| xenophobia | a fear of foreigners or strangers |
| cuckhold | Man whose wife has been unfaithful to him |
| Roderigo | Iago’s “friend” and a former suitor of Desdemona; “I will incontinently drown myself.” |
| Iago | Othello’s ancient or flagbearer; “In following him, I follow but myself.”; “I am not what I am.”; |
| Michael Cassio | Othello’s lieutenant |
| Brabantio | Desdemona’s father and a Venetian Senator; “Look to her, Moor, if thou hast eyes to see. / She has deceived her father, and she may thee.”; “For nature so prepost’rously to err, / Being not deficient, blind, or lame of sense, / Sans witchcraft could not.” |
| Desdemona | Brabantio’s daughter and wife of Othello; “My hearts subdued / Even tot he very quality of my lord.” |
| Othello | honorable military officer and Moor of Venice; becomes Governor of Cyprus; “She loved me for the dangers I had passed, / And I love her that she did pity them.” ; “And little of this great world can I speak.” |
| Emilia | Iago’s wife |
| Cyprus | an island and Venetian colony; the Turkish fleet plans to invade |
| appearance vs. reality | The difference between what something looks like and what it actually is. |
| passion vs. reason | An internal conflict between emotions and intellectual reasoning; the heart vs. the head. |
| handkerchief | a symbol of love, faith, and chastity: “Make it a darling like your precious eye. / To lose ‘t or give ‘t away were such perdition / As nothing else could match.” |
Othello – Characters, Motifs, Symbols
September 12, 2019