Zusammenfassung der Ressource
Othello Quotes
- IAGO - Act 1, Scene
1: "In following him,
I follow but myself,"
"I am not what I
am"
- Religious Imagery: Iago is here
admitting his evil nature directly
to the audience and Roderigo. In
a vague biblical reference to
God's declaration to Moses 'I am
what I am', Iago is declaring his
duplicity by stating the opposite.
- IAGO - Act 1, Scene 3:
"And [he] will be
tenderly led by the nose,
as asses are,"
- Animal Imagery: Iago is
referring to Cassio's
stupidity and gullibility
using the analogy 'ass'
who will be easily 'led'
i.e. manipulated or
decieved.
- Act 2, Sc 1 – Line 291-3
“…practising upon his [Othello’s]
peace and quiet / even to
madness / Knavery’s plain face
is never seen till used,”
- Juxtaposition: Iago is again admitting his evil
duplicity through the juxtaposition of 'peace
and quiet' and 'madness'.
- "Knavery's plain face is never seen till used,"
Trickery is never seen until it's been done.
- Act 2, Sc 1 – Line 164 “With as
little web as this will I
ensnare as great a fly as
Cassio,”
- Animal imagery: Iago is again referring
to Cassio as a animal which he will
ensnare or trap.
- Metaphor: The use of
the metaphor casts Iago
as someone who is in
control of the situation.
- Act 2, Sc 3 – Line 297
(Iago to Cassio) “I
protest in the sincerity
of love and honest
kindness,”
- The lexical chain created by
'sincerity' 'love' 'honest'
'kindness' highlights Iago's
lying nature as it is a strikingly
arrogant and false statement.
- Act 5, Sc 2 – Line 339-40 “Then
must you speak / Of one that
loved not wisely, but too well,”
- Othello is recognising a fatal
flaw in himself towards the
end of the play - he is
recognising he loved
Desdemona almost too much.
- This could also be seen as
Othello obsessing over his
reputation - even to the final
minutes of his life.
- Act 3, Sc 3 – Line 280-1 “If she be false, O then
heaven mocks itself; I’ll not believe it,”
- Biblical imagery: this is
another example of
Desdemona being
correlated with heaven or
perfection.
- These two quotes when together show the
dramatic change Othello undergoes in a
very short amount of time.
- Act 3, Sc 3 – Line 427-33 “O
monstrous, monstrous …I’ll tear her
all to pieces!”
- The violence in Othello's words
when he talks about
Desdemona shows the
audience he now fully believes
Iago.
- Act 3, Sc 3 – Line 167-9 “O beware, my lord, of
jealousy: / It is the green eyed monster which doth
mock the meat it feeds on,”
- The metaphor of comparing
jealousy to a monster makes
evident the inevitability of Iago's
plan: it adds to a sense of fate
through implying that it eats up
it's victims.
- It is therefore
foreshadowing events in
the play as Iago is
ironically making Othello
jealous throughout this
scene.
- Act 3, Sc 4 – Lines 155-6 “[Jealousy] is a
monster, begot upon itself, born on itself,”
- Demonstrates the unstoppable
force of jealousy once it has
begun. Adds to a feeling of
inevitability or fate.
- Act 1 “Old black ram,” “Far
more fair than black,” “The
Moor,” “Thick lips,”
- Repetition of Othello being identified by racist
epithets in Act 1 and throughout the play.
- Act 1, Sc 3 –
Line 381-2
“The Moor is
of a free and
open nature,
That thinks
men honest
that but
seem to be
so,”
- Iago's bold statement
proves his awareness of
Othello's naivety and
gullibility.
- Repeated
use of the
epithets of
‘valiant’ and
‘noble’ to
describe
Othello.
- Validates his
noble status,
widely respected
as a noble
general.