Othello Key Quotes: Emilia

Question 1

“You shall not write my praise.”

(Act 2 Scene

Answer 1

• Iago is insulting Emilia with lies, therefore she does not trust him to surmise her.
• Sharp reply, defending herself and her sex.

Question 2

“Good madmam, do; I warrant it grieves my husband As if the case were his.”

Answer 2

• Dramatic Irony
• Emilia does not recognise her own husbands deception.

Question 3

“I am glad I have found this napkin […] And give’t Iago What he will do with it, heaven knows, not I: I nothing but to please his fantasy.”

(Act 3 Scene 3)

Answer 3

• Emila makes a large error, she steals Desdemona’s handkerchief and gives it to Iago in effort to rekindle their love.
• However, revealed at the end of the play, it becomes apparent that the handkerchief was yet another pawn in Iago’s play to ruin the Venetian community.

Question 4

‘drop by negligence.’

(Act 3 Scene 3)

Answer 4

• Emilia implies that Desdemona neglected the handkerchief gifted to her by Othello.

Question 5

“Poor Lady, she’ll run mad When she shall lack it

(Act 3 Scene 3)

Answer 5

• Emilia is aware of how important the handkerchief is to Desdemona.
• As a result, Emilia is trying to find out why Iago has been so desperate to get his hands on the handkerchief.

Question 6

“Is not this man jealous?”

Answer 6

• Desdemona does not believe a man such as Othello would become jealous easily.
• However, Emilia has more experience with men that Desdemona and can see that Othello is clearly jealous.

Question 7

“‘Tis not a year or two shows us a man.”

Answer 7

• Emilia offers a more cynical perception of men due to her unhappy marriage with Iago.

Question 8

“They are all but stomachs, and we are all but food; They eat us hungerly, and when they are full, They belch us.”

Answer 8

• Metaphor.
• Emilia criticises the treatment of women in Jacobean society. Emilia has a negative perception of men which alludes to the dysfunctional relationship between Emilia and Iago e.g. In act two scene one, Iago publicly criticises Emilia.
• ‘stomachs’ –> Men are hunters/observers, living
• ‘spectacles’ –> Inanimate, expendable, non-living.

Question 9

“They are not ever jealous for the cause,”

Answer 9

• Emilia states that men don’t need a reason to be jealous.
• cynicism because of her tumultuous relationship with Iago.

Question 10

“‘Tis a monster Begot upon itself, born on itself.”

Answer 10

• Mirrors Iago’s speech
• Was Emilia in on her husbands plan or not?

Question 11

“I durst, my lord, to wager she is honest.”

Answer 11

• Emilia confirms/believes Desdemona is innocent to Othello.

Question 12

“If any wretch have put this in your head, Let heaven requite it with the serpent’s curse!”

Answer 12

• ‘serpent’s curse,’ –> Biblical imagery, the serpent in the garden who convinces Eve to eat the apple and as a result gets banished from the Garden of Eden.
• Dramatic Irony, Emilia has figured out that some ‘Villianous knave’ has poisoned Othello’s mind and blackened Desdemona’s virtue but she is unaware that person happens to be her husband.

Question 13

“A beggar in his drink Could not have laid such terms upon his callet?”

Question 14

“I will be hanged if some eternal villain, Some busy and insinuating rogue, Some cogging, cozening slave, to get some office, Have not devised this slander; I’ll be hanged else.”

Answer 14

• Emilia’s word choice perfectly describes her husband’s actions that
  have led to Othello’s madness. She calls him, “eternal villain,”
  “insinuating rogue,” and “cogging, cozening slave,” insightfully and correctly identifying each of the characteristics the audience has seen.
• However, the tragic irony is that the man she is talking about is her husband who is standing right in front of her. She is unable to identify that her husband is capable of such actions.
  a In addition, the repeated reference to her hanging is sadly prophetic as she is killed by her husband after finally identifying him as the guilty man.

Question 15

“Why should he call her whore? Who keeps her company? What place, what time, what form, what likelihood?”

Answer 15

• Repetition of ‘what’ highlights how Emilia is offended on Desdemona’s behalf.
• Proto-feminism
• Display of anger at Othello’s mistreatment of Desdemona.

Question 16

“The Moor’s abused by some most villianous knave, Some base notorious knave, some scurvy fellow.”

Answer 16

• anaphoric reference: ‘abuse his ear,’
• Emilia has identified that someone has manipulated Othello.
• Emilia’s word choice perfectly describes her husband’s actions that have led to Othello’s madness. She calls him, “eternal villain,”
  “insinuating rogue,” and “cogging, cozening slave,” insightfully and correctly identifying each of the characteristics the audience has seen.

Question 17

“That turned your wit the seamy side without And made you to suspect me with the Moor.”

Answer 17

• Said to Iago, Emilia has been denouncing the unknown villian when Iago tells her to quiet down she attacks Iago for his jealously as he suspected that Othello and Emilia had had an affair.

Question 18

“But I do think it is their husbands’ faults If wives do fall.”

Answer 18

• Emilia’s cynicical view of marriage.
• Believes a woman has a right to take revenge on her husband have an affair, if he treats her poorly.

Question 19

“They slack their duties And pour our treasures into foreign laps, Or else break out in peevish jealousies, Throwing restraint upon us; or say they strike us.”

Answer 19

Emilia’s cynicical view of marriage.
- Believes a woman has a right to take revenge on her husband have an affair, if he treats her poorly.

Question 20

“Sweet Desdemona, O sweet mistress, speak!”

Answer 20

• Grief at Desdemona’s death

Question 21

“O, the more angel she, And you the blacker devil!”

Answer 21

• Black vs White Imagery
• Heaven vs Hell
• Emilia laments Desdemona’s innocence.
• ‘Blacker’ derogatory reference to Othello’s skin colour as well as his villany as he has just murdered Desdemona.

Question 22

“Thou art rash as fire to say That she was false. O, she was heavenly true!

Answer 22

• Emilia condemns Othello’s easily influenced/manipulated nature.

Question 23

“My Husband?” x3

Answer 23

• Repetition
• Emilia has realised Iago is the villian she has been denouncing the entire time
• Repetition conveys her shock -> she wasn’t complicit in Iago’s plot.

Question 24

“May his pernicious soul Rot half a grain a day!”

Answer 24

• Finally, the truth hits Emilia and she realises that it is indeed Iago who has filled Othello’s head with lies that have led to him murdering the innocent Desdemona. She dies at the hands of her husband, but she does so leaving the audience with a strong sense of her integrity.

Question 25

“She was too fond off her most filthy bargain.”

Answer 25

• Emilia once again laments how Desdemona loved Othello despite the fact he did not deserve her love.

Question 26

“You have little cause to say so.” (Act 2, Scene 1)

Answer 26

• Emilia’s first words in the play are to challenge her husband when he is deriding her in front of his superiors. It establishes her as a character with strength.

Question 27

“I will bestow you where you shall have time To speak your bosum freely” (Act 3, Scene 1)

Answer 27

• Emilia inadvertently opens Desdemona to Iago’s schemes by agreeing to allow Cassio access to Desdemona to beg for her help in reconciling him with Othello. Neither woman realises the implications this decision will have.

Question 28

“What will you do with’t that you have been so earnest to have me filch it?” (Act 3, Scene 3)

Answer 28

• When Emilia gives Iago the infamous handkerchief, she instantly begins to suspect his motives in asking for it. When she dares to question him, he turns on her and sends her away.

Question 29

“I durst, my lord, to wager she is honest, Lay down my soul at stake.” (Act 4, Scene 2)

Answer 29

• The word ‘honest’ is a clear motif in the play. Again we have Emilia’s sincere pronouncement that Desdemona is honest devalued by the fact that the word has been frequently used to describe her insincere husband.