OTHELLO QUOTES Flashcards
Othello as well spoken/ mediator?
“keep up your bright swords, for the dew will rust them”- he uses his voice to assert dominance instead of his physicality implying he is immune to fragile masculinity. He is also alluded to Jesus.
“Rude am I, in my speech”-insecurity
Othello as a lover? analyse
“she loved me for the dangers I had passed”-supports Desdemona. “my soul’s joy”- deep soul connection draws parallel to traditional love poetry conveying the power of their love
Othello as gullible?analyse
“if she be false, O then heaven mocks itself”- heavenly imagery alluding to swearing to God. Desdemona’s trust forms the foundation for his worldview. Challenging infallibility foreshadows chaos.
“good Iago” “most honest”
Othello as paranoid? analyse
“Thou hast set me on the rack”- metaphor connoting medieval torture conveys Iago’s growing power of Othello’s paranoia and insecurity. Shakespeare portrays the mind as mans greatest enemy.
Othello craving death? analyse
“Yet she must die, else she’ll betray more men”- Othello’s manhood destroyed due to being an alleged cuckold. He is a symbol of male solidarity and victory against female sexuality. Desdemona is a symbol of his insecurity (psychoanalytical interpretation)
Evidence of abuse against Othello? analyse
Iago plans to “abuse Othello’s ear”. Iago’s psychological oppression against Othello can be viewed as a metaphor for colonisation. Implying Europes colonisation and exploitation of foreign land.
“Your daughter and the moor are now making the beast with two backs”- bestial motif implies black men as satanic (common stereotype)- Great chain of being
Othello’s internalised racism? analyse
“the cannibals that each other eat” “men whose heads/ do grow beneath their shoulders”- Othello follows the common stereotype of foreign land to be primitive and grotesque. He distances himself from his past. Canabilistic imagery connotes other cultures as violent.
Othello’s internalised racism inflicting on his relationship? analyse
“Her name that was fresh/is now begrimed and black/ as mine own face”-simile shows race and betrayal as linked. He aligns his black face with sin and Desdemona’s as goddess like implying good reputation comes with being the ‘right’ race
Othello’s toxic male ego against Desdemona? analyse
“curse of marriage, that we can call these delicate creatures ours, and not their appetites!”- This fragile male ego overcomes his love as a cuckold therefore he solely views Desdemona as property to take control of. Men always need constant reassurance they are in power through their physicality.
Brabantio against Othello? analyse
“She is abused/ by spells and medicines”- Brabantio. Common stereotype to associate black people with black magic defying them as immoral against God.
Racism against Othello?
“lascivious Moor” “an old black ram”
Othello calling Desdemona
‘gentle Desdemona’
Othello rejecting patriarchal laws of economic domination within marriage
‘That profit’s yet to come ‘tween me and you’
Othello’s anxieties from Iago’s words?
‘As if there were some monster in thy thought’- Othello’s metaphor ironically echoes Iago’s description of his plot as a ‘monstrous birth’
Othello’s strong faith in Desdemona
“give me the ocular proof”
