| “T’is neither here nor there.” | Emilia Act 4 scene 3-Emilia and Desdemona discuss marriage, husbands, and fidelity. After her Willow Song, Desdemona asks if Emilia minds Desdemona’s crying. Emilia’s response means that it doesn’t matter to her. -Old, famous saying that means it doesn’t matter |
| [w]ho would not make her husband a cuckold to make him a monarch?” | Emilia Act 4 Scene 3-Emilia and Desdemona are discussing marriage in this scene. Emilia is really saying that she would cheat on her husband if they had something to gain from it. Desdemona can’t understand this reasoning; she’s forever devoted to her husband. This exchange highlights the differences in moral codes between the two women. Throughout the play, Desdemona is presented as virtuous and innocent. |
| “Her honor is an essence that’s not seen;They have it very oft that have it not.” | Iago Act 4 Scene 1-Iago saying that since the handkerchief is hers she should be able to give it to whoever. |
| “A horned man’s a monster and a beast.” | Othello Act 4 Scene 1-Iago’s point is that Desdemona’s unfaithfulness is just a matter of “fortune,” bad luck, and that it’s nothing to swoon over. Othello replies. which probably describes how he is feeling–strange, non-human. Iago replies that Othello has plenty of company because every city is full of cuckolds. |
| “Upon my knee, what doth your speech import?I understand a fury in your wordsBut not the words. | Desdemona Act 4 Scene 2-As Emilia leaves, Desdemona falls on her knees and says-She means that she doesn’t know why she is being treated as a wh*re, not that she doesn’t understand the significance of what Othello has just said |
| “O thou weedWho art so lovely fair, and smell’st so sweet,That the sense aches at thee, would thou hadst never been born” | Othello Act 4 Scene 2-Desdemona is less than human supposedly-Though Othello is disgusted with Desdemona, he longs for her so achingly that he wishes she had never been born, so that he wouldn’t know this pain. -insult/comparison |
| O, devil, devil! If that the Earth could teem with woman’s tears,Each drop she falls would prove a crocodile. Out of my sight! | Othello Act 4 Scene 1-At the play’s beginning, Desdemona is strong, confident, and defiant but she winds up becoming the victim of Othello’s physical and emotional abuse. From this point on, she is passive and obedient and by the play’s end, she blames herself for Othello’s violent behavior.-instead of telling Emilia the truth about Othello strangling her, she blames herself (and not her attacker) for the abuse she endures. |
| “I will chop her into messes! Cuckold me?” | Othello Act 4 Scene 1-Othello is filled with rage at the idea that Desdemona has made him a “cuckold” (a man whose wife has cheated on him). To be a “cuckold” was a shameful thing in Elizabethan society and meant that a husband’s masculinity had been destroyed. |
| “Now will I question Cassio of Bianca,A huswife that by selling her desiresBuys herself bread and clothes. It is a creatureThat dotes on Cassio—as ’tis the strumpet’s plagueTo beguile many and be beguiled by one.He, when he hears of her, cannot restrainFrom the excess of laughter. Here he comes:” | Iago Act 4 Scene 1Iago tells the audience that he’ll trick Othello into believing that Cassio is bragging about an affair with Desdemona when, in reality, Cassio will be bragging about his relationship with Bianca, a courtesan.- |
| “Get me some poison, Iago, this night: I’ll notexpostulate with her lest her body and beautyunprovide my mind again. This night, Iago.IAGO Do it not with poison. Strangle her in her bed, even the bed she hath contaminated.OTHELLO Good, good. The justice of it pleases. Very good. “ | Othello Act 4 Scene 1-After convincing Othello that Desdemona has been cheating, Iago manipulates Othello into strangling Desdemona “in her bed.”-Othello’s mind has been warped |
| “Ay, let her rot, and perish and be damned tonight, for she shall not live. No, my heart is turned to stone. I strike it, and it hurts my hand. O, theworld hath not a sweeter creature! She might lie byan emperor’s side and command him tasks.” | Othello Act 4 Scene 1-Iago transforms the passion of Othello’s love into hatred. |
| “Had it pleased heavenTo try me with affliction, had they rainedAll kinds of sores and shames on my bare head,Steeped me in poverty to the very lips,Given to captivity me and my utmost hopes,I should have found in some place of my soulA drop of patience. But alas, to make meA fixed figure for the time of scornTo point his slow unmoving finger at” | Othello Act 4 Scene 2-Othello tells Desdemona that the worst thing about her cheating on him is that it makes him become a ridiculous figure – the cheated-on husband, one that people will just laugh at-not heartbroken, just embarrassed and ashamed |
othello act 4
August 5, 2019