”. Iago is gaining Othello’s trust by using personal pronouns and addressing him as if they were the best of friends

Question 25

Roderigo- ‘I will incontinently drown myself’

Answer 25

Roderigo wants to commit suicide because he cannot be with Desdemona.

Question 26

Iago- ‘I never found a man that knew how to love himself/ put money in thy purse/ it cannot be that Desdemona should long continue her love for the moor/ these moors are changeable in their wills/ go make money/ I hate the moor/ cuckold him’

Answer 26

Iago decides that he is going to help Roderigo to win Desdemona. He states that if Roderigo pays him and does everything that he tells him to do he will make sure that they get together. Iago himself hates the moor and would do anything to be rid of him.
This shows Iago’s manipulative scheming nature.

Question 27

Iago tells us, ‘Our bodies are our gardens, to which our wills are gardeners; so that if we will plant nettles or sow lettuce, set hyssop and weed up thyme . . . the power and corrigible authority of this lies in our wills ‘ Iago is the fellow who likes to be in control, always. We see his thoughts on human nature through gardens. ‘Though other things grow fair against the sun, Yet fruits that blossom first will first be ripe.’ If we are patient, good things will come to

Answer 27

Iago always wants be in control, see context card for garden imagery

Question 28

Iago- ‘thus do I ever make my fool my purse’

Answer 28

Roderigo is a fool and Iago has manipulated him

Question 29

Iago- ‘Othello’s ear that he is too familiar with my wife’

Answer 29

Thinks that Othello has been sleeping with his wife, he is going to frame him