Othello Flashcards
Who says this and what tragic conventions are shown:
“I think my wife be honest, and thinks she is not; I think thou art just, and think thou art not”
Othello:
Hamartia - he is doubting Desdemona when he should have just checked with her to discover Iago’s lie. (Act 3:3)
Who says this and what tragic conventions are shown:
“I’ll tear her all to pieces!”
Othello:
Catharsis - first time seeing his completely break (emotional, violent, angry). He no longer sees Desdemona as a human, only an object. (Act 3:3)
Who says this and what tragic conventions are shown:
“O it comes o’er my memory/as doth the raven o’er the infected house”
Othello:
Pathos/hamartia - he believes Iago, the graphic imagery symbolises Desdemona’s “infidelity”. Raven reference signifies death later to come (foreshadowing). (Act 4:1)
Who says this and what tragic conventions are shown:
“He foams at the mouth…breaks out to savage rage”
Iago:
Peripeteia - shows how Othello is now unable to control his mind or body, unlike in Act 1. (Act 4:1)
Who says this and what tragic conventions are shown:
“A horned man, a monster, a beast”
Othello:
Hamartia/peripeteia - he believes he is a cuckold (something a man turns into when he’s cheated on) because of Iago. (Act 4:1)
Who says this and what tragic conventions are shown:
“Ay, let her rot and perish and be damned tonight”
Othello:
Hamartia - he wants to kill Desdemona. (Act 4:1)
Who says this and what tragic conventions are shown:
“This is a subtle whore/O thou public commoner!.. Impudent strumpet!”
Othello:
Myopia - he is blind to who Desdemona really is, a loyal wife. (Act 4:2)
Who says this and what tragic conventions are shown:
“O brave Iago, honest and just…thou teachest me”
Othello:
Myopia - he trusts Iago to be a loyal servant and believes that he has killed Cassio. (Act 5:1)
Who says this and what tragic conventions are shown:
“Yet I’ll not shed blood/now scar that whiter skin of hers than snow”
Othello:
Pathos - he doesn’t want to ruin Desdemona, just wants to kill her current body. (Act 5:2)
Who says this and what tragic conventions are shown:
“Yet she must die, else she’ll betray more men/put out the light”
Othello:
Myopia - he is blind to see that Desdemona is in fact faithful. (Act 5:2)
Who says this and what tragic conventions are shown:
“I would not kill thy unprepared spirit…I would not kill thy soul”
Othello:
Pathos - he doesn’t want to destroy her spirit, as if she hasn’t prayed and confessed her “sins” then her soul will be condemned to hell and not allowed into heaven. (Act 5:2)
AO3: how Elizabethan society were extremely religious.
Who says this and what tragic conventions are shown:
“My wife, my wife! What wife? I have no wife…Methinks it should not be a huge eclipse/of sun and moon”
Othello:
Anagnorisis/pathos - he realises his error. (Act 5:2)
Who says this and what tragic conventions are shown:
“O cursed, cursed slave! Whip me ye devils…dead Desdemona”
Othello:
Peripeteia/anagnorisis/catharsis/pathos - realises his actions were wrong and that he has killed his loyal wife and is now feeling pain for it. (Act 5:2)
Who says this and what tragic conventions are shown:
“I took by th’ throat the circumcised dog/and smote his thus (he stabs himself)
Othello:
Catharsis - he wants to be punished like how he did to a traitor. (Act 5:2)
Who says this and what tragic conventions are shown:
“I am not what I am”
Iago:
He is devious and deceptive, no one knows the true Iago. (Act 1:1)
Who says this and what tragic conventions are shown:
“Twixt my sheets/he’s done my office”
Iago:
Motive for his revenge, Othello ‘may’ have slept with Emilia, he is paranoid. (Act 1:3)
Who says this and what tragic conventions are shown:
“I think you think I love you”
Iago:
The ‘thinks’ reveal his duplicity, he is cruel with his word play.
(Act 2:3)
Who says this and what tragic conventions are shown:
“I’ll pour this pestilence into his ear”
Iago:
The plosive lexis implies the poison and adds emphasis and tension to the plot. (Act 2:3)
Who says this and what tragic conventions are shown:
“Tis the green-eyed monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on. That cuckold lives in bliss”
Iago:
Metaphor about jealousy, he wants to destroy Othello. (Act 3:3)
Who says this and what tragic conventions are shown:
“Strangle her in her bed, even the bed she hath contaminated”
Iago:
He is the master of all plans, he tells Othello how to kill his wife. (Act 4:1)
Who says this and what tragic conventions are shown:
“I have it not about me”
Desdemona:
Hamartia - she doesn’t tell Othello she has lost the handkerchief. Which would have resolved the tragedy. (Act 3:4)
Who says this and what tragic conventions are shown:
“My Lord?”
Desdemona:
Myopia/megalopsychia - blind to her husbands anger, but also a loyal and obedient wife. (Act 4:1)
Who says this and what tragic conventions are shown:
“Your wife, my lord, your true and loyal wife”
Desdemona:
Pathos - pity for her as she is a loyal wife. (Act 4:2)
Who says this and what tragic conventions are shown:
“O good Iago/good friend…”
Desdemona:
Hamartia - she asks Iago for advice on how to speak to Othello because he is angry. (Act 4:2)
Who says this and what tragic conventions are shown:
“Nobody! I myself; Farewell/commend me to my kind lord.”
Desdemona:
Pathos - protects and loves Othello to the end, a loyal, loving wife. (Act 5:2)
Who says this and what tragic conventions are shown:
“What he will do with it, heaven knows, not I:I nothing but to please his fantasy”
Emilia:
Hamartia/myopia - she steals Desdemona’s handkerchief cause she loves Iago. (Act 3:3)
Who says this and what tragic conventions are shown:
“I know not, madam”
Emilia:
Hamartia - she lies to Desdemona about the handkerchief, respect from the audience decreases. (Act 3:4)
Who says this and what tragic conventions are shown:
“To make him a monarch? I should venture purgatory for’t”
Emilia:
She loves Iago true and would cheat on him to make him king and would even go through hell for him. (Act 4:3)
Who says this and what tragic conventions are shown:
“O fie upon thee, strumpet!”
Emilia:
Myopia - she too believes Iago.
Who says this and what tragic conventions are shown:
“The divine Desdemona”
Cassio:
Hamartia - he openly praises Desdemona, something Iago uses to his advantage. (Act 2:1)
Who says this and what tragic conventions are shown:
“With as little as web…I ensnare a great a fly as Cassio”
Iago:
Megalopsychia - “great” shows how highly viewed he is by others but by describing him as a metaphorical fly also shows his insignificance and how he is just an inconvenience for Iago. (Act 2:1)
Who says this and what tragic conventions are shown:
“This is my right hand and this is my left hand. I am not drunk”
Cassio:
Hamartia - he drinks while on duty. (Act 2:3)
Who says this and what tragic conventions are shown:
“I’ll knock you o’er the muzzard”
Cassio:
Hubris/hamartia - he is an aggressive drunk. (Act 2:3)
Who says this and what tragic conventions are shown:
“I pray you pardon me, I cannot speak”
Cassio:
Hamartia - he doesn’t tell Othello his version of the fight and leaves it to be told by Iago. (Act 2:3)
Who says this and what tragic conventions are shown:
“Reputation, reputation, reputation! O I have lost my/reputation”
Cassio:
Peripeteia - he has lost his job and therefore his reputation all because he listened to Iago and had a drink while on duty. (Act 2:3)
Who says this and what tragic conventions are shown:
“You advise me well…Good night honest Iago”
Cassio:
Hamartia - he trusts Iago. (Act 2:3)
Who says this and what tragic conventions are shown:
“O damned Iago! O inhuman dog!”
Roderigo:
Anagnorisis - he is the first to see Iago’s true villainy. Animal imagery, showing he is not a human. (Act 5:1)
“It is only Othello’s jealousy, no Iago’s hatred, that is the real tragedy”
critic
Bonnie Greer
“Women and Blacks exist as ‘the other’”
critic
Anita Loomba
“Handkerchief” - “It is an emblem of Desdemona’s body”
critic
Valerie Wayne
“Iago simply exploits a weakness that already existed in Othello’s character”
critic
T S Elliot
