Othello Key Quotes

Question 1

A quote from IAGO in A1, S1 reflecting his belief in Cassio being unfit for the job of lieutenant due to his inexperience

Answer 1

IAGO: Never set a squadron in the field/Nor the division of a battle knows/More than a spinster

Question 2

A quote from IAGO in A1, S1 reflecting his duplicitous nature and his use of social superiors to take what he desires

Answer 2

IAGO: …in forms and visages of duty/[…] throwing but shows of service on their lords/[…] and, when they have lined their coats,/Do themselves homage

Question 3

A quote from IAGO A1, S1 reflecting Iago’s duplicitous nature in that he will not show his true feelings

Answer 3

IAGO: I will wear my heart upon my sleeve/For daws to peck at: I am not what I am

Question 4

A quote from IAGO in A1, S1 reflecting the undercurrent of latent racism within Venetian society

Answer 4

IAGO: Now, now, very now, an old black ram/Is tupping your white ewe

Question 5

A quote from OTHELLO in A1, S2 reflecting is nobility in the face of racist adversity

Answer 5

OTHELLO: Let him do his spite

Question 6

A quote from OTHELLO in A1, S2 during Othello’s confrontation with Brabantio, demonstrating his nobility and calm ability to dispel violence

Answer 6

OTHELLO: Keep up your bright swords, for the dew will rust them”

Question 7

A quote from A1, S2 from BRABANTIO reflecting the latent racism within Venetian society and presenting Othello as the “other”

Answer 7

BRABANTIO: Run from her guardage to the sooty bosom/Of such a thing as thou?”

Question 8

A quote from A1, S3 from BRABANTIO as he suggests to the duke that Othello has taken his daughter with magic, as no normally-functioning white woman could love a ‘blackmoor’

Answer 8

BRABANTIO: She is abused, stolen from me and corrupted/By spell and medicines bought of mountebanks/For nature so preposterously to err

Question 9

A quote from OTHELLO prior to his tale of his adventures in A1, S3, demonstrating his modesty and nobility as a tragic hero

Answer 9

OTHELLO: Rude am I in my speech

Question 10

A quote from OTHELLO in A1, S3 as he fights back at the accusation of his use of witchcraft, telling Brabantio that he wooed Desdemona through exotic tales of bravery

Answer 10

OTHELLO: This only is the witchcraft I have used

Question 11

A quote from BRABANTIO toward the end of A1, S3 prefiguring Othello’s suspicion against Desdemona as he point out that she deceived her father, so could her husband. Iago later uses this same argument in A3 by means of proof of her disloyalty

Answer 11

BRABANTIO: Look to her, Moor, if thou hast eyes to see./She has deceived her father, and may thee

Question 12

A quote from IAGO at the end of A1, S3, suggesting a possible motivation for his hatred of Othello

Answer 12

IAGO: I hate the Moor/And it is thought abroad that ‘twixt my sheets/He’s done my office

Question 13

A quote from MONTANO at the start of A2, S1, suggesting the recognition by Othello’s men of his military prowess and nobility

Answer 13

MONTANO: I have served him, and the man commands/Like a full soldier

Question 14

A quote from OTHELLO in A2, S1 of cosmically magnitudinal language, suggesting his undying love for Desdemona

Answer 14

OTHELLO: May the winds blow till they have wakened death,/And let the labouring bark climb hills of seas,/Olympus high […] If it were now to die/’Twere now to be most happy

Question 15

A quote from IAGO in A2, S1 suggesting that his own destructive jealousy toward Othello having “leaped into [his] seat” is the fuel in fact for his instigation of jealousy within Othello

Answer 15

IAGO: … the thought whereof/Doth like a poisonous mineral gnaw at my inwards”

Question 16

A quote from CASSIO in A2, S1 reflecting the universally recognised opinion of Desdemona’s virtue

Answer 16

CASSIO: Letting go safely by/The divine Desdemona

Question 17

A quote from A2, S3 after the brawl reflecting Othello’s wrath, as well as his move away from his Islamic roots and newfound assimilation to Venetian Christian society

Answer 17

OTHELLO: Are we turned Turks?

Question 18

A quote from IAGO in his soliloquy in A2, S3 suggesting his machiavellian desire to destroy Othello through jealousy

Answer 18

IAGO: I’ll pour this pestilence into his ear

Question 19

A quote from OTHELLO in A3, S3, reflecting the idea that Iago’s machinations have not yet fully set in - he still has at least some confidence in Desdemona’s love for him regardless of his race

Answer 19

OTHELLO: For she had eyes and chose me

Question 20

A quote from IAGO in A3, S3, reflecting the idea that, just as Desdemona duped her father, she could just as easily do so to Othello

Answer 20

IAGO: To seel her father’s eyes up, close as oak

Question 21

A quote from IAGO in A3, S3 as he plants in Othello’s mind the idea that his marriage to Desdemona is an unnatural one due to his race, perpetuating the ideas of Brabantio in Act One

Answer 21

IAGO: Not to affect many proposed matches/Of her own clime, complexion and degree/Whereto we see, in all things, nature tends

Question 22

A quote from OTHELLO in A3, S3, suggesting that Iago’s suggestion of his marriage’s unnatural nature has seeped beneath his noble skin

Answer 22

OTHELLO: Haply for I am black/And have not those soft parts of conversation/That chamberers have, or for I am declined/Into the vale of years

Question 23

A quote from IAGO in A3, S3 reflecting his intention to use the handkerchief as ‘ocular proof’ of Desdemona’s infidelity

Answer 23

IAGO: Trifles light as air/Are to the jealous confirmations strong