Marraige Flashcards
Very deliberate use of language here, makes brabantio question why he hasn’t noticed that Des is gone, makes it sound as though his life is over because his daughter has married Othello
“Your heart is burst, you have lost half your soul” - Iago
Act 1 Scene 1
He views his daughter in the stereotypical view of a woman in Elizabethan times as a submissive and weak woman. He is projecting his views on what a woman should be and shows Desdemonas assertive character as she has gone against all her father ever wanted and against all social constructs that were expected of her. She chose love over everything else
“A maiden never bold”- Brabantio
Act 1 Scene 3
Extremely ironic epithet when viewing it in hindsight. Up to this point only Othello has had the respect and admiration to be called “valiant” thus adding greater fuel to engineer Iagos malevolent plan
“Valiant Cassio”- Desdemona
Act 2 Scene 1
This dialogue which is placed at the end of the scene highlights the love that these two lovers have for one another, they are absolutely besotted with one another. These honest interjections of more pure, humble and honest love contrasts greatly to Iagos deceitful behavior, the extent that Iago causes the tragedy between Othello and Desdemona can be shown here.
“O my fair warrior”, “O my dear Othello”, “It gives me wonder as great as my consent to see you hear before me”, “The heavens forbid but that our love and comforts do increase”- Othello and Desdemona
Act 2 Scene 1
During this scene, Shakespeare uses semantic field of marriage in order to cement Iago’s unification together, an almost parody to a marriage of sorts. To a Jacobean audience, marriage was a sacred ceremony to be vowed till death, hence to see the tragic hero and tragic villain kneeling before each other, vowing to join forces cements the inability of Othello’s tragic down fall as there is no way back for him especially due to the fact that for a contemporary audience to whom divorce was not a legal choice, it foreshadows the demolition and destruction that slowly unravels towards the end of the play. This formal recognition of love that has now been turned into a promise of bloodshed and revenge highlights the dark and destructive nature of Iago’s malevolent plan.
“He kneels”, “They rise”, “Heaven”, “Vow”, “engage”
Although her clear struggle against Othello in her murder can be viewed as displaying autonomy and courage, this courage is unfortunately undermined by her passive acceptance of her death and her unwillingness to see Othello’s jealousy. This servitude was a key contributor to her murder in this scene.
‘Oh banish me my lord but kill me not’, ‘Kill me tomorrow but let me live tonight’, ‘but half an hour’ Scene 2 Desdemona
Shakespeare is trying to show Othello’s confusion; his speech in line 90 is a little disjointed, with short phrases and questions. It is completed by a yelp of pain, ‘ O insupportable! O heavy hour!’. Admittedly Othello does not confess his own guilt or express remorse here, but he clearly understands what he has lost. That he sees Desdemona’s death as a monumental loss that can be confirmed by the fact that he thinks there should now be a huge eclipse/ of sun and moon, and that th’affrighted globe/ should yawn at alteration. He feels that nature should reflect the chaos he finds in himself mired in.
‘My wife, my wife! What wife? I have no wife’ Scene 2 Othello
Emilia becomes the voice of the audience in this scene; we must have an outlet for our feelings of outrage. The repetition of this quote is highly charged; Emilia is as reluctant as Desdemona to believe her husband is not what he seems. However, it could also show Emilia coming to the realization of the character that she truly believed Iago to be but had constantly been denying to herself.
Repetition of ‘My husband’ Scene 2 Emilia
