A1S3 Key quotes

Question 1

How does the opening of this scene elevate Othello’s status further (2)

Answer 1

• there is chaos in the signory without Othello
• repeated use of ‘valiant’ as he enters

Question 2

How is the public vs private conflict displayed in this scene

Answer 2

The issue with Cyprus is quickly waylaid by Brabantio’s problems

Question 3

How does Othello manipulate the signory and why is this significant (3)

Answer 3

• ‘rude am I in speech’
• he plays up to his expectations despite being eloquent (‘most potent, grave and reverend signors’)
• this makes him a viable tragic hero as it shows him to be intelligent

Question 4

How does Othello emphatically end his initial monologue

Answer 4

‘I won his daughter’

Question 5

How does Othello contrast the previous treatment of Desdemona

Answer 5

‘let her speak of me before her father’

Question 6

How does Othello acknowledge his pre conceived reputation (2)

Answer 6

• ‘I do confess the vices of my blood’
• ‘not to please the palate of my appetite’

Question 7

How does Brabantio epitomise the societal views of Desdemona and Othello

Answer 7

‘to fall in love with what she feared to look on’

Question 8

What does Othello reference in the stories he told Desdemona

Answer 8

• ‘the Cannibals’
• the Anthropophagi’
• ‘the men whose heads do grow beneath their shoulders’

Question 9

How does Desdemona defy expectations and display her loyalty to Othello

Answer 9

‘but here’s my husband’

Question 10

How does Brabantio treat Desdemona

Answer 10

• ‘I do give thee that’
• calling Desdemona ‘that’ dehumanises her

Question 11

What is the significance of the quotation: ‘I crave fit disposition for my wife’

Answer 11

It shows that Othello has the power to be able to make demands as well as having Desdemona’s interests at heart

Question 12

How is Othello’s race deemed irrelevant by Desdemona and a Duke

Answer 12

• ‘I saw Othello’s visage in his mind’
• ‘your son-in-law is more fair than black’

Question 13

How does Shakespeare create dramatic irony (2)

Answer 13

• ‘a man he is of honesty and trust’
• ‘my life upon her faith’

Question 14

How does Brabantio plant the seed of distrust

Answer 14

‘look to her if thou hast eyes to see, she has deceived her father and may thee’

Question 15

How does Roderigo show Iago’s power in speech

Answer 15

‘I will incontinently drown myself’ changes to ‘I am changed’

Question 16

Three significant quotes from Iago’s soliloquiy

Answer 16

• ‘thus do I ever make my fool my purse’
• ‘to abuse Othello’s ear’
• ‘hell and night must bring this monstrous birth to the world’s light’