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)
