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English Literature > Othello Quotations > Flashcards

Othello Quotations Flashcards

To practice memorisation of quotes from Othello covering every act and every character

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Proverbs and Idioms flashcards
1
Q

Were I the Moor I would not be Iago.

A

Act 1 scene 2

IAGO

Iago’s deceit and equally his honesty are shown

immoral

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2
Q

Look to her Moor if though hast eyes to see. She has deceived her father, and may thee.

A

BRABANTIO

Act 1 scene 3

  • foreshadowing
  • plants a seed on doubt, perhaps unconsciously in Othello’s mind
  • Brabantio does not trust his daughter and advises Othello to also
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3
Q

My life upon her faith!

A

OTHELLO

Act 1 scene 3 line

I’d bet my life she’d never lie to me! - shows conviction in his love for her

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4
Q

I follow him to serve my turn upon him

A

IAGO

Act 1 Scene 1

line 42

Iago’s deceit - sneaky

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5
Q

” Not now, sweet Desdemona; some other time “

A

OTHELLO

Act 3 Scene 3

significance: highlighting falling away from love Desdemona is no longer as important as she used to be

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6
Q

” Zounds you are robbed! For shame…

Your heart is burst, you have lost half your soul.

Even now, now, very now, an old black ram

Is tupping your white ewe. “

A

IAGO

Act 1 Scene 2

Line

Desdemona’s purity is portrayed as a white lamb

black = evil

contrast in colours and their implications

Iago is stirring things up; causing mischief

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7
Q

” If I do vow a friendship I’ll perform it

To the last article “

A

DESDEMONA

Act Scene

Line

speaks of her own loyalty

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8
Q

” By Janus, I think no “

A

IAGO

Act 1 Scene 2

Line

Iago’s duplicity

Janus: god with two faces

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9
Q

I kiss’d thee ere I kill’d thee: no way but this; Killing myself, to die upon a kiss.

A

Act 5 Scene Line OTHELLO - his dying words

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10
Q

… you’ll have your daughter covered with a Barbary horse

A

Act 1 Scene 1 Line IAGO - racial slur

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11
Q

” O, beware, my lord, of jealousy!

It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock

The meat it feeds on “

A

IAGO

Act 3 Scene 3

Line 195 - 197

theme: jealousy

jealousy consumes those who take to it/entertain it

warning for Othello

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12
Q

Welcome to Cyprus goats and monkeys

A

Act Scene Line OTHELLO

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13
Q

Devil [striking her]

A

Act Scene Line OTHELLO

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14
Q

” Others there are

Who, trimmed in forms and visages of duty,

Keep yet their hearts attending on themselves

And, throwing but shows of service on their lords,

Do well thrive by them “

A

IAGO

Act 1 scene 1

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15
Q

” Why, there’s no remedy. ‘Tis the curse of service.

Preferment goes by letter and affection… “

A

IAGO

Act 1 scene 1

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16
Q

If virtue no delighted beauty lack, Your son in law is far more fair than black

A

Act 1 Scene 3 Line DUKE

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17
Q

” I know, Iago,

Thy honesty and love doth mince this matter,

Making it light to Cassio “

A

Act 2 Scene 3

Line

OTHELLO

Iago, I know you are downplaying this for your love for Cassio

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18
Q

” Cassio, I love thee

But never more be officer of mine “

A

OTHELLO

Act 2 Scene 3

Line

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19
Q

” Reputation, reputation, reputation! O, I have lost my reputation! I have lost the immortal part of myself, and what remains is bestial “

A

CASSIO

Act 2 Scene 3

Line

theme: identity

Cassio’s

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20
Q

” In following him I follow but myself.

Heaven is my judge not I for love and duty,

But seeming so for my peculiar end “

A

IAGO

Act 1 Scene 1

Line

highlights his real intentions; self-centred

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21
Q

” My noble father, I do perceive here a divided duty “

A

DESDEMONA

Act 1 Scene 3

she ultimately professes her loyalty to her husband - she comes across as tactful, respectful, independent

shows she is truthful and thoughful

she is right that her priorities have changed and just as her mother showed her duty /loyalty to Brabaantio she has to do the same for her own husband

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22
Q

But jealous souls will not be answered so. They are not ever jealous for the cause, But jealous for they are jealous.

A

Act 3 Scene 4 Line EMILIA - shows an understanding of jealousy - she points out that jealous husbands like Othello never really need any cause to be jealous – they just are jealous - “monster / begot on itself, born on itself” - In other words, jealousy is generated out of nothing and multiplies or reproduces by feeding on itself

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23
Q

I have a pain upon my forehead, here.

A

ACT 3 Scene 3 Line 326 OTHELLO - context AO4: After Iago plants the seeds of jealousy in Othello’s mind, Othello complains of having a headache, which is a big, big clue that Othello thinks Desdemona’s been unfaithful. In sixteenth century literature (Shakespeare’s especially), any time a man has a headache or there’s some kind of reference to a man having horns growing out of his head, we can be pretty certain there’s a reference being made to cuckoldry. A “cuckold” is a man who has been cheated on by his wife, and “cuckolds” are frequently portrayed as having horns. This is why Othello says that married men are “fated” to suffer the “forked plague” (3.3.273) just a few lines earlier.

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24
Q

” She loved me for the dangers I had passed,

And I loved her, that she did pity them “

A

OTHELLO

Act 1 Scene 3

Line 193 - 194

tells of the foundation of their love

his stories give him an exotic air significance: romantic tales/stories about travel, adventure, danger, and his enslavement lend him a romantic and exotic quality that appealed to Desdemona (and others who listened)

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25
Q

Here comes Brabantio and the valiant Moor

A

Act 1 Scene 3 Line FIRST SENATOR - highlights Othello’s status

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26
Q

No, Iago; I’ll see before I doubt; when I doubt, prove; And on the proof, there is no more but this: Away at once with love or jealousy

A

Act 3 Scene 2 Line OTHELLO

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27
Q

Speak of me as I am. Nothing extenuate, Nor set down aught in malice. Then must you speak Of one that loved not wisely, but too well; Of one not easily jealous, but being wrought, Perplexed in the extreme

A

Act 5 Scene 2 Line 402 - 406 OTHELLO - he doesn’t want to be remembered as a man who was easily jealous; perhaps to keep his good name and image untainted

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28
Q

Her father loved me, oft invited me, Still questioned me the story of my life From year to year

A

Act 1 Scene 3 Line OTHELLO - reveals that Brabantio once loved Othello, so long as Othello was a military hero defending Venice and not in a romantic relationship with his daughter.

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29
Q

I will not stay to offend you

A

Act 4 Scene 1 Line 277 DESDEMONA -

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30
Q

…It is a monster Begot upon itself, born on itself.

A

Act 3 Scene 4 Line EMILIA translation: jealousy is generated out of nothing and multiplies or reproduces by feeding on itself

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31
Q

Awake! What ho, Brabantio! Thieves, thieves! Look to your house, your daughter, and your bags!Thieves, thieves!

A

Act 1 Scene 1 Line 86 - 88 IAGO - points to idea that Desdemona is considered her father’s property - suggests that Othello has stolen her

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32
Q

” She is abused, stolen from me, and corrupted

By spells and medicines bought of mountebanks “

A

BRABANTIO

Act 1 Scene 3

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33
Q

She wished she had not heard it, yet she wished That heaven had made her such a man

A

Act Scene Line OTHELLO

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34
Q

But he, sir, had the election; And I, of whom his eyes had seen the proof At Rhodes, at Cyprus and on other grounds Christian and heathen, must be beleed and calmed By debitor and creditor

A

Act 1 Scene 1 Line IAGO

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35
Q

I hate the Moor And it is thought abroad, that ‘twixt my sheets ‘Has done my office. I know not if’t be true, But I, for mere suspicion in that kind, Will do as if for surety

A

Act 1 Scene 3 Line IAGO - his reasoning for

36
Q

the Moor; black Moor; his Moorship’s ancient

A

meaning of Moor:

37
Q

The Moor is of a free and open nature, That thinks men honest that but seem to be so

A

Act 1 Scene 3 IAGO

38
Q

Trifles light as air Are to the jealous confirmations strong As proofs of holy writ

A

Act 3 Scene 3 Line IAGO

39
Q

Ha! I like not that

A

Act 3 Scene 3 Line 33 IAGO

40
Q

Not to affect many proposèd matches Of her own clime, complexion, and degree, Whereto we see in all things nature tends— Foh! One may smell in such a will most rank, Foul disproportion thoughts unnatural— But pardon me—I do not in position Distinctly speak of her, though I may fear Her will, recoiling to her better judgment, May fall to match you with her country forms And happily repent

A

3.3.268-278 IAGO

41
Q

Look to your wife; observe her well with Cassio

A

Act 3 Scene 3 Line IAGO

42
Q

It is a creature That dotes on Cassio—as ‘tis the strumpet’s plague To beguile many and be beguiled by one.

A

Act 4 Scene 1 Line IAGO

43
Q

He, when he hears of her, cannot restrain From the excess of laughter. Here he comes

A

Act 4 Scene 1 Line IAGO

44
Q

For the love I bear for Cassio

A

DESDEMONA

45
Q

Put money in thy purse

A

IAGO

46
Q

I am glad to see thee mad

A

OTHELLO

47
Q

I have not deserved this

A

DESDEMONA

48
Q

…on her, with her

A

IAGO

49
Q
  • fellow almost damn’d - never set a squadron
A

IAGO A fellow almost damn’d in a fair wife, That never set a squadron in the field, Nor the division of a battle knows More than a spinster

50
Q

” I am not what I am. “

A

IAGO

Act 1 Scene 1

51
Q

Whip me such honest knaves

A

Act 1 Scene 1 Line 49 IAGO

52
Q

I saw Othello’s visage in his mind.

A

DESDEMONA

53
Q

One that excels the quirks of blazoning pens.

A

CASSIO

54
Q

Ay, past all surgery.

A

CASSIO

55
Q

Excellent wretch! Perdition catch my soul, But I do love thee! and when I love thee not, Chaos is come again.

A

OTHELLO

56
Q

I understand a fury in your words, But not the words.

A

DESDEMONA

57
Q

O thou weed, Who art so lovely fair and smell’st so sweet That the sense aches at thee, would thou hadst ne’er been born

A

OTHELLO

58
Q

It makes us or it mars us

A

IAGO

59
Q

Every way makes my gain

A

IAGO

60
Q

Yet I’ll not shed her blood; Nor scar that whiter skin of hers than snow, And smooth as monumental alabaster

A

OTHELLO

61
Q

She is of so free, so apt, so kind, so blessed a spirit that she olds it a vice in her goodness not to do more than she is requested

A

IAGO

62
Q

” I know my price, I am worth no worse a place “

A

IAGO

Act 1 Scene 1

63
Q

” Reputation is an idle and most false imposition; oft got without merit and lost without deserving “

A

IAGO

Act 2 scene 3

64
Q

” Fathers, from hence trust not your daughters’ minds

By what you see them act “

A

BRABANTIO

Act 1 scene 2

65
Q

” Call up my brother—Oh, would you had had her! “

A

BRABANTIO

Act 1 scene 2

expressing regret

Roderigo is now the preferred husband for his daughter, even though he expressed his dislike for him at the beginning

66
Q

” Not I: I must be found.

My parts, my title, and my perfect soul

Shall manifest me rightly. “

A

OTHELLO

Act 1 Scene 2

Shakespeare presents Othello as:

cool, calm and collected; eloquent, virtuous, in control; unruffled; confident

possibility of being arrogant or full of pride

Othello does not allow himself to be provoked by Iago

67
Q

” There is no composition in these news

That gives them credit “

A

DUKE

Act 1 Scene 3

adds to the sense of confusion/uncertainty

conflict between the truth and lies/deceit

68
Q

” To fall in love with what she feared to look on? “

A

BRABANTIO

Act 1 scene 3

69
Q

” Her father loved me…”

A

OTHELLO

Act 1 scene 3

70
Q

” Our General’s wife is now the General “

A

IAGO

Act 2 scene 3

71
Q

” Was not that Cassio parted from my wife? “

A

OTHELLO

Act 3 scene 3

72
Q

” And what’s he then that says I play the villain

When this advice is free I give, and honest “

A

IAGO

Act 2 scene 3

has just told Cassio to go ask for Desdemona’s help and Cassio has exited

beginning of his soliloquy

73
Q

” So will I turn her virtue into pitch,

And out of her own goodness make the net

That shall enmesh them all “

A

IAGO

Act 2 scene 3

74
Q

” This fortification, gentlemen, shall we see’t? “

A

OTHELLO

Act 3 scene 2

Before Cassio meets Desdemona to plead with her Othello

75
Q

” Madam, not now: I am very ill at ease,

Unfit for mine own purposes “

A

CASSIO

Act 3 scene 3

Othello has just arrived and Cassio feeling nervous leaves Desdemona

Iago is able to use this to his advantage with his cryptic reply of “Ha! I like not that.”

76
Q

” I have no judgement in an honest face “

A

DESDEMONA

Act 3 scene 3

77
Q

” Cassio, my lord? No, sure, I cannot think it

That he would sneak away so guilty-like,

Seeing you coming “

A

IAGO

Act 3 scene 3

78
Q

” I wonder in my soul

What you would ask me tha I should deny.

Or stand so mammering on? “

A

DESDEMONA

Act 3 scene 3

79
Q
A
80
Q

” I will deny thee nothing “

A

OTHELLO

Act 3 scene 3

repeated twice

81
Q

” Excellent wretch! Perdition catch my soul

But I do love thee! And when I love thee not,

Chaos is come again “

A

OTHELLO

Act 3 scene 3

foreshadowing

82
Q

” Discern’st thou aught in that?

I he not honest? “

A

OTHELLO

Act 3 scene 3

growing suspicion/piqued interest

83
Q

” By heaven, he echoes me,

As if there were some monster in his thought

Too hideous to be shown “

A

OTHELLO

Act 3 scene 3

84
Q

” My Lord, you know I love you “

A

IAGO

Act 3 scene 3

85
Q
A

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