| Who, in the beginning of the play at least, is Othello’s foil character | Iago |
| How does Othello charm Desdemona | With his stories |
| Who makes the first move in Dothellomona (dez and othello) | Desdemona |
| And bade me, if I had a friend that loved her, I should but teach him how to tell my storyAnd that would woo her” | Desdemona made the first move |
| And, noble signior,If virtue no delighted beauty lack,Your son-in-law is far more fair than black | Apparently Othello is more good than he is black despite his race |
| Iago’s put money in thy purse monologue | Iago is convincing Roderigo to pay him and try to win Desdemona back |
| Soliloquy VS Monologue | Soliloguy speaks to the audience for a purpose monologue a long one person’s speech |
| “And it is thought abroad that ‘twixt my sheets ‘has done my office” | Apparently Othello slept with Emilia |
| The 2 ways women have power | Beauty and intelligence |
| “Come on, come on. You are pictures out of door, bells in your parlors, wild-cats in your kitchens, saints in your injuries, devils being offended, players in your housewifery, and housewives in your beds.” | “You’re as pretty as pictures when you’re out in public, but in your own houses you’re as noisy as jangling bells. In your own kitchens you act like wildcats. You make yourselves sound like saints when you’re complaining about something, but you act like devils when someone offends you. You don’t take your jobs as housewives seriously, and you’re shameless hussies in bed.” (from sparknotes) |
| “If she be fair and wise, fairness and wit, / The one’s for use, the other useth it” | He means that a woman who is both smart and beautiful will be smart enough to know how to use her beauty to get what she wants |
| “How if she be black and witty?” “If she be black, and thereto have a wit, / She’ll find a white that shall her blackness hit” | Iago is saying that no matter how ugly a woman is, she can use her intelligence to attract a handsome man |
| “How if fair and foolish?” “She never yet was foolish that was fair; / For even her folly help’d her to an heir” | Iago’s point is that beautiful women can’t really be foolish, because their sexual attractiveness will get them what every woman wants, a man and a child |
| “What miserable praise hast thou for her. That’s foul and foolish?” “There’s none so foul and foolish thereunto, / But does foul pranks which fair and wise ones do” | In other words, all women are all the same |
| Though I perchance am vicious in my guess,As, I confess, it is my nature’s plagueTo spy into abuses, and oft my jealousy | Iago is honest for once. He admits he is easily made jealous and sometimes sees offenses when they havent really happened |
| Iago’s view on reputation | Your reputation is the most valuable thing. |
| Good name in man and woman, dear my lord, Is the immediate jewel of their souls. Who steals my purse steals trash | Your reputation is more important than any physical thing you can posses |
| “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!” | . The man who knows his wife is cheating on him is happy, because at least he isn’t friends with the man she’s sleeping with. But think of the unhappiness of a man who worships his wife, yet doubts her faithfulness. He suspects her, but still loves her.(sparknotes) |
| Othello needs what to prove Dez is guilty | Ocular proof |
| Her name, that was as fresh As Dian’s visage, is now begrimed and black As mine own face. | Her reputation was as pure as the snow, but now it’s as dirty and black as my own face (allusion Diana is the goddess of chastity) _(”/)_/¯ |
| Arise, black vengeance, from thy hollow cell! Yield up, O love, thy crown and hearted throne To tyrannous hate! Swell, bosom, with thy fraught, For ’tis of aspics’ tongues! | Othello says farewell to love and summons up hate to take its place; he is sure Dez cheated |
| 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 snow,And 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 restore,Should 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. | right before he kills Dez he still loves her and cant bear to scar her cause shes just so darn pretty, he knows she needs to die so that she cant cheat on him or any men |
| Ay, there’s the point. As, to be bold with you,Not to affect many proposèd matchesOf her own clime, complexion, and degree,Whereto we see in all things nature tends—Foh! One may smell in such a will most rank,Foul disproportion thoughts unnatural— But pardon me—I do not in positionDistinctly speak of her, though I may fearHer will, recoiling to her better judgment,May fall to match you with her country formsAnd happily repent | Iago suggests that there’s something “unnatural” and “rank” about Desdemona if she would decide to marry a black man instead of a man who is of “her own clime, complexion, and degree”Iago also plays on Othello’s fears about his status as a black Moor. Iago says Desdemona will eventually change her mind or “repent” for being with him, leaving Othello for a white man instead this works because Othello has tried so hard to not be like every other venetian |
| 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 particular end.For when my outward action doth demonstrateThe native act and figure of my heartIn complement extern, ’tis not long afterBut I will wear my heart upon my sleeveFor daws to peck at. I am not what I am | Iago is all about not revealing his true identity or intentions to anyone. Here, he tells Roderigo that he’ll never allow his “outward action[s]” to show what’s really going on inside of him because that would leave him vulnerable This phrase, we should point out, is an inversion of God’s line, “I am what I am” which is in keeping with the play’s alignment of Iago with the devil. |
| Reputation, reputation, reputation! O, I have lost my reputation! I have lost the immortal part ofmyself, and what remains is bestial. My reputation,Iago, my reputation! | After Cassio gets into a drunken brawl and loses his position as Othello’s officer, he worries about the loss of his “reputation,” which is tied up in his military service and his public behavior. Cassio feels that, without his “reputation” as an upstanding soldier, he’s nothing more than a “beast.” |
| Demand me nothing. What you know, you know.From this time forth I never will speak word | Iago refuses to explain himself. He conceals his motives and his true identity to the very last. |
| what is the significance of this quote “I lay with Cassio latelyAnd, being troubled with a raging tooth,I could not sleep… long story short apparently cassio sleep talks about loving dezzy | This is Iago’s first direct lie, he isnt just hinting anymore, theres no going back |
| Is this the noble moor whom our full senate call all in all sufficient? | lodovico is shocked by othello’s outburst and he is called the moor again, they are seeing his “moorish” ways and are letting him go back to moorish traits |
Othello Quotes
September 3, 2019