Othello Key Bits Flashcards
“I love thy gentle Desdomona” 1.2
-Othello’s immediate declaration + devotion for Desdomona
-established his genuine affection for her
-what they have is not foolish — they are in love + married
-immediately establishes the tragedy to come — foreshadowing a love that will collapse due to play being a tragedy contemporary + modern audience know this can’t last
“It is most true; true I have married her” 1.3
-blank verse — moral + elevated speech make himself seem worthy of loving D + elevates their love making it stand out
-monosyllabic tone established him as confident + honest + won’t hide their love bc it is true love they aren’t ashamed of — dichotomy honesty + deception
-Othello ‘moor’ - racialisation in play — considered to be dangerous, deceiving, untrustworthy people but he is asserting his honesty through the repetition + not hiding
-caesura + repetition emph confidence — passionate + assertive love for D
“Would Desdomona seriously incline” 1.3
-continuation of his assertion of their love for each other
-D encapsulated by ‘foreign exoticism’ + sense of adventure — hyperbolised
-the continued confident tone foreshadows tragedy to come as this drastically falls apart
-Othello and antidote to her boring domestic life
“O my fair warrior!” “My dear Othello!” 2.1
-Othello + Desdomona first interaction
-shared line encapsulates their affection for one another, they are deeply in love
-blank verse — eloquent clearly expressing their love to audience + heightening it
-foreshadows + intensifies the moment when this connection is lost + they are out of sync with each other — the loss of their shared lines due to Iago’s Machiavellian scheming
“Thou hast enchanted her” “too true + evil” 1.1
-Brabantio’s inability to accept their love reflects contemporary attitudes towards race
-racialisation of Othello persists throughout the play
- negative images associated with blackness
-slave trade — brought black people from Hawkin’s voyages from West Africa
“Honest Iago” 2.3
-establishes the duplicitous nature of Iago + enhances the dramatic irony
-audience knows Othello being fooled + manipulated
-intensifies his Machiavellian malcontent nature
-Othello easily deceived + manipulated
-dramatic ironic phrase relegated continuously heightening Othello’s weakness to believe anything men will say — homosocial loyalty
“Ha! I like not that” “what dost thou say?” 3.3
-shared line Iago and Othello — becoming psychologically intertwined
-Iago planting seeds of doubt + jealousy in Othello’s mind — Iago insinuating something going on between C + D
“Why did I marry?”
-regretful + frustrated tone
-marks beginning of Othello’s doubt — questioning tone encapsulates he now doubts D fidelity
-Iago’s manipulations taking root in Othello’s mind and are beginning to work + taking a toll on his mind
“But I do love thee; and when I love thee not/chaos is come again” 3.3
-foreboding D death + O downfall
-allusion to what is to come — the great tragedy
-Othello indicates the nature of his affection — either he loves her intensely + feels protective or he feels scorned + succumbs to an emotional ‘chaos’
-Othello afraid that chaos will come if he does not love her anymore — further allusion to the tragedy to arise from Iago’s schemes
“Handkerchief!” “O devil!” 4.1 (trance scene)
-the handkerchief symbolised D’s fidelity + O’s promise to be true to D + love her forever but both of these are broken upon O discovering she ‘gave’ it to Cassio
-repeated continuously — O fixating on the handkerchief that all of this madness + jealousy is derived from
-he is muddled + confused as emphasised by the repeated use of caesura — has lost his eloquence due to rage + jealousy
-the love between him and + D has fallen + no longer elevated above all
-hellish imagery — own mind is like hell — allusion Iago devil incarnate
“Whore” “commoner” .impudent strumpet” 4.2
-the shared lines + eloquence between D + O completely dispersed now
-sexiest epithets + devellish
-confident in his accusations - no hesitation highlighted by caesura
“My relief/must be to loathe her. O curse of marriage” 3.3
-Othello divided — doesn’t want to loathe her as he loves her
-supernatural elements perhaps cursed by witches but Iago is the witch
-questioning tone — O questioning his marriage to D
-shift in happiness
“This sorrows heavenly” 5.2
-oxymoron — sorrow isn’t heavenly + conveys O’s divided duty + conscience loves D but loves D too
-he doesn’t want to kill her but feels he has to to get some sort of justice for her infidelity + restore his reputation — selfish actions
