Othello Flashcards
animalistic epithets
“the thicklips”
“the Moor”
“a barbary horse”
racist epithets of contempt- Othello is animalistic, proud, boastful
“let him… spite”
“my parts… manifest me rightly”
“Let him do his spite”
“my parts, my title, and my perfect soul/ Shall manifest me rightly”
naturally authoritative, collected, correctly believes position will protect him.
“Valiant Othello” - Montano
Esteemed leader trusted by the state, conscientious soldier who attempts to ensure that partying does not escalate.
“my life…. faith”
“my life upon her faith!”
“Ruse am I…. soft phrase of peace”
“I think this tale…. daughter too”
“Your son in law… black”
“Ruse am I in my speech/ And little blessed with soft phrase of peace.”
A fine rhetorician who speaks in verse.
“I think this tale would win my daughter too.”
“Your son in law is far more fair than black”
“It is too… joy”
“But I do love thee!… come again”
ominous foreshadowing- can he really balance soldier and husband?
“It is too much of joy”
“But I do love thee! And when I love thee not, /Chaos is come again.”
“poi-“
“well-“
Othello soon begins to break down with Iago’s “poison”, careful and eloquent verse breaks down as he becomes “well-tuned” with Iago, using prose and informal speech with Montano, slapping Desdemona, formal language with Desdemona in final scene
“My lord…. you”
“My lord, you know I love you”
Believes Iago’s false love over Desdemona’s true love
“Mere….”
“A fellow almost… wife”
First glance at Cassio is belittling- he is a foreigner, a Florentine, an outsider, a “mere arithmetician” and “a fellow almost damned in a fair wife”.
“A most… lady”
Well-spoken noble gentleman, refers to Desdemona as a “most exquisite lady” in place of Iago’s crude interpretations.
“I have very… for drinking”
“I have very poor and unhappy brains for drinking” - frankly honest, swift remorse upon losing position.
“steal… guilty-like”
Unsavoury treatment of Desdemona, would rather “steal away so guilty-like” than talk directly with Othello.
“A maiden… blushed at herself”
“thou has… her!”
“A maiden never bold,/ Of spirit so still and quiet that her motion/ Blushed at herself”
“thou has enchanted her!”
presented as quiet, modest, ideal woman
“half…”
“let her… voice”
brave, vocal, independent - “half the wooer”
speaks consistently in verse, which Othello recognises and lets her speak for herself-
“let her have her voice”
“Not/ To please… to her mind”
Othello values Desdemona for more than her body- “Not/ To please the palate of my appetite,/… But to be free and bounteous to her mind”
“I have not… this”
Terse fury at being slapped by Othello - “I have not deserved this”, but submits entirely to him, lying about the handkerchief out of fear.
‘No, by… light!’
“No, by this heavenly light!”
Desdemona’s response to asking if she would cheat- her love for Othello is pure and holy.
“that… Venice”
“nor answer… none”
“a child….”
Reduced to dumb misery at “that cunning whore of Venice”, responding “nor answer have I none” and admits she is “a child at chiding”
“O, who…. deed?”
“nobody… myself”
“wretched f-“.
“O, who hath done this deed?”
“Nobody, I myself”- refuses to blame Othello as sacrificial lamb, blaming “wretched fortune” instead.
Smothered by pillow, literally suffocated by societal pressure. The words that previously made her so powerful.
“Ha, I like… that”
“I had rather have this tongue… Michael Cassio”
Part vice, part Machiavellian, enjoys having an audience.
“Ha, I like not that!”
“I had rather have this tongue cut from my mouth/ Than it should do offence to Michael Cassio”
“ocular p-“
wordplay is Iago’s biggest asset- even when he doesn’t have “ocular proof”, and chooses not to speak at the final.
“even now… now”
“an old black… white ewe”
imagery of purity and foulness, racist crude language- “Even now, now, very now” “an old black ram is tupping your white ewe”
“daily b-“
“twixt… office”
“nothing can, nor will… wife for wife”
Propelled to revenge by frustration and loathing, envious of the “daily beauty” in Othello’s life and believes that Othello “twixt my sheets/// hath done my office”
“nothing can, nor will content my soul/ Till I am evened with him, wife for wife”
“i am.. am”
“I am not what I am” - biblical imagery, liar and deceiver.
“I follow him… upon him”
“I follow him to serve my turn upon him” - delights in making trouble.
“Iago…. honest”
“Iago is most honest”
“Your words… kin together”
“your words and performance are no kin together” - Roderigo, act 4 scene 2.
“My wayward husband… steal it”
“My wayward husband hath a hundred times/ Wooed me to steal it.” Loyal wife who seeks to please her husband, stealing the handkerchief because she knows he covets it.
“You shall not… praise”
“Thou… devil”
Defends herself sharply at Iago’s deriding of women- “You shall not write my praise”.
“Thou art a devil” to Othello in Act 5 Scene 2.
“They eat us…. belch us”
“They eat us hungerly, and when they are full/ They belch us”
In Emilia’s eyes, men are manipulative; uses down-to-earth, vulgar language.
“The moor’s abused… knave”
“I will speak… north”
Emilia becomes Desdemona’s energetic defender, voicing the audience’s outrage. Wise- “The Moor’s abused by some most villainous knave”, and becomes the voice of truth in the final scene, disobeying her husband and speaking up in front of Montano and Lodovico against social rules- “I will speak as liberal as the north”
“run m-“
“speak t-“
complicitly gives Iago the handkerchief despite knowing Desdemona will “run mad”- suppressed suspicions and her desire to “speak true” come too late.
“my h-?”
horrified repetitions of “my husband?”, rapidly uncovers the truth.
“So come… speak true”
“So come my soul to bliss, as I speak true.” - relief at exposing the truth, even at the cost of her life.
“gross r-“
Desdemona;s elopement is a “gross revolt” against her father and the patriarchy.
