Othello key quotes Flashcards
(18 cards)
‘ _ ____ the ______ Desdemona’ Act 1 Scene _
‘I love the gentle Desdemona’ Act 1 Scene 2
-Juxtaposes earlier hellish and bestial descriptions of Othello - he’s truly gentle (audience impact)
- This makes him vulnerable = is his love his tragic flaw
- Language of love
‘My _____, my _____ and __ ______ soul’ Act _ Scene 2
‘My parts my title and my perfect soul’ Act 1 Scene 2
- Tripartite list
- Othello is proud of his services - shows self confidence
- Shows a flaw in his character of arrogance and belief that men are judged on their actions and reputation
- Hubristic
‘__ __ were now to ___ ‘twere now __ __ most _____’ Act 2 Scene _
‘If it were now to die ‘twere now to be most happy’ Act 2 Scene 1
- Saying if he died now he would die at his happiest moment as he doesn’t believe he will ever be this happy again
- Passionate declaration shows his flaw in his devoted love for her
- Iambic pentameter (10 syllables per line and alternating stressed and unstressed syllables) and poetic language
‘_____ is ____ honest’ Act 2 Scene _
‘Iago is most honest’ Act 2 Scene 3
- Short simple sentence punctuates Othello’s myopia
- ‘Honest’ = epithet for Iago (name used constantly for someone)
- Dramatic irony for audience (sets up Othello’s myopia)
- Iago has gained power over Othello
‘But never ____ be ______ of mine’ Act 2 Scene _
‘But never more be officer of mine’ Act 2 Scene 3
- Othello firing Cassio as a result of his drunken brawl is a major plot point
- One of Iago’s aims is achieved
Othello’s brief and bold judgement is a show of authority by him which he believes demonstrates leadership and sound judgement but the audience can actually see he is quick to judgment in believing what he hears first and doesn’t see it’s actually Iago constructing all of this
- Emphasises effects of Iago’s manipulation
‘________ wretch! Perdition _____ __ ____ but I do ____ ____ and when I ____ ____ not _____ is come again’ Act _ Scene 3
‘Excellent wretch! Perdition catch my soul but i do love thee and when I love thee not chaos is come again’ Act 3 Scene 3
- ‘Excellent wretch’ = oxymoron (contradictory words with opposite meanings) captures chaos
- He shows the nature of his affection that he either loves her intensely and feels protective or else he feels scorned and succumbs to an emotional chaos
- He suggests losing his love would bring chaos which foreshadows the turmoil from Iago’s manipulation
‘And for _ ____ thou’rt full __ ____ and ______’ Act 3 Scene _
‘And for I know thou’rt full of love and honesty’ Act 3 Scene 3
- Myopic
- Dramatic irony as audience knows Iago isn’t honest
- Othello is so deceived that he believes Iago is incapable of lying
‘Villain…prove __ ____ a whore….____ me _____ proof’ Act 3 Scene _ pg 121
‘Villain…prove my love a whore….Give me ocular proof’ Act 3 scene 3
- He wants visual evidence to prove Desdemona’s infidelity
- Violence of his speech indicates Iago is winning
**
‘I’ll ____ her to ______’ Act _ Scene 3 pg 125
‘I’ll tear her to pieces’ Act 3 Scene 3
- violent imagery
- Othello now believes Iago’s animalistic imagery about Cassio and Desdemona sleeping together
- Contrasts his earlier ‘I will not believe it’
‘__ let her ___ and _____ and be damned _____, for she ____ ___ live’ Act _ Scene 1
‘Ay let her rot and perish, and be damned tonight, for she shall not live’ Act 4 Scene 1
- Declarative of ‘she shall not live’
- Shows Othello’s descent into state of violent, vengeful fury (by both Iago’s manipulation and his own unchecked jealousy)
- Reveals the stark brutality of his character (through hideous graphic ways of how she could die ‘rot’ ‘perish’)
- ‘Rot’ and ‘Perish’ shows tautology (two things that mean the same) = emphasises desire
- Othello’s rhetoric seals the fate of Desdemona’s death/downfall
- Pure hatred
’[_____] Now he ____ __ _____ and ______ it out’
‘[Aside] Now he denies it faintly and laughs it out
- Othello’s error is believing this dialogue as he thinks Iago is providing him more ocular proof for Desdemona’s unfaithfulness
- Dramatic technique of aside
- He truly believes they are talking about Desdemona not Bianca
‘(He ______ her)’ Act 4 Scene _
‘(He strikes her)’ Act 4 scene 1
- Key moment of Stagecraft = shows extent of myopia and hate
- Juxtaposes earlier angelic descriptions of Desdemona
- Brings shock for audience
- Lodovico is shocked that Othello, this once self-controlled respectful man he once knew, would now do this and why he’s so mad
‘___ ___ the light and then ___ ___ the _____’ Act _ Scene 2
‘Put out the light and then put out the light’ Act 5 Scene 2
- Light = metaphor for his love for her
- He’s finally about to seek his revenge
- Desdemona was the light of his life (In Elizabethan drama, light is often equated - the same as - reason)
- He’s saying she must die or else she’ll betray more men
- Imagery of light and darkness both foreshadows death and the irreversible nature of his actions (he can relight his lantern but not her)
‘She’s like _ ____ ____ to burning ____’ Act 5 Scene _
‘She’s like a liar gone to burning hell’ Act 5 scene 2
- Hellish language/imagery
- Instead of using Desdemona’s final words as his alibi he then proudly declares he killed her = his tumultuous state of mind
- He believes her life was a greater evil than killing her = believes he’s an agent of justice and done nothing wrong
- Juxtaposes earlier angelic imagery and him calling her ‘white as snow’
‘_____ me in sulphur! ____ __ in steep-down ____ of liquid ____!’ Act _ Scene 2
‘Roast me in sulphur! Wash me in steep-down gulfs of liquid fire!’ Act 5 Scene 2
- Part of an extended metaphor
- This speech explores the 3 stages of his life = Othello the great warrior, Othello the murderer and Othello tortured in hell
- It’s a tumultuous journey
- Vivid hellish imagery
- Link to Lady M at end when she’s in hell = what the guilt of dark deeds does to you/where you end up (it’s inescapable)
‘_____ of one that ____ not wisely, ___ ___ well; of one ___ _____ ______ but being wrought, ________ in ___ extreme’ Act 5 Scene _
‘Speak of one that loved not wisely, but too well; of one not easily jealous but being wrought, perplexed in the extreme’ Act 5 Scene 2
- Dramatic irony in saying he ‘wasn’t easily jealous’
- His last major speech acts as his own obituary (celebrating someone’s life soon after they’ve died)
- He’s attempting to regain some of his lost reputation and pride before he dies
- Loving ‘too well’ could be reference to his hamartia/flaw in misplacing his trust in Iago
- He acknowledges his downfall came from susceptibility to manipulation and an excessive love without judgement
‘Like the ____ ______ threw a _____ ____ richer than ___ ___ _____’ Act _ Scene 2
‘Like the base Indian threw a pearl away richer than all his tribe’ Act 5 Scene 2
- Simile/Metaphor = Native Americans famed for their ignorance about the value of precious gems
- Reveals his regret and self-awareness (he foolishly disregarded a priceless treasure)
- Pearl is an analogy/symbol of his loss of Desdemona = pure, valuable (pg53 ‘the riches of the ship’ she was earlier referred to like jewelry by Cassio
- By murdering his beloved he has lost his sole (Judas??)
‘_______ myself, to die ____ a ____’ Act _ Scene 2 ???
‘killing myself to die upon a kiss’ Act 5 Scene 2
- The act of kissing Desdemona in death mirrors his earlier triple of kisses before strangling her
- Is this an act of forgiveness/a final I’m sorry = he doesn’t ask God for forgiveness though which furthers his selfish nature as it’s only about how he feels
- If Shakespeare did earlier mean ‘Judas’ and not ‘Indian’ it could mirror Judas’ kiss of betraying Jesus
- Suicide at the time you would have gone to hell = he doesn’t even care about this because he’s already so distraught that he’s practically in hell
