Theme Of Love Flashcards
“She loved me for the dangers I had passed / I loved her that she did pity them” Othello 1.3
-suggests the reciprocal nature of love
-highlights their love based on understanding - a foundational aspect to their relationship
-clear from beginning where exchanges equal, their shared lines + joint imagery (semantic field of religion) established their union within the makings of the play itself
“If after every tempest come such calms / may the winds blow till they have weakened death” Othello 2.1
-reaffirms the strength of their love when reunite after the tempest
-loving words from O suggest natural disaster can’t shake their love as her presence calms him — Iago not a natural disaster but a malcontent a human intervention
-imagery ‘tempest’ shows vigour of true love — pervasive in other texts e.g Sonnet 116 states love ‘looks on tempests and is never shaken’
- this introduces Iago as the main conflict — his deceptive love breaks down understanding + trust that exists between O + D
-dichotomy of natural world V man made world
“I follow him to serve my turn upon him” 1.1
-Iago performance of false love replaces + subverts D’s true love
-Iago unable to love + driven by his obsessive desire to bring O down
-Iago using O’s trusting + loving demeanour towards him as strategic advantage to cause his hamartia/downfall
“She did deceive her father marrying you” Iago 3.3
-Iago portrays ability to psychologically manipulate O by touching upon his insecurities about marrying D
-D father disapproved O due to race
-Iago manages plant seed of doubt weaponising their love against him
-branch of love - their false relationship demonstrated how hatred can overpower love
“They are all but stomachs and we all but food… when they are full / they belch us” Emilia 3.4
-share same experiences of being women in strict, male dominated sphere + being wives who have to adhere to certain social codes
-E advice to D illuminates pressures having to be submissive, chaste + obedient to their husbands
-this conveys sexual appetite of men that women must satisfy while representing their own desires
-E suggests D + O love not as strong as she thinks perhaps warning her of real nature of men due to her experiences with Iago
-D’s love might not enlighten to keep O’s jealousy down as his manhood overpowers her identity
“Let husbands knows / their wives have sense like them” Emilia 4.3
-O becomes more openly obsessive about D faithfulness + E gives support (friendship love)
-E is a proto-feminist as words attack hypocritical nature of male behaviour
-E perspective shows awareness of position that women forces to occupy in society
-E argues that humanity makes men + seem equal + they all have the same experiences of life
-E wants to make D feel better + see herself as worth much more that what O labels her as
Instances of love in the play
-Cassio’s admiration for D — the way he speaks about her
-O + D love at start compared to their love at the end
-D + E friendship love
-homosocial bonds
