| “Men should be what they seem; or those that be not, would they might seem none!” | Speaks in riddles |
| “Three Great ones of the city” | Iago got help to persuade Othello to make him lieutenant |
| “Off-capp’d to him” | Cassio got the position instead |
| “Behold her tupp’d” | When Othello wants Ocular proof, Iago asks |
| “Preferment goes by letter and affection” | Annoyed that Cassio got the job due to this. |
| “I follow him to serve my turn upon him” | Iago obeys Othello for his own ends |
| “I am not what I am” | Reveals his duplicity to Roderigo |
| “Wife for Wife” | Due to suspect of Othello, Iago wants revenge |
| “I fear Cassio with my night-cap too” | Thinks Cassio had an affair with Emilia too! |
| “Now, now, very now” | Repetition when talking to Brabantio |
| “an old black ram is tupping your white ewe” | Vulgar language talking to Brabantio |
| “Whether he kill Cassio, Or Cassio him, or each do kill the other, Every way makes my gain” | Plot to fight Cassio against Roderigo |
| “A soldier fit to stand by Ceasar” | Iago ‘praising’ Cassio |
| “I fear the trust Othello puts him in” | Rats out Cassio. |
| “As if he pluck’d up kisses by the roots, that grew upon my lips” | Imagery of Cassio kissing Iago |
| “See Cassio wipe his beard with” | Gross image of the handkerchief with Cassio |
| “out of her own goodness make the net That shall enmesh them all” | Desdemona’s kindness will make the plot |
| “I never knew a Florentine more kind and honest” | Cassio about Iago’s honesty |
| “But let her live” | Iago tells Othello not to kill Desdemona |
| “Do it not with poison; strangle her in her bed” | Iago helps Othello plot Desdemona’s death |
| “Othello’s opinion of Iago was the opinion of practically everyone who knew him.” | Bradley says about Iago |
| “our usher into the action of the play” | Pechter says about Iago |
| “He is not much more than a necessary piece of dramatic mechanism.” | Leavis says about Iago |
| “I cannot think it, that he would steal away so guilty-like” | Subtly plants suspicion in Othello’s mind |
| “Your suspicion is not without wit and judgement” | Iago praises Roderigo to keep him on his side |
| “By Janus” | God of duplicity |
| “”I hold it the very stuff o’ the conscience/ To do no contriv’d murder” | Says he wouldn’t murder on purpose |
| “oft got without merit and lost without deserving” | Iago says about reputation |
| “She gave it him, and he hath given it his *****” | Iago to Othello about how Bianca got the handkerchief. |
| “I bleed, sir, but not kill’d” | Iago suggests he is the devil |
| “Demand me nothing”/”From this time forth I never will speak word” | Iago refuses to cite his motives. |
Othello- Iago essay quotes
September 4, 2019