Act 4 of Othello Quotations Flashcards
(28 cards)
Iago uses graphic sexual imagery to manipulate Othello further. (2 quotations)
‘To kiss in private?’ And ‘Lie… with her, on her, what you will’
The manipulation and jealousy becomes too much for Othello and he has a seizure (1st quotation). Iago, enjoying his revenge, says… (2nd quotation)
‘[He] falls into a trance’ and ‘Work on, my medicine, work!’
Cassio enters and suggests Iago should ‘rub him (Othello) about the temples’. Iago refuses, saying Othello… (racist and animalistic stereotyping)
‘Foams at the mouth and by and by breaks out to savage madness’
Othello wakes from his trance, and Iago tells him to ‘withdraw’ and listen in as he speaks to Cassio about Desdemona (He will actually question him about Bianca). Iago mentions how angry Othello will become.
‘As he shall smile, Othello shall go mad’
Cassio, thinking they are discussing Bianca, disrespects Desdemona, calling her a slut. He says he would not marry her.
‘I marry her? What! A customer!’
Luckily for Iago, Bianca enters with the handkerchief and throws it at Cassio. She is angry that he has given her some other woman’s belongings.
‘This is some minx’s token’
Othello realises ‘that should be my handkerchief’ and after Cassio and Bianca have left, he asks Iago how he should kill Cassio.
‘How shall I murder him, Iago?’
Othello is still so in love with Desdemona, despite what she has (supposedly) done.
‘A fine woman, a fair woman, a sweet woman!’
Iago quickly changes Othello’s mind about Desdemona, showing his control over him. Othello now wants her brutally killed.
‘I will chop her into messes’
Iago convinces Othello to murder Desdemona by strangulation rather than poison.
‘Do it not with poison; strangle her in her bed’
Othello meets with Lodovico who gives him a letter from the Duke, commanding him home. Desdemona is there too and Othello, overcome by anger, hits her. She says…
‘I have not deserved this’
Lodovico, horrified at Othello’s actions, says that such violence wouldn’t be allowed in Venice.
‘My lord, this would not be believed in Venice’
Lodovico asks Iago about Othello and is told that ‘he is much changed’ and that he has the wrong impression of him. Lodovico replies…
‘I am sorry that I am deceived in him’
Othello asks Emilia whether she has noticed any strange behaviour from Desdemona and she says she has seen none. Othello remains unconvinced and describes Desdemona as…
‘(This is) a subtle whore’
Revealing how Iago is getting into his head, Othello uses sexual language to describe Emilia and Desdemona. He tells Emilia to stand guard while he and Desdemona speak, as if she were a brothel-keeper.
‘Some of your function, mistress: leave procreants alone and shut the door’
Othello tries to view Desdemona as ugly and promiscuous, despite her beauty.
‘O, thou weed, who art so lovely fair and smell’st so sweet that the sense aches at thee, would thou hadst ne’er been born!’
Desdemona is horrified and confused and questions what she had done wrong.
‘What ignorant sin have I committed?’
Othello continues to talk to Desdemona as she were a whore (2 quotations).
‘Impudent strumpet’ and ‘I took you for that cunning whore of Venice that married with Othello’
After Othello has left, Desdemona confides in Iago and Emilia. She is unable to even say the word that Othello called her.
‘Such as she said my lord did say I was’
Emilia shows her intelligence by suggesting someone has been pouring poison into Othello’s ears. This is exactly correct.
‘The Moor’s abused by some most villainous knave’
Iago assures Desdemona that Othello is only upset by some problem with affairs of state, keeping up the act of ‘honest Iago’.
‘The business of the state does him offence’
Roderigo enters and is angry at Iago for not upholding his end of the bargain. Iago assures him that he will get Desdemona if he first murders Cassio. Iago lies saying Desdemona and Othello are going to Mauritania and killing Cassio is the only way to stop them.
‘Wherein none can be so determinate as the removing of Cassio’
Othello tells Desdemona to dismiss Emilia and go to bed to wait for him. Desdemona is completely obedient to Othello and tells Emilia…
‘We must not now displease him’
Emilia mentions how she wishes Desdemona had not met Othello. She clearly dislikes him now and thinks her friend could do far better.
‘I would you had never seen him’
