Act 4

Question 1

‘This is a subtle whore/ and closet lock and key of villanious secrets/ and yet she’ll kneel and pray’

Answer 1

Metaphor - depicts Desdemona as cunning and calculated, all the things she is not and Iago is, Othello hates these characteristics yet it is ironic that his closest friend embodies all of these and his most hated does not

Question 2

‘Are not you a strumpet?’/ ‘No, as I am a Christian’

Answer 2

Desdemona’s purity comes from her Christian values and yet Othello although preaching Christian ideas throughout seems to ignore this; this again shows his selective belief system

Question 3

‘His unkindness may defeat my life/ but never taint my love’

Answer 3

Tragic foreshadowing as it seems Desdemona knows her fate yet she accepts it and loves him too endurably to care

Question 4

‘I understand a fury in your words/ but not the words’

Answer 4

This is yet another piece of evidence of Desdemona not understanding male jealousy that leads to her tragedy later

Question 5

‘Am I the motive of these tears my lord?’

Question 6

‘O, heaven forgive us’

Answer 6

the collective pronoun shows she wants him to be saved as well as she still cares for him as her love

Question 7

‘Am I that name, Iago?’

Question 8

‘It is mry wretched fortune’/‘Here I kneel’

Question 9

‘The Moor is abused by some most villainous knave’

Question 10

‘Go in, and weep not; all things shall be well’

Question 11

‘Give it to your hobbyhorse’

Question 12

‘This is some minx’s token’