Othello Quotes

• Act II Scene III:

  "My blood begins my safer guides to rule And passion, having my best judgment collied, Assays to lead the way."

  (Led by emotions, not pragmatic like Iago)

  
  

  -Othello
• Act III Scene III: "Heaven knows, not I, I nothing, but to please his fantasy."

  (Highlights this characters loyalty and innocence...)

  
  

  -Emilia
• Act III Scene III: "Excellent wretch! Perdition catch my soul, But I do love thee! And when I love thee not, Chaos is come again."

  (Othello's hermatia: intense love)

  
  

  -Othello
• Act III Scene III (Temptation Scene): "I'll see before I doubt, when I doubt, prove ...... Away at once with love or jealousy!"

  (He still has faith in his wife, but there is doubt in his head...)

  
  

  -Othello
• Act III Scene IV: "They are all but stomachs, and we all but food; They eat us hungrily, and when they are full, they belch us."

  (The oppression of venetian women in Othello)

  
  

  -Emilia
• Act IV scene II: "If any such there be, heaven pardon him."

  (Dramatic irony: Iago is the one who has made Othello believe his wife has cheated on him. It also shows the purity of this character)

  
  

  -Desdemona
• Act IV scene I: "Work on, My med'cine, work! Thus credulous fools are caught"

  (The "pestilence" - a fatal disease/poison he poured in Othello's ear has worked exactly how he planned)

  
  

  -Iago
• Act II scene III "I turn her virtue into pitch"

  (He's going to make her genuine innocence into something sinister)

  
  

  -Iago
• Act I Scene I: "thieves, thieves, thieves! Look to your house, your daughter and your bags! Thieves, thieves!"

  (Women seen as possessions, the most important belongings are stated first)

  
  

  -Iago
• Act Iv Scene III: "The ills we do, their ills do instruct us so."

  (They're oppressed in society.... it's inevitable)

  
  

  -Emilia
• Act IV Scene I: "The justice of it pleases :Very good!"

  (This person starts to sound a lot more like Iago, they're now enjoying evil action, which causes pain to others...)

  
  

  -Othello
• Act III Scene III (Temptation Scene): "This fellow's of exceeding honesty".

  (This is dramatically ironic as we the audience know that he is anything BUT honest.)

  
  

  -Othello
• Act II scene I: "Make the Moor thank me love me, and reward me".

  (This person has an extreme need for approval from their boss, that when another person got promoted instead of them, they'll do anything for their place back... )

  
  

  -Iago
• Act I, scene III: "Look to her well moor, if thou hast eyes to see: she has deceived her father and may thee".

  
  

  -Brabantio
• Act III, Scene III (Temptation scene): "Beware my lord of jealousy. It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on"

  
  

  -Iago
• Act I, Scene I: "I am not what I am"

  (This contrasts to the bible where God says, "I AM WHAT I AM".

  Iago is the devil incarnate)

  
  

  -Iago
• Act I, Scene III: Thinks men honest that but seem to be so, and will as tenderly be led by the nose as asses are.

  (This person manipulates both Othello and Roderigo in this way as they're blinded by friendship/companionship)

  
  

  -Iago
• Act III, Scene III (Temptation Scene) : Men should be what they seem, Or those that be not, would they might seem none!

  (This person says this to manipulate Othello into believing Cassio is false, agitating him even further as he believes his own lieutenant made him a cuckold)

  
  

  -Iago
• Act I, Scene III: Thus do I ever make my fool my purse ...... But for my sport and profit. I hate the Moor.

  [This person is so diabolical, their main motive is not money, but rather pleasure from ruining others' lives- Motiveless Malignity (Coleridge)]

  
  

  -Iago
• Act III, Scene III (Temptation Scene): "Trifles light as air Are to the jealous confirmations strong As proofs if holy writ."

  (something as trivial as a handkerchief became the downfall of Emilia, Desdemona, Cassio and Othello....)

  
  

  -Iago
• Act I, Scene III: My life upon her faith

  (Dramatic irony: he tempts fate and this becomes his tragic downfall)

  
  

  -Othello
• Act II, Scene I: With as little a web as this will I ensnare as great a fly as Cassio.

  (This person acts as the puppet master who controls the narrative of the play...)

  
  

  -Iago
• Act I, Scene I: An old black ram is tupping your white ewe

  This villainous character uses grotesque language and racist imagery when speaking to a patrician man.

  
  

  -Iago
• Act I, Scene III: She loved me for the dangers I had passed, and I loved her that she did pity them.

  (But we might wonder whether each perhaps fell in love with an image or idea of the other)

  
  

  -Othello
• Act I, Scene III: I do perceive here a divided duty.

  (She is brave enough to stand up to her father and even partially rejects him in public, these words also establish for the audience her courage and her strength of conviction)

  
  

  -Desdemona
• Act IV, Scene III: I do think it is their husbands' fault if their wives do fall.

  (This person questions the inequality of women in society)

  
  

  -Emilia
• Act II, Scene III: I have very poor, and unhappy brains for drinking

  (This was a fatal flaw in this character which leads to their downfall)

  
  

  -Cassio
• Act III, Scene III (Temptation Scene): I am abused, and my relief must be to loathe her.

  (This person's hubris took the better of them, their biggest fear is cuckoldry)

  
  

  -Othello
• Act III, Scene III (Temptation Scene): O curse of marriage

  (This juxtaposition shows this character's regret and myopia)

  
  

  -Othello
• Act III, Scene III (Temptation Scene): That we can call these delicate creatures ours and not their appetites!

  (Direct link to Later when Emilia says "They are all but stomachs, and we are food, they eat us hungrily and belch us"

  
  

  -Othello
• Act I, Scene III: To fall in love with what she feared to look on.

  (This character portrays racism and disgust)

  
  

  -Brabantio
• Act III, Scene III: "And yet, nature erring from itself"


  This suggests that Othello and Desdemona's marriage is unnatural and bound to fail.

  -Othello
• Act I, Scene I : "In following him, I follow but myself".


  This character has the capacity to hide their emotions.

  -Iago
• Othello: “sweet desdemona” to the “whore of venice” →transmogrification

  (Extreme change, often in a grotesque way)