Othello: Key Quotes

Othello: Key Quotes

1. On Racism

   • He's called "the Moor"
   • "For I am black/ & have not those soft parts of conversation
   • Final speech: "Indian", "Arabian", "Aleppo", "Turk", "Venetian"
   • "Rude am I in my speech and little blest with the soft phrase of peace"

2. On Love, Sorrow, & Death

   • "Must you speak of one loved not wisely but too well" (5.2)
   • "Of one whose subdued eyes, albeit unused to the melting mood, drop tears as fast as the Arabian trees drop their medicinal gum" (5.2)
   • "Put out the light and then put out the light"

3. On being a Soldier & Morals

   • "Tis the plague of great ones"
   • "... I must be found./ My parts, my title, and my perfect soul/ shall manifest in me rightly" (1.2)
     • "I must be found"= integrity

4. On Desdemona

   • "I had rather be a toad/ and live upon the vapour of a dungeon/ than keep a corner n the thing I love" (3.3)
   • O compares D to a "Cistern for foul toads/ To knot and gender in"; she is as honest as "summer flies are in the shambles [slaughterhouse]"
   • He "Threw a pearl away"
   • "If she be false, O then heaven mocks itself"
   • "I'll tear her all to pieces"

5. On Mistrust

   • "My ancient [Iago];/ A man of honesty & trust" (1.3)
   • "I am bound to thee [Iago] forever"