“She loved me for the dangers I had passed. And I loved her that she did pity them”
Act 1, Scene 3
Themes: Love/Identity
O justifies marriage to Brabantio
Parallelism reinforces the intensity and meaning behind Othello and Desdemona’s relationship and the plosives emphasise the assertiveness that they both wanted the marriage to happen
“Virtue! A fig! Tis in ourselves that we are thus or thus. Our bodies are our gardens, to which our wills are gardeners”
Act 1, Scene 3
Themes: Identity/Honour/Manipulation
Iago’s retort to Roderigo’s confession of love for Desdemona, Iago expresses his contempt for morality
Fig was known as an insult in Elizabethan England.
Repetition of “thus” highlights Iago’s belief in mans malleability and control. It is up to an individual to decide what they become.
Analogy to bodies and gardens and wills as gardeners highlight how we are the sole controllers of our fate and behaviour.
Polyptoton of gardens and gardeners show how our actions are always a direct result of our values.
“Reputation, Reputation, Reputation! O I have lost the most immortal part of myself, and what remains is bestial”
Act 2, Scene 3
Themes: Reputation/Honour
Cassio’s response to Othello demoting him after stabbing of Montano
Tricolour implies honour as an important train in renaissance Venice yet it foreshadows tragic loss of reputation in Desdemona’s wrongful shaming.
Hyperbolic Juxtaposition (“Immortal” “bestial”) present how much Cassio and his society care about honour. Ironic as Iago doesn’t care about reputation as he is the one who orchestrates the catastrophe making him “bestial”
“But jealous souls will not be answered so; They are not ever jealous for the cause. But jealous for they are jealous: ‘tis a monster Begot upon itself, born on itself”
Act 3 Scene 4
Themes: Jealous/Women
Emilia talks to D about the men
Emilia sees jealous as an irrational emotion.
Tautology of “jealous” shows Emilia understands envy does not ever require reason. One can neither prevent or mitigate jealous in a partner and they must suffer/live with it.
Metaphor of jealous as a “monster” and the epistrophe “itself” emphasises the self-engendering nature of envy and further highlights Emilia’s practical wisdom
“good night, good night; heaven me such uses send; Not to pick bad from bad, but by bad mend!”
Act 4 Scene 3
Themes: Identity
D subverts Emilia’s view of the men and wants to believe the best of people especially her husband, Othello.
D refuses to compromise her standards of goodness even if it means making herself a martyr.
Antanaclasis (repetition of word but in different senses)
1st bad - Vindictive behaviour Emilia supports
2nd Bad - metonym for the women who behave vindictively
Desdeomna doesn’t want to be around these woman and the rhyming couplet reaffirms her moral stance. She contributes to her own undoing.
“Th’ affair cries haste, And speed must answer it.”
Act 1 Scene 3
Duke
Themes: Race/Othello as an Outsider
Metaphor of speed show how the Venetians does not care about Othello’s skin colour but they like it as Othello’s foreignness makes him the perfect soldier for Venice. He isn’t a native Venetian so Venetians won’t lose one of their own men in battle
“far more fair than black”
Act 1 Scene 3
Duke
Themes: Race/Othello as an Outsider
Juxtaposition can be an example of wordplay. On the one hand it can show the contrast between light vs dark skin. On the other hand, “fair” means good and competent whilst “black” means ugly and unattractive.
Duke is seen to prioritise political practicism prioritising the security of the Venetian state
“an old black ram is tupping your white ewe”
Act 1 Scene 1
Themes: Race/Identity/Jealousy
Zoomorphism shows how Iago see’s both Othello and Desdemona in the same low light as animals. Both have degraded themselves to be no more than animals as they are in an interracial marriage
“an erring Barbarian”
“a super subtle Venetian”
Act 1 Scene 3
Themes: Race/Identity/Love/Jealousy
Slur highlights Iago’s racism and manipulative intent to destroy Othello and it also highlights how, to Iago, racial differences are no distinguishing marker for sexual appetite.
“to the health of black Othello”
Act 2 Scene 3
Themes: Race/Identity
Iago asks Cassio to toast
Dramatic Irony -
Coupled with Iago’s ambiguity of hatred for Othello, Othello does not care about Othello’s skin colour, yet he knows he can use it to his advantage.
“my hearts subdued. Even to the very quality of my lord… Did I my souls and fortune consecrate”
Act 1 Scene 3
Themes: Love/Identity
Hyperbole - Desdemona consecrates her soul and life into Othello’s valiant nature as a general. She turns away from her father Brabantio and favours a foreign and racially different man, Othello.
“warlike Moor Othello, Is come on shore: the Moor himself at sea”
Act 2 Scene 1
Themes: Race/Identity
Gentleman tells Cassio Othello is on his way to Cyprus
Epithets of “warlike” highlight how racial differences were not a problem to the Venetians when it was in a time of war. Othello is praised for his valiant nature.
“O, let the heavens Give him defence against the elements, For I have lost him on a dangerous sea.”
Act 2 Scene 1
Themes: Race/Identity/Setting
Cassio prays for Othello’s safety
Religious Imagery - Othello’s safety is valued by Cassio highlighting his deep respect for Othello disregarding his race.
It also emphasises the chaotic and dangerous setting of Cyprus where the war is meant to be taking place, however the war becomes internal with Othello and Iago.
“Haply for I am black and have no those soft part of conversations That chamberers have”
Act 3 Scene 3
Themes: Race/Identity
Othello
Connotation of haply(perhaps) emphasises Othello’s self uncertainty of where he himself stands in society
Equates his race with lacking social graces. Shakespeare has shown us that Othello is capable of gaining the respect from the people around him
“Her name, that was as fresh as Dian’s visage, is now begrimed and black As mine own face”
Act 3 Scene 3
Themes: Race/Identity/Love
Othello.
Classical Allusion - alludes to goddess Diana and the moon which symbolise purity and light. These are contrasted with Desdemona’s perceived present corruption of being “begrimed and black”
Othello creates arbitrary association between being “begrimed and black” and chains both ideas together with plosive. He doesn’t use logic, instead he uses language which leads him to his own downfall.
“I know my price, I am worth no worse a place”
Act 1 Scene 1
Themes: Jealousy/Identity
Iago’s wounded ego as Othello promotes Cassio instead of him
Mercenary Diction (price/worth) suggests Iago sees professional relationships as commercial exchanges which foreshadows his lack of emotion when he causes havoc.
“Place” suggests his singular exclusivity and self entitlement to a position.
“a great arithmetician…never set a squadron in the field”
Act 1 Scene 1
Themes: Jealousy
Iago speaks about Cassio’s promotion
Juxtaposition between war and logic exposes how Iago prioritises chaos and war over logic which reinforces his choice to ruin Othello’s and other characters life
“I hate the moor… that twixt my sheets. He has done my office
Act 1 Scene 3
Theme: Jealousy/Race/Love
Iago expressing his hate for Othello
Professional diction describes a domestic identity, that of a husband (my office).
Animal imagery “leap’d” Iago views Othello as a predatory animal.
Marriage is seen by Iago the same way he see his occupation. Both are competitions he can’t bear to see himself lose.
“lusty moor hath leaped into my seat”
Act 2 Scene 1
Theme: Jealousy
“seat” notion of a unique situation is reflected and Domestically, Iago must maintain his patriarchal dominance over Emilia. No matter what, Iago cannot be emasculated.
“like a poisonous mineral, gnaw my inwards”
Act 2 Scene 1
Theme: Jealousy/Manipulation
Similie implies jealousy eating away at Iago’s mind and causing psychological deterioration.
Personification presents Othello as a destructive poison giving him reason to get rid of him.
“for I am declined into the vale of years”
Act 3 Scene 3
Theme: Identity/Insecurities
Foreshadows his own downfall
Othello uses this to describe his insecurity regarding his age, race and inability to keep Desdemona’s love. It reveals Othello’s vulnerability to Iago’s manipulation.
“I think my wife be honest and think she is not; I think that thou (Iago) art just and think thou art not.”
Act 3 Scene 3
Theme: Manipulation/Jealousy
Othello’s paradox highlights how he begins to doubt his own intellect, contrasting him to the Othello the audience saw in the first acts who was high in intelligence. This proves he has fallen into Iago’s manipulation and feeds into his own downfall.
“My daughter is not for thee”
“O, would you had had her”
Act 1 Scene 1
Theme: Racism/Jealousy
1st quote: Brabantio to Rodergio
2nd quote: Brabantio to Rodrigo AFTER he realises Othello is getting married to Desdemona)
Exclamative, assumption that Othello has stolen his daughter. Brabantio is perfectly cordial with Othello on professional terms but not on familial relations??
“Her father loved me; Oft invited me; Still questioned me… To the very moment he bade me tell it.”
Act 1 Scene 3
Theme: Love/Racism
Othello says Brabantio loved him before all of this
Active verbs present Brabantio was the cause in their relationship and he was the one who took the pro active initiative and ask about Othello’s life. Brabantio is responsible for the marriage as he kept their proximity close.
