Othello Act I & II Flashcards
“In following him, I follow but myself”
Who says it? Iago says it
Meaning: I’m following Othello, but I’m doing it for myself. Therefore, I will profit.
Context: He is talking to rodrigo trying to convince Rodrigo that he (Iago) hates Othello.
“I follow him to serve my turn upon him”
Who says it? Iago says it
Meaning: I will follow Othello for revenge
Context: Street
“Zounds, sir, you are robb’d!…Even now, now, very now, and old black ram is tupping your white ewe…Arise…Or else the devel will make a grand rise of you.”
Who says it? Iago says it
Your in the quote is: Brabantio
Black ram: Othello White ewe: Desdemona
Meaning: Your daughter is having relations with Othello
Context: At Robantio or desdemono’s house
“Are there not charms/ By which the property of youth and maidhood/ May be abused?”
Who says it? Brabantio
Meaning: Othello is bewitching (using charms) her
Context: Brabantio accusing Othello of witchcraft to Rodrigo before telling to the duke
“Virtue? A fig!…Our bodies are gardens, to which our wills are gardeners…”
Who says it? Iago
Meaning: Virtue is a joke, we have control
Context: Iago talking to Rodrigo
“Rude I am in my speech,/ For since these arms of mine have seven years’ pith,/ Till now some nine moons wasted, they have used,/ their dearest action in the tented field/ and little of this great world can I speak/ more than pertains to feats of broil and battle
Who says it? Othello says it
Meaning: Othello is saying I have married desdemona, but I didn’t bewitch her, we fell in love.
Context: Othello is defending himself to the governor/senate
“Look to her, Moor, if though hast eyes to see; She has deceived her father, and may thee”
Who says it? Brabantio
Meaning: Keep an eye on desdemona, she has lied to me so she might lie to you
Context: talking to Othello at the court
“Though I do hate him as I do hell-pains. Yet, for necessity of present life, I must show out a flag and sign of love, which is indeed but sign.”
Who says it? Iago
Meaning: Iago can’t be seen working against the moor or else he will lose his place in government and lose some power
Context: Iago is at desdemona’s house
“For when my outward action doth demonstrate
The native act and figure out my heart
In compliment extern, ‘tis not long after
But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve
For daws to peck at: I am not what I am
Who says it? Iago
Meaning: Iago is saying he isn’t who he seems to be, he is not loyal to the Moor
Context: Iago is talking to Rodrigo in the street
“Though in the trade of war I have slain men,
Yet do I hold it very stuff o’ the conscience
To do no contrived murder: I lack inquity
Sometimes to do me service.”
Who says it? Iago
Meaning: Iago tells Othello that Rodrigo was telling brabantio there secret and he is telling him that he should’ve killed rodrigo for what he said
Context: Iago and Othello are in a street
Who is Othello?
Othello - The play’s protagonist and hero. A Christian Moor and general of the armies of Venice, Othello is an eloquent and physically powerful figure, respected by all those around him. In spite of his elevated status, he is nevertheless easy prey to insecurities because of his age, his life as a soldier, and his race. He possesses a “free and open nature,” which his ensign Iago uses to twist his love for his wife, Desdemona, into a powerful and destructive jealousy (I.iii.381).
Who is Cassio?
Michael Cassio - Othello’s lieutenant. Cassio is a young and inexperienced soldier, whose high position is much resented by Iago. Truly devoted to Othello, Cassio is extremely ashamed after being implicated in a drunken brawl on Cyprus and losing his place as lieutenant. Iago uses Cassio’s youth, good looks, and friendship with Desdemona to play on Othello’s insecurities about Desdemona’s fidelity.
Who is Iago?
Iago - Othello’s ensign (a job also known as an ancient or standard-bearer), and the villain of the play. Iago is twenty-eight years old. While his ostensible reason for desiring Othello’s demise is that he has been passed over for promotion to lieutenant, Iago’s motivations are never very clearly expressed and seem to originate in an obsessive, almost aesthetic delight in manipulation and destruction.
Who is Amelia?
Amelia/Emilia - Iago’s wife and Desdemona’s attendant. A cynical, worldly woman, she is deeply attached to her mistress and distrustful of her husband.
Who is Desdemona?
Desdemona - The daughter of the Venetian senator Brabanzio. Desdemona and Othello are secretly married before the play begins. While in many ways stereotypically pure and meek, Desdemona is also determined and self-possessed. She is equally capable of defending her marriage, jesting bawdily with Iago, and responding with dignity to Othello’s incomprehensible jealousy.
Who is Roderigo?
Roderigo - A jealous suitor of Desdemona. Young, rich, and foolish, Roderigo is convinced that if he gives Iago all of his money, Iago will help him win Desdemona’s hand. Repeatedly frustrated as Othello marries Desdemona and then takes her to Cyprus, Roderigo is ultimately desperate enough to agree to help Iago kill Cassio after Iago points out that Cassio is another potential rival for Desdemona.
Who is Montano?
Montano - The governor of Cyprus before Othello. We see him first in Act II, as he recounts the status of the war and awaits the Venetian ships.
Who is Brabantio?
Brabantio - Desdemona’s father, a somewhat blustering and self-important Venetian senator. As a friend of Othello, Brabanzio feels betrayed when the general marries his daughter in secret.
What city does the story begin?
Venice
What is the name of the island where the war is supposed to be fought?
Cyprus
What is a couplet?
Two lines of verse, usually in the same meter and joined by rhyme, that form a unit.
Example: She was a little tense
The notice made no sense
What is iambic pentameter?
A line of verse with five metrical feet, each consisting of one short (or unstressed) syllable followed by one long (or stressed) syllable. For example : Two households, both alike in dignity.
What is a soliloquy?
An act of speaking one’s thoughts aloud when by oneself or regardless of any hearers, especially by a character in a play.
synonyms:
Who does Roderigo get in fight with?
First Cassio then Montano
What does cudgeled?
To beat/ wound someone
“Divinity of hell!/ When Devils will the blackest sins put on, /they do suggest at first with heavenly shows, / As I do now.
Iago; means Hell (bad people) act nice at first or act divine, Hell has a nice facade (cover)
What type of poetry does Shakespeare use?
Iambic pentameter
“O! I have lost my reputation! I have lost the immortal part of myself, and what remains is bestial.”
Who says it? Cassio
Meaning: “what did I do?” My reputation is lost and I have become a beast
Context: when he came out of his drunken state (after wounding Montano)
“O thou invisible spirit of wine, if thou hast no name to be known by, let us call the devil!”
Who says it? Cassio
Meaning: I lost my reputation because of wine
Context: (same scene) Cassio is coming out of being drunken and whining to Iago
“Come, come, good wine is a good familiar creature, if it be well used; exclaim no more against it.”
Who says it? Iago
Meaning: wine is good but what you did with the wine is bad
Context: talking to Cassio after he was drunk
“Reputation is an idle and most false imposition; oft got without merit and lost without deserving.”
Who says it? Iago
Meaning: reputation is false. This who have a reputation, don’t deserve it and those who lose it (Cassio) deserve it.
Context: talking to Iago
“I do follow here in the chase, not like a hound that hunts, but one that filas up the cry. My money is almost spent; I have been there to tonight exceedingly cudgeled…. I shall have so much Experience for my pains; and so, with no money at all and little more wit, return again to Venice. “
Who said this? Rodrigo
Meaning: in hunting, I am the dog in the back. The only thing I will get is experience. I’m going home.
Context: telling Iago he wants to go home after Cassio wounds Montano
“I’ll pour this pestilence into his ear…”
Who says this? Iago
Meaning: I’m gonna tell lies to Othello
Context: he hints him that Desdemona is taking Cassio’s side out of lust for him
“I swear’t is better to be much abused, than but to know’t a little…. He that is robbed, notw a ting want is stolen, let him not know’t and he’s not robbed at all. “
Who says this? Othello
Meaning: I’d rather be beaten than know my wife is cheating. It is better if I didn’t know at all, for if Someone doesn’t know if they have been robbed then he hasn’t been actually robbed.
Context: at the beach, before he beats Iago
What is the meaning of the allusion Janus (Iago swears an oath to him)? (Act 1; scene 2)
Janus is a roman deity symbolizing the beginning and the end (and doors and gates). Therefore when Iago swears on it he thinks from “beginning to end” not
