Othello: Act 2

CASSIO Thanks, you the valiant of this warlike isle,That so approve the Moor! O, let the heavensGive him defense against the elements,For I have lost us him on a dangerous sea.
MONTANO Is he well shipp’d?
CASSIO His bark is stoutly timber’d, his pilotOf very expert and approved allowance;Therefore my hopes, not surfeited to death,Stand in bold cure.
OTHELLO It gives me wonder great as my contentTo see you here before me. O my soul’s joy!If after every tempest come such calms,May the winds blow till they have waken’d death!And let the laboring bark climb hills of seasOlympus-high and duck again as lowAs hell’s from heaven! If it were now to die,’Twere now to be most happy; for, I fear,My soul hath her content so absoluteThat not another comfort like to thisSucceeds in unknown fate.
DESDEMONA The heavens forbidBut that our loves and comforts should increase,Even as our days do grow!
OTHELLO Amen to that, sweet powers!I cannot speak enough of this content;It stops me here; it is too much of joy:And this, and this, the greatest discords be
OTHELLO O my fair warrior!
DESDEMONA My dear Othello!
CASSIO Reputation, reputation, reputation! O, Ihave lost my reputation! I have lost the immortalpart of myself, and what remains is bestial. Myreputation, Iago, my reputation!
IAGO As I am an honest man, I thought you hadreceived some bodily wound; there is more sensein that than in reputation. Reputation is an idle and most false imposition: oft got without merit, andlost without deserving: you have lost no reputationat all, unless you repute yourself such a loser. What,man! There are ways to recover the general again:you are but now cast in his mood, a punishmentmore in policy than in malice, even so as one wouldbeat his offenseless dog to affright an imperious lion:sue to him again, and he’s yours.
CASSIO I will rather sue to be despised than todeceive so good a commander with so slight, sodrunken, and so indiscreet an officer. Drunk? andspeak parrot? and squabble? swagger? swear? anddiscourse fustian with one’s own shadow? O thouinvisible spirit of wine, if thou hast
RODERIGO I do follow here in the chase, not like ahound that hunts, but one that fills up the cry. Mymoney is almost spent; I have been to-nightexceedingly well cudgelled; and I think the issuewill be, I shall have so much experience for mypains, and so, with no money at all and a little morewit, return again to Venice.
IAGO I’ll have our Michael Cassio on the hip,Abuse him to the Moor in the rank garb
Using your understanding of the imagery in the following passage, characterize the relationship between Cassio and Othello.CASSIO: His bark is stoutly timbered, and his pilotOf very expert and approved allowance;Therefore my hopes, not surfeited to death,Stand in bold cure. (Act II, lines 53-56) Cassio respects Othello and thinks he is qualified to navigate the storm. He also thinks he is strong which is because Shakespeare writes that his “bark” which can be interpreted as his ship or as his build is “stoutly timbered” meaning strong.
Read the soliloquy that ends the scene. What does the reader learn about Iago’s plan? What are the possible motivations for Iago’s revenge? What do you believe is the reason for Iago’s anger at Cassio and Othello? (Answer in no more than five sentences—may use semicolons if you do so grammatically.) He says that two things still have to be done. He needs Desdemona to take Cassio’s side. He also needs to show Othello that Desdemona is talking to Cassio. The motivation for Iago’s revenge is that Cassio was promoted by Othello to lieutenant instead of Iago.
What action does Othello take against Cassio upon hearing that Cassio is responsible for the fight? (One sentence) Othello fires Cassio from being an officer.
Explain the difference between the way Cassio and Iago view reputations. Is the view of reputation that Iago explains to Cassio an accurate depiction of how he really feels? How do we know? (Answer in no more than 6-7 sentences.) Cassio believes they are very important. Iago claims that they are unimportant. However, Iago really does not feel this way. He cares about his own reputation. This is clear because he always repeats the fact that he is an honest man in order to create a good reputation for himself.
Explain the imagery in Iago’s soliloquy. (Act II, scene 3, lines 321-347) What do we learn about Iago’s character through this speech? What do we learn about his plan? (Answer in no more than seven sentences.) Through Iago’s soliloquy we learn that he thinks that it was worth it that Roderigo was beaten up because it caused Cassio to be fired. He also says that by being patient, there efforts will eventually be rewarded. We also learn about Iago’s plan. He says that two things still have to be done. He needs Desdemona to take Cassio’s side. He also needs to show Othello that Desdemona is talking to Cassio.
July 11, 2019