Othello AO2 Quotes

Othello AO2 Quotes

1. Imagery

   • Animals
     • Iago
       • "beast"
       • "Barbary horse"
       • "Old Black Ram"
       • ‘Were they as prime as goats, as hot as monkeys, as salt as wolves in pride and fools as gross as ignorance made drunk" (3.3.)
         • Here he compares Desdemona and Cassio to animals to bring into Othello's mind terrible and horrific images to make him angry. This re-iterates how Iago’s mind works and how wayward he is
       • He does this to create this illusion that Othello is perverted, has no control over his sexual urges, and is lustful, immoral and selfish to take the virginity of a young white girl as an old black man. He uses this to reduce Othello and his actions to that of an animal, proving his desires are solely animalistic. The contrast between this ‘illusion’ and the virgin Venetian is very strong and further infuriates Brabantio, who was already angry about Desdemona and Othello marrying in secret. This selection of words from Iago, show’s us he is actually the perverted one as he compares everything to sex, even animals.
       • Act 2 Secene 3
         • ‘sport for Jove’
           • Jove was a mythical creature who often took the form of various animals to have sex with young beautiful females
     • Roderigo
       • ‘O inhuman dog!’
         • Act 5
         • he has discovered Iago’s monstrous plans for Desdemona and Cassio
     • Lodovico
       • ompares Iago to a ‘Spartan dog’ which was well known for being notoriously fierce
         • "viper"
           • Poisionous reptile
     • Cassio also mentions a HYDRA which was an ancient nameless serpent-like chthonic water beast, and for each head cut off it grew two more. This shows how Cassio believes Iago is very manipulative and back-stabbing and is worse than being two-faced
   • Hell
   • Black and White
     • Othello is black, Desdemona is white. This is powerful imagery, symbolizing the society’s opinion of interracial marriages as ‘good vs. evil’ where Othello (being black) is the ‘evil’. The quote ‘an old black ram is tupping your white ewe’ is a very strong metaphor where Othello is again degraded to evil due to his colour.
     • Othello is controlled by his emotions; he is very susceptible to manipulation as he is a very trusting man. Iago uses Othello’s colour to emphasize this making him seem incredibly ‘lusty’ as an old black man. The pure white of Desdemona versus his own 'blackness' is a source of insecurity for Othello, leaving him more open to jealousy.
     • Duke to Brabantio
       • your son-in-law is far more fair than black" (1.3.
         • "Fair" means "white," but also "beautiful" and "good." The Duke's point is that Brabantio would be much wiser to quit focusing on Othello's colour and start appreciating his virtue.
     • Emilia
       • "O, the more angel she, / And you the blacker devil!" (5.2.
   • traps
   • Food
   • magic
     • Motif that runs throughout the Play
       • Iago tells Othello that he can prove that Desdemona is cheating on him, and makes it look like she gave Cassio the handkerchief. Othello angrily confronts Desdemona of the handkerchief’s whereabouts. As she has lost it, he becomes even more enraged. He tells her a story of how Othello's mother received it from an Egyptian sorceress. There was magic in it. It made Othello's mother lovable. This brought his father to her. If the handkerchief was given away or lost that the magic of it would be lost. She gave it to Othello with the same magic. Now lost by Desdemona, the fate will be the same in the end.

2. Symbols

   • The song 'Willow'
     • As she prepares for bed in Act V, Desdemona sings a song about a woman who is betrayed by her lover. She was taught the song by her mother’s maid, Barbary, who suffered a misfortune similar to that of the woman in the song; she even died singing “Willow.” The song’s lyrics suggest that both men and women are unfaithful to one another. To Desdemona, the song seems to represent a melancholy and resigned acceptance of her alienation from Othello’s affections, and singing it leads her to question Emilia about the nature and practice of infidelity.
   • the Hankichief
     • Symbolises different things for different people
       • since the handkerchief was the first gift Desdemona received from Othello, she keeps it about her constantly as a symbol of Othello’s love.
       • Iago manipulates the handkerchief so that Othello comes to see it as a symbol of Desdemona herself—her faith and chastity. By taking possession of it, he is able to convert it into evidence of her infidelity.
       • But the handkerchief’s importance to Iago and Desdemona derives from its importance to Othello himself. He tells Desdemona that it was woven by a 200-year-old sibyl, or female prophet, using silk from sacred worms and dye extracted from the hearts of mummified virgins. Othello claims that his mother used it to keep his father faithful to her, so, to him, the handkerchief represents marital fidelity. The pattern of strawberries (dyed with virgins’ blood) on a white background strongly suggests the bloodstains left on the sheets on a virgin’s wedding night, so the handkerchief implicitly suggests a guarantee of virginity as well as fidelity.