Othello - Othello Key Quotes Flashcards
A quote from ACT ONE, SCENE TWO in which we meet Othello for the first time, presenting him as noble and honourable, a man who calms conflict and who his above the petty, racially motivated complaints of Brabantio, exacerbating the pathos later in the tragedy as Othello becomes quick to violence and anger
Let him do his spite; / My services, which I have done the signiory, / Shall out-tongue his complaints
A quote from ACT ONE, SCENE TWO showing Othello to be a man of humble virtue, secure in his goodness, through use of a triplet to describe this confidence in virtue against Brabantio’s attacks
My parts, my title, and my perfect soul / Shall manifest me rightly
A quote from ACT ONE, SCENE TWO as Othello is challenged by Brabantio and his men, showing the easy ability of Othello in the exposition on dispel aggression, this being in distinct contrast to his quick-to-anger nature after his disintegration
Keep up your bright swords, for the dew will rust them
Two quotes from ACT ONE, SCENE THREE from BRABANTIO as Othello stands before the Duke. The accusation of witchcraft causing nature to turn on itself suggests a deeply-rooted, latent racism beneath the civilised Venetian society (note use of melodramatic triplet)
She is abused, stolen from me and corrupted / By spells and medicines bought of mountebanks, / For nature so preposterously to err
A maiden never bold / […] To fall in love with what she feared to look on?
A quote from ACT ONE, SCENE THREE as Othello testifies before the Duke. It both reflects Othello’s humility and humble nature, as he is in fact an excellent orator, as well as demonstrating him to be far from well-versed in love, knowing only of war and battle, which allows Iago to later manipulate the idea of love in his mind
Rude am I in my speech / […] For since these arms of mine had […] / some nine moons wasted, they have used / Their dearest action in the tented field / And little of this great world can I speak / More than pertains to feats of broil and battle
A quote from ACT ONE, SCENE THREE reflecting the idea that Othello and Desdemona fell in love quite by accident - Othello told his story, and Desdemona love him for it
She loved me for the dangers I had passed / And I loved her that she did pity them / This is the witchcraft I have used
A quote from ACT ONE, SCENE THREE demonstrating Othello’s misplacement of trust in Iago from the exposition of the play
So please your grace, my ancient / A man he is of honesty and trust
A quote from MONTANO in ACT TWO, SCENE ONE when the men in Cyprus wait for the Venetian army to arrive, reflecting the high opinion of all in society toward Othello, who is respected as a strong and noble leader in the exposition
Pray heavens he be [safe], / For I have served him, and the man commands / Like a full soldier
A quote from ACT TWO, SCENE ONE when Othello arrives in Cyprus and speaks to Desdemona, professing undying love with cosmic imagery - suggests early on that love is a potential weakness in Othello, especially as he is not well versed in it
Let the labouring bark climb hills of seas, / Olympus-high, and duck again a low / as hell’s from heaven. If it were now to die / ‘Twere now to be most happy
A quote from ACT TWO, SCENE THREE potentially Demonstrating Othello’s disintegration to have begun due to the change in locale from Venice to Cyprus. Othello aligns himself with Venetian Christianity and disaligns himself with the ‘immorality’ of the Islamic “other”
Are we turned Turks? and to ourselves do that / Which heaven hath forbid the Ottomites? For Christian shame
A further quote from ACT TWO, SCENE THREE demonstrating Othello to lack the moderate temper required of a noble leader. He no longer dispels anger, but allows it to overcome his skills in leadership, perhaps due to the change in locale
Now, by heaven, / My blood begins my safer guides to rule
A quote from ACT THREE, SCENE THREE, demonstrating Othello to dispel doubts about Desdemona’s fidelity, as Iago insinuates that Desdemona and Cassio are cuckolding Othello. At first Othello is confident - jealousy has not yet set in
For she had eyes and chose me
Two quotes from ACT THREE, SCENE THREE, shortly after Othello dispels the idea of his wife’s infidelity, when Iago reminds Othello that Desdemona deceived Brabantio and so could too Othello. Othello, once comfortable in his race as he brushed off Brabantio’s accusations, now sees race and age as reasons for her possible infidelity
And yet how nature, erring from itself-
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
A further quote from ACT THREE, SCENE THREE at the peripeteia, as Othello mentally disintegrates, using bestial imagery to describe himself, seeing himself now to be undesirable to Desdemona due to jealous of Cassio
I had rather be a toad / And live upon the vapour of a dungeon / Than keep a corner in the thing I love / For others’ uses
A quote from ACT THREE, SCENE THREE reflecting Othello’s inner turmoil as he struggles with the issue to trust. The eventual falling on the side of Iago marks Othello’s definite peripeteia. Note the use of juxtaposition/parallels and opposites, as well as repetition of verb “think”
I think my wife be honest, and think she is not, / I think that thou art just, and I think thou art not
