Act 5 of Othello Quotations Flashcards
(23 cards)
Roderigo prepares to murder Cassio. Iago reflects on how he has encouraged and manipulated Roderigo until he is bursting with anger at Cassio.
‘I have rubbed this young quat almost to the sense, and he grows angry’
Roderigo ‘lunges at Cassio’ when he recognises his ‘gait’, but Cassio’s coat saves him and he wounds Roderigo. Iago stabs Cassio’s leg and leaves, Cassio shouts…
‘I am maimed forever. Help, ho! Murder, murder!’
Othello hears Cassio and knows Iago has fulfilled his promise and killed him.
‘O brave Iago, honest and just’
Iago enters as if he had just been woken up (looks innocent) and goes to help Cassio, asking Lodovico and Gratiano to join him. He stabs Roderigo and betrays him to keep his cover after ‘finding out’ he was one of the ‘villains’. Roderigo exclaims…
‘O damned Iago! O inhuman dog!’
Bianca enters and is distraught by Cassio’s state.
‘O, my dear Cassio, my sweet Cassio’
Iago insinuates that Bianca could have had something to do with Cassio’s injuries.
‘I do suspect this trash to be a party in this injury’
At the end of the scene, Iago reflects on how this is the night in which he will either be victorious or be undone.
‘This is the night that either makes me, or fordoes me quite’
Othello, in his soliloquy about Desdemona, debates within his own mind about killing her as he is still in love. He decides that killing her would be the best solution for the greater good and would gain justice for all.
‘Yet she must die, else she’ll betray more men’
Othello realises that once he had has killed Desdemona, there is no going back.
‘When I have plucked thy rose, I cannot give it vital growth again’
Desdemona wakes after Othello kisses her, and he asks her if she has prayed. He wouldn’t want to kill her if she isn’t prepared for heaven.
‘I would not kill thy unpreparèd spirit’
Desdemona is horrified and when Othello explains she is to die because she had been unfaithful with Cassio, she says…
‘Never loved Cassio but with such general warranty of heaven as I might love. I never gave him token’
Desdemona asks for Cassio to tell Othello that what he accuses her of is not true. Othello tells her that Cassio is dead and she now has no way to defend herself.
‘Alas, he is betrayed, and I undone’
Othello ‘smothers’ Desdemona and hears Emilia calling outside the door. He says she will probably want to speak to his wife and realises what he has done.
‘My wife- my wife, my wife! What wife? I have no wife’
Emilia enters to tell Othello of Cassio’s death and hears Desdemona. She asks who killed her and she still remained faithful to Othello.
‘Nobody; I myself’
Othello says ‘‘twas I that killed her’ and as an explanation for what he has done he says…
‘She was false as water’
Othello tells Emilia that Iago told him of Desdemona’s infidelity, and she is shocked at her husband’s involvement.
‘If he say so, may his pernicious soul rot half a grain a day’
Montano, Gratiano and Iago enter after Emilia shouts ‘murder’. Emilia accuses her husband saying…
‘You told a lie, an odious damned lie’
Othello mentions the handkerchief and Emilia realises her part in Desdemona’s death. She is horrified and feels guilty.
‘That handkerchief… he begged of me to steal it’
Othello ‘runs at Iago’ in his anger, calling him a ‘previous villain’ and Iago stabs Emilia and exits. Emilia sings ‘willow, willow, willow’ and says…
‘She loved thee, cruel moor’
Othello shows he has a ‘weapon’ and says he is going to kill himself. He goes towards the bed and exclaims…
‘O Desdemon, dead Desdemon! Dead! O! O!’
Othello asks Iago why he committed such an act of villainy and Iago refuses to tell him. This is his final revenge.
‘From this time forth I never will speak a word’
Cassio turns out to be alive and he confirms that he found the handkerchief in his chamber. Othello realises what he has done. He describes Desdemona as… (2 quotations)
‘Speak of one that loved not wisely but too well’ and that he ‘threw a pearl away richer than all his tribe’
Othello stabs himself, kisses Desdemona, and dies.
‘Killing myself, to die upon a kiss’
