Othello quote

I follow him to serve my turn upon him.We cannot all be masters, nor all mastersCannot be truly followed.You shall markMany a duteous and knee-crooking knaveThat, doting on his own obsequious bondage,Wears out his time, much like his master’s ass,For naught but provender, and when he’s old, cashiered.Whip me such honest knaves! Others there are Who, trimmed in forms and visages of duty,Keep yet their hearts attending on themselves, And throwing but shows of service on their lords,Do well thrive by them; and when they have lined their coats,Do themselves homage. These fellows have some soul,And such a one do I profess myself. For, sir, It is as sure as you are Roderigo,Were I the Moor I would not be Iago.In following him, I follow but myself.Heaven is my judge, not I for love and duty,But seeming so for my peculiar end.For when my outward action doth demonstrateThe naive act and figure of my heartIn complement extern, ’tis not long after But I will wear my heart upon my sleeveFor daws to peck at. I am not what I am. Iago – talking to Roderigo about how Iago hates Othello for choosing Cassio over Iago as lieutenantWhen Roderigo suggests that Iago stop being loyal to Othello, Iago says that he would take advantage of Othello (“serve [his] turn upon [Othello]”) Comparing devoted servants to servants who “do themselves homage,” Iago says that he is the kind of servant who looks devoted on the outside but is actually loyal to his self-interests. One can see the two-sided nature of Iago where one is Othello’s loyal and honest servant and the other is the cunning and deceptive villain.In this early speech, Iago explains his tactics to Roderigo. He follows Othello not out of “love” or “duty,” but because he feels he can exploit and dupe his master, thereby revenging himself upon the man he suspects of having slept with his wife. Iago finds that people who are what they seem are foolish. The day he decides to demonstrate outwardly what he feels inwardly, Iago explains, will be the day he makes himself most vulnerable: “I will wear my heart upon my sleeve / For daws to peck at.” His implication, of course, is that such a day will never come.This speech exemplifies Iago’s cryptic and elliptical manner of speaking. Phrases such as “Were I the Moor I would not be Iago” and “I am not what I am” hide as much as, if not more than, they reveal. Iago is continually playing a game of deception, even with Roderigo and the audience. The paradox or riddle that the speech creates is emblematic of Iago’s power throughout the play: his smallest sentences (“Think, my lord?” in III.iii.109) or gestures (beckoning Othello closer in Act IV, scene i) open up whole worlds of interpretation.
Rude am I in my speech,And little blessed with the soft phase of peace;For since these arms of mine had seven years’ pith,Till now some nine moons wasted, they have usedTheir dearest action in the tented field,And little of this great world can I speakMore than pertains to feats of broil and battle. Othello – speaking for himself in front of the Duke, Brabantio, and the senators of the love between him and DesdemonaHe says that he is a man better at fighting than at speaking but he will explain how he and Desdemona fell in love if they would give him the chance to defend himself that he didn’t win Desdemona with magic.
My story being done,She gave me for my pains a world of sighs.She swore, in faith, twas strange, twas passing strange,Twas pitiful, twas wondrous pitiful.She wished she had not heard it, yet she wished That heaven had made her such a man. She thanked me,And bade me, if I had a friend that loved her,I should but teach him how to tell my story,And that would woo her. Upon this hint I spake. She loved me for the dangers I had passed,And I loved her that she did pity them.This only is the witchcraft I have used. Othello – explaining how Desdemona and he fell in love for each other to the Duke, Brabantio, and the senators.- as Brabantio had accused Othello for using witchcraft in wooing Desdemona, Othello says that his stories of warfare he told when he was invited over to Brabantio’s house had attracted Desdemona and made her feel strong emotions for Othello.
My noble father,I do perceive her a divided duty. To you I am bound for life and education.My life and education both do learn me How to respect you. You are the lord of duty.I am hitherto your daughter. But here’s my husbandAnd so much duty as my mother showed To you, preferring you before her father,So much I challenge that I my professDue to the Moor my lord. Desdemona – Iago was sent to get Desdemona with the orders from Othello to let Desdemona explain herself to her father. – Desdemona tells her father that although she respects her father, she owes obedience to Othello more than to Brabantio. This proves Desdemona’s’ love for Othello and thus forces Brabantio to accept the fact that he has lost his daughter to Othello.
That I did love the Moor to live with himMy downright violence and storm of fortunesMay trumpet to the world. My heart’s subdued Even to the very quality of my lord.I saw Othello’s visage in his mind,And to his honors and his valiant partsDid I my soul and fortunes consecrate. Desdemona – when the Duke asks Desdemona where she wants to stay at, with her father or her husband, she replies that she would follow Othello. – as openly she took by storm the future, she is ready to accept the life she would have to endure when Othello would be absent, away for war. She sees “Othello’s visage in his mind,” meaning she doesn’t see Othello’s skin color but sees his true heart.
Virtue? A fig! ‘Tis in ourselves that we are thus or thus. Our bodies are our gardens, to which our wills are gardeners. So that if we will plant nettles or sow lettuce, set hyssop and weed up thyme, supply it with one gender of herbs or distract it with many, either to have it sterile with idleness or manured with industry, why the power and corrigible authority of this lies in our wills. If the balance of our lives had not one scale of reason to poise another of sensuality, the blood and baseness of our natures would conduct us to most prepostrous conclusions. But we have reason to cool our raging motions, our carnal strings, our unbitted lusts. Iago – when Roderigo is upset that things didn’t turn out as he wanted to (Desdemona proved to his father that she loved Othello and Brabantio accepted it), Iago talks to him and calms him down by telling him that they should keep their rational minds to suppress their emotions and desires. – Iago is thus encouraging Roderigo to get money (“put money in thy purse”) because Iago needs Roderigo’s money for his plot
Thus do I ever make my fool my purse.For I mine own gained knowledge should profaneIf I would time expend with such a snipeBut for my sport and profit. I hate the Moor,And it is thought abroad that ‘twixt my sheets He’s done my office. I know not if ‘t be true,But I, for mere suspicion in that kind,Will do as if for surety. He holds me well.The better shall my purpose work on him.Cassio’s a proper man. Let me see now,To get his place and to plume up my willIn double knavery. How? How? Let’s see.After some time, to abuse Othello’s earThat he is too familiar with his wife.He hath a person and a smooth disposeTo be suspected, framed to make women false.The Moor is of a free and open natureThat thinks men honest that but seem to be so,And will as tenderly be led by th’ noseAs asses are.I have ‘t. It is engendered! Hell and nightMust bring this monstrous birth to the world’s light. Iago – after Roderigo leaves, determined to sell all his land and make money, this is Iago’s first soliloquy. It reveals how he only sees Roderigo as a tool for his plot. Readers also found out that there is a rumor that Othello slept with Iago’s wife. When Iago talks about Cassio, readers can assume that Iago’s next plan is to tell Othello how Cassio is too close with Desdemona to make Othello feel jealous so that Iago could take Cassio’s job.
O, you are well tuned now,But I’ll set down the pegs that make this music,As honest as I am. Iago – this is Iago’s “aside” as he sees Othello and Desdemona kiss as they greet each other for the first time on Cyprus. The audience can assume that Iago is going to mess up Othello and Desdemona’s love using Cassio, especially from the prior aside of Iago in which he observed how the friendship between Cassio and Desdemona could be interpreted as romantic.
That Cassio loves her, I do well believe ‘t.That she loves him, ’tis apt and of great credit.The Moor, howbeit that I endure him not,Is of a constant, loving, noble nature,And I dare think he’ll prove to DesdemonaA most dear husband. Now, I do love her too,Not out of absolute lust—though peradventureI stand accountant for as great a sin—But partly led to diet my revenge,For that I do suspect the lusty MoorHath leaped into my seat. The thought whereofDoth, like a poisonous mineral, gnaw my inwards,And nothing can or shall content my soulTill I am evened with him, wife for wife.Or, failing so, yet that I put the MoorAt least into a jealousy so strongThat judgment cannot cure. Which thing to do,If this poor trash of Venice, whom I traceFor his quick hunting, stand the putting on,I’ll have our Michael Cassio on the hip,Abuse him to the Moor in the right garb(For I fear Cassio with my night-cape too)Make the Moor thank me, love me, and reward meFor making him egregiously an assAnd practicing upon his peace and quietEven to madness. ‘Tis here, but yet confused.Knavery’s plain face is never seen till used. – this is Iago’s second soliloquy after he sends away Roderigo, who he tells to provoke Cassio when he stands guard for the night. This quote reveals Iago’s disdain towards Othello for his suspicion that Othello slept with Emilia. Iago plans to make Othello jealous towards Cassio but trust Iago.
My blood begins my safer guides to rule,And passion, having my best judgment collied,Assays to lead the way. If I once stir,Or do but lift this arm, the best of youShall sink in my rebuke. Give me to knowHow this foul rout began, who set it on,And he that is approved in this offence,Though he had twinned with me, both at a birth,Shall lose me. What, in a town of warYet wild, the people’s hearts brimful of fear,To manage private and domestic quarrel?In night, and on the court and guard of safety?’Tis monstrous. Iago, who began ‘t? – Othello has discovered Montano wounded with Cassio holding his sword. Othello asks Cassio what happened, but Cassio is ashamed of himself for getting drunk and causing a riot. Othello fumes that his emotions are about to take over reason (relates to how Iago had advised Roderigo that he should be rational and suppress emotions).- “Tis monstrous” refers to Iago’s monstrous plan. A dramatic irony because while Othello asks Iago who began the commotion, the audience knows that Iago was behind everything.
Reputation, reputation, reputation! O I have lost my reputation! I have lost the immortal part of myself, and what remains is bestial. My reputation, Iago, my reputation! Cassio – After getting drunk and having been caught by Othello what seems like a fight between him and Montano, Cassio has been fired. He is worried about his reputation and how Othello would think of him and regrets his decision to drink.
As I am an honest man, I thought you had received some bodily wound. There is more sense in that than in reputation. Reputation is an idle and most false imposition, oft without merit and lost without deserving. You have lost no reputation at all, unless you repute yourself such a loser. Iago – telling Cassio that he should be okay even if he is fired because reputation can be easily gained and easily lost. He is convincing him that Cassio shall soon be able to gain Othello’s trust and win his office again.This is a speech that greatly contrasts with what Iago later tells Othello.
How am I then a villainTo counsel Cassio to this parallel course,Directly to his good? Divinity of hell!When devils will the blackest sins put onThey do suggest at first with heavenly showsAs I do now. For whiles this honest foolPlies Desdemona to repair his fortuneAnd she for him pleads strongly to the Moor,I’ll pour this pestilence into his ear:That she repeals him for her body’s lust.And by how much she strives to do him goodShe shall undo her credit with the Moor.So will I turn her virtue into pitchAnd out of her own goodness make the netThat shall enmesh them all. Iago – this is Iago’s third soliloquy after Cassio exits with Iago’s advise to seek Desdemona’s help in getting his job back.
I think thou dost;And for I know thou ‘rt full of love and honestyAnd weigh’st thy words before thou giv’st them breathTherefore these stops of thine fright me the more.For such things in a false, disloyal knave Are tricks of custom; but in a man that’s just,They’re close dilation working from the heartThat passion cannot rule. Othello – after Iago makes Othello curious of his thoughts about Cassio, Iago is intentionally hesitating to say that Cassio seems to be in a romantic relationship with Desdemona. Othello really wants to know what Iago has in his mind because he trust Iago. He believe Iago is a “man that’s just”, someone who isn’t ruled by passion.
Good name in man and woman, dear my lord,Is the immediate jewel of their souls.Who steals my purse steals trash. ‘Tis something,nothing;Twas mine, tis his, and had been slave to thousands.But he that filches from me my good name Robs me of that whicch not enriches himAnd makes me poor indeed. Iago – after Iago makes Othello curious of his thoughts about Cassio, Iago is stalling to say that Cassio seems to be in a romantic relationship with Desdemona. This quote directly contrasts with what Iago told Cassio that reputation is fleeting. Iago is implying Othello that what he is about to say is related to Othello’s reputation, something that might serious hurt it.
Oh, beware, my lord, of jealousy!It is the green-eyed monster which doth mockThe meat it feeds on. That cuckold lives in blissWho, certain of his fate, loves not his wronger,But, oh, what damnèd minutes tells he o’erWho dotes, yet doubts— suspects, yet soundly loves! Iago – directly warns Othello of jealousy, implying that Othello would become jealous if he finds out what Iago is about to say, that Cassio is in a romantic relationship with Desdemona. And when Othello, after hearing this, says that he won’t be jealous, Iago is finally “relieved” and tells Othello about his suspicion.
This fellow’s of exceeding honestyAnd knows all quantities, with a learnèd spirit,Of human dealings. If I do prove her haggard,Though that her jesses were my dear heartstrings,I’d whistle her off and let her down the windTo prey at fortune. Haply, for I am blackAnd have not those soft parts of conversationThat chamberers have, or for I am declinedInto the vale of years—yet that’s not much—She’s gone, I am abused, and my reliefMust be to loathe her. Oh, curse of marriageThat we can call these delicate creatures oursAnd not their appetites! I had rather be a toadAnd live upon the vapor of a dungeonThan keep a corner in the thing I loveFor others’ uses. Yet ’tis the plague to great ones,Prerogatived are they less than the base.’Tis destiny unshunnable, like death.Even then this forkèd plague is fated to usWhen we do quicken. Look where she comes.If she be false, heaven mocked itself.I’ll not believe ‘t. Othello – 1st soliloquy, after Iago has left after Othello asked him to tell him more if he finds out more about his suspicion, Othello is speaking alone on stage.He completely believes in ‘honest’ Iago and although he is not ready to believe that Desdemona is cheating on him, he worries about how his marriage would come to an end once he would actually find out the truth.When, in Act I, scene iii, Othello says that he is “rude” in speech, he shows that he does not really believe his own claim by going on to deliver a lengthy and very convincing speech about how he won Desdemona over with his wonderful storytelling (I.iii.81). However, after Iago has raised Othello’s suspicions about his wife’s fidelity, Othello seems to have at least partly begun to believe that he is inarticulate and barbaric, lacking “those soft parts of conversation / That chamberers [those who avoid practical labor and confine their activities to the ‘chambers’ of ladies] have.” This is also the first time that Othello himself, and not Iago, calls negative attention to either his race or his age. His conclusion that Desdemona is “gone” shows how far Iago’s insinuations about Cassio and Desdemona have taken Othello: in a matter of a mere 100 lines or so, he has progressed from belief in his conjugal happiness to belief in his abandonment.The ugly imagery that follows this declaration of abandonment—Othello finds Desdemona to be a mere “creature” of “appetite” and imagines himself as a “toad” in a “dungeon”—anticipates his later speech in Act IV, scene ii, in which he compares Desdemona to a “cistern for foul toads / To knot and gender in,” and says that she is as honest “as summer flies are in the shambles [slaughterhouses], / That quicken even with blowing” (IV.ii.63-64, 68-69). Othello’s comment, “’tis the plague of great ones,” shows that the only potential comfort Othello finds in his moment of hopelessness is his success as a soldier, which proves that he is not “base.” He attempts to consider his wife’s purported infidelity as an inevitable part of his being a great man, but his comfort is halfhearted and unconvincing, and he concludes by resigning himself to cuckoldry as though it were “death.”
I will in Cassio’s lodging lose this napkinAnd let him find it. Trifles light as airAre to the jealous confirmations strongAs proofs of holy writ. This may do something.The Moor already changes with my poison.Dangerous conceits are in their natures poisonsWhich at the first are scarce found to distaste,But with a little act upon the bloodBurn like the mines of sulfur.Look, where he comes. Not poppy nor mandragoraNor all the drowsy syrups of the world,Shall ever medicine thee to that sweet sleepWhich thou owedst yesterday. Iago – after he got the handkerchief from Emilia, he is talking alone about what his plan will be.
I had been happy if the general camp,Pioneers and all, had tasted her sweet body,So I had nothing known. Oh, now foreverFarewell the tranquil mind! Farewell content!Farewell the plumèd troops and the big warsThat makes ambition virtue! Oh, farewell!Farewell the neighing steed and the shrill trump,The spirit-stirring drum, th’ ear-piercing fife,The royal banner, and all quality,Pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war!And O you mortal engines, whose rude throatsThe immortal Jove’s dead clamors counterfeit,Farewell! Othello’s occupation’s gone. Othello – comes by after Iago has acquired Desdemona’s hankerchief. Saying that he would have been happy as long as he didn’t know about the affair.
Give me your hand. This hand is moist, my lady.This argues fruitfulness and liberal heart.Hot, hot, and moist. This hand of yours requiresA sequester from liberty, fasting and prayer,Much castigation, exercise devout;For here’s a young and sweating devil hereThat commonly rebels. Tis a good hand,A frank one. Othello – Othello comes and touches her hand, which is moist because she is nervous after losing the handkerchief.
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 meThe fixèd figure for the time of scornTo point his slow and moving finger at!Yet could I bear that too, well, very well.But there where I have garnered up my heart,Where either I must live or bear no life,The fountain from the which my current runsOr else dries up—to be discarded thence!Or keep it as a cistern for foul toadsTo knot and gender in! Turn thy complexion there,Patience, thou young and rose-lipped cherubin,—Ay, there, look grim as hell! Othello – he has heard Iago’s description of Cassio’s dreams and his conversation with Cassio, Angry with Desdemona, He is basically saying that while he would be able to endure everything else, he cannot be patient when he knows that Desdemona is not chaste and loyal to him.
I will be hanged, if some eternal villain,Some busy and insinuating rogue,Some cogging, cozening slave, to get some office,Have not devised this slander. I will be hanged else!A halter pardon him and hell gnaw his bones!Why should he call her “*****”? Who keeps her company?What place? What time? What form? What likelihood?The Moor’s abused by some most villainous knave,Some base notorious knave, some scurvy fellow.O heavens, that such companions thou’dst unfold,And put in every honest hand a whipTo lash the rascals naked through the worldEven from the east to th’ west! Emilia – is with Iago and Desdemona (who is shaken up after a harsh conversation with Othello), is ironical that Emilia suspects that someone is plotting this whole thing when Iago is right in front of her.
If e’er my will did trespass ‘gainst his love,Either in discourse of thought or actual deed,Or that mine eyes, mine ears, or any sense,Delighted them, or any other form,Or that I do not yet, and ever did,And ever will—though he do shake me offTo beggarly divorcement—love him dearly,Comfort forswear me! Unkindness may do much,And his unkindness may defeat my life,But never taint my love. I cannot say “*****,”It does abhor me now I speak the word.To do the act that might the addition earnNot the world’s mass of vanity could make me. Desdemona – confused and frightened, she seeks help from Iago because she trusts in him. The wording and tone of this speech is very similar to one that Othello spoke earlier.. she would give anything to prove her love
The world’s a huge thing. It’s a great price for a small vice.In troth, I think I should, and undo ‘t when I had done. Marry, I would not do such a thing for a joint-ring, nor for measures of lawn, nor for gowns, petticoats, nor caps, nor any petty exhibition. But for the whole world? Why, who would not make her husband a cuckold to make him a monarch? I should venture purgatory for ‘t. Emilia – Desdemona has just asked her if she would ever cheat on her husband. Although Desdemona would not cheat, Emilia would cheat for a prize.
This is the night that either makes me or fordoes me quite. Iago – saying aside after Cassio is slain and Roderigo is dead. Everything will come to an end within this day.
It is the cause, it is the cause, my soul.Let me not name it to you, you chaste stars,It is the cause. Yet I’ll not shed her blood,Nor scar that whiter skin of hers than snowAnd smooth as monumental alabaster.Yet she must die, else she’ll betray more men.Put out the light, and then put out the light.If I quench thee, thou flaming minister,I can again thy former light restoreShould I repent me. But once put out thy light,Thou cunning’st pattern of excelling nature,I know not where is that Promethean heatThat can thy light relume. When I have plucked thy roseI cannot give it vital growth again,It must needs wither. I’ll smell thee on the tree.Oh, balmy breath, that dost almost persuadeJustice to break her sword! One more, one more.Be thus when thou art dead and I will kill theeAnd love thee after. (kissing her) One more, and that’s the last.So sweet was ne’er so fatal. I must weep,But they are cruel tears. This sorrow’s heavenly,It strikes where it doth love. Othello – about to kill Desdemona to punish her, he calls her a rose, proving her love.. He still loves her and he knows his decision is irrevocable
O perjured woman, thou dost stone my heartAnd makst me call what I intend to do a murder, which I thought a sacrifice! Othello – Desdemona has told Othello that she has never given Cassio the handkerchief, This angers him even more, and he is not willing to listen because he thinks hat Cassio is dead.
O insupportable! O heavy hour!Methinks it should be now a huge eclipseOf sun and moon, and that th’ affrighted globeShould yawn at alteration Othello – horrored by the fact that he killed Desdemona, implies Desdemona’s worth to Othello (its an end to his world, as he told Brobantio to win Desdemona earlier)
O mistress, villainy hath made mocks with love! Emilia – the truth of Iago’s plot is finally unravelling. his play of love and jealousy of the mind.
I have seen the dayThat with this little arm and this good swordI have made my way through more impedimentsThan twenty times your stop. But, oh, vain boast!Who can control his fate? ’tis not so now.Be not afraid, though you do see me weaponed.Here is my journey’s end, here is my butt,And very sea-mark of my utmost sail.Do you go back dismayed? ’tis a lost fear.Man but a rush against Othello’s breast,And he retires. Where should Othello go?—Now, how dost thou look now? O ill-starred wench,Pale as thy smock! When we shall meet at comptThis look of thine will hurl my soul from heavenAnd fiends will snatch at it. Cold, cold, my girl,Even like thy chastity. O cursed, cursed slave!Whip me, ye devils,From the possession of this heavenly sight!Blow me about in winds, roast me in sulfur,Wash me in steep-down gulfs of liquid fire!—Oh, Desdemona! Desdemona! dead! Oh! Oh! Othello – talking to Grantio his last words.. calls himself a slave (ironic because he was actually a puppet of Iago) he regrets his impulsive decision that killed Desdemona
I have done the state some service, and they know’tNo more of that. I pray you, in your letters,When you shall these unlucky deeds relate,Speak of me as I am. Nothing extenuate,Nor set down aught in malice. Then must you speakOf one that loved not wisely, but too well.Of one not easily jealous, but being wrought,Perplexed in the extreme. Of one whose hand,Like the base Indian, threw a pearl awayRicher than all his tribe. Othello – asks Lodovico to rightly describe him went he goes back to Venice, he contradicts himself… Desdemona was his jewel With these final words, Othello stabs himself in the chest. In this farewell speech, Othello reaffirms his position as a figure who is simultaneously a part of and excluded from Venetian society. The smooth eloquence of the speech and its references to “Arabian trees,” “Aleppo,” and a “malignant and a turbaned Turk” remind us of Othello’s long speech in Act I, scene iii, lines 127-168, and of the tales of adventure and war with which he wooed Desdemona. No longer inarticulate with grief as he was when he cried, “O fool! fool! fool!,” Othello seems to have calmed himself and regained his dignity and, consequently, our respect (V.ii.332). He reminds us once again of his martial prowess, the quality that made him famous in Venice. At the same time, however, by killing himself as he is describing the killing of a Turk, Othello identifies himself with those who pose a military—and, according to some, a psychological—threat to Venice, acknowledging in the most powerful and awful way the fact that he is and will remain very much an outsider. His suicide is a kind of martyrdom, a last act of service to the state, as he kills the only foe he has left to conquer: himself.
August 2, 2019