Othello Key Quotes: Jealously

Question 1

OTHELLO: ‘Think’st thou I’d make a life of jealously, To follow still the changes of the moon With fresh suspicions? No, to be once in doubt Is to be once resolved.’

Answer 1

• Othello does not believe someone should linger in jealously and clear any doubt as soon as possible.

Question 2

‘O beware jealously […] it is the green-eyed monster that doth mock the meat it feeds on,’

Answer 2

• Metaphor.

Question 3

‘my noble Moor is true of mind and made no such baseness As jealous creatures are, it were enough To put him to ill thinking.’

Answer 3

• Tragic awareness of how the handkerchief will look in the wrong hands.
• Cataphoric reference, Othello sees Cassio with the handkerchief and it drives him further into jealously.

Question 4

“I’ll tear her all to pieces!”

Answer 4

• Violent imagery
• Jacobean attitude: Black people were barbarian. Othello is beginning to conform to these racist stereotypes.
• Reflects Othello’s militan/soldier instincts and capabilities.

Question 5

“They are not ever jealous for the cause,”

Answer 5

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

Question 6

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

Answer 6

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