Othello: Key Quotations (OCR A Level English Literature): Revision Note

Key quotations

Below are a selection of helpful quotations accompanied by analysis of language, form, and structure. The analysis uses precise subject terminology that reflects what is expected at the top end of AO2.

Quotations are arranged by four of the most significant themes in the play:

• Jealousy

• Love and relationships

• Race and appearance

• Deception and honesty

Please note that this is not an exhaustive list of key quotations from the play; it is simply a selection of some of the most useful examples. Once you know Othello well enough, you will acquire favourite lines and stage directions of your own that allow you to demonstrate your technical understanding.

All quotations here follow the Alexander text, which is the edition OCR prints in the exam paper.

Jealousy

Meaning and context

• In Act 3, Scene 4, Emilia attempts to explain to Desdemona the irrational nature of jealousy as Othello begins to show signs of Iago’s influence over him

• Emilia’s cynical perspective is that some individuals are simply inherently jealous, regardless of reason or excuse

Analysis

• These lines are laced with dramatic irony because of what the audience already knows about Emilia’s husband, Iago:

  • Emilia’s words describe Iago’s characterisation: he takes revenge on Cassio and Othello without any genuine “cause” of his own to speak of

  • It is also ironic that Emilia has such an expert understanding of jealousy, but is apparently ignorant of her jealous husband’s villainy

• These words suggest that Othello’s jealousy, once provoked, will fuel itself:

  • The repetition of “jealous” and “jealousy” throughout this exchange gives an aural sense of the never-ending cycle that Emilia describes

• Emilia’s claim that jealousy “will not be answer’d” foreshadows Iago’s refusal to explain his actions in Act 5, Scene 2:

  • By denying his captors (and the audience) closure in the form of a confession or explanation, he demonstrates his refusal to relinquish or repent for his jealousy

  • He remains jealous despite achieving his primary aim of disgracing Othello, proving Emilia’s point that jealousy will not be satisfied

Paired quotations

Meaning and context

• The first of these quotations occurs in Act 3, Scene 3 as Iago begins to plant suspicions about Desdemona’s relationship with Cassio in Othello’s trusting mind

• The second is taken from the conversation between Desdemona and Emilia in Act 3, Scene 4 in which they discuss the nature of jealousy

Analysis

• Iago’s description of jealousy is, ironically, one of the most honest things that Iago says to Othello, even if Othello is unaware of how truthful Iago is being:

  • Iago is, after all, a jealous monster who depends upon the “meat” of Othello’s employment, but mocks and undermines him from the very first scene of the play

• These lines are, on the surface, a warning about the dangers of jealousy:

  • However, Iago’s choice of language seems designed to fuel, not extinguish, the flames of Othello’s jealousy

  • Iago subtly introduces the idea that Othello is being mocked, an idea that clearly upsets the Moor

  • Othello expresses fury at feeling as though he is the subject of mockery in Act 4, Scene 1, when he mistakes the reason for Cassio’s laughter: “So, so, so, so—they laugh that win”

• Emilia’s line also describes jealousy as something animalistic and all-consuming:

  • She imagines jealousy as a monster that gives birth to itself, reiterating her point that jealousy is self-perpetuating

  • The metaphor also foreshadows Othello’s fate as he succumbs to jealousy: Othello is a victim of Iago’s jealousy, but as his own jealousy is provoked he is “born” into something monstrous himself

• Pairing the two also opens an AO5 argument:

  • If jealousy generates itself, Iago becomes the occasion of the tragedy and not its cause, which is close to F.R. Leavis’s reading against A.C. Bradley

Meaning and context

• In Act 4, Scene 1, Othello descends further into jealousy as Iago infects his mind with images of Desdemona’s imagined infidelity and references to the handkerchief

• Following these lines, Othello falls into a violent epileptic fit

Analysis

• Othello’s simile likens his mind to a plague-stricken house, and reminds the audience that Iago is infecting Othello’s mind:

  • The image recalls Iago’s earlier promise in a soliloquy to “pour this pestilence into his ear” (Act 2, Scene 3)

  • The idea of contamination returns at the very end of the play, when Lodovico looks at the bed and says “The object poisons sight; / Let it be hid” (Act 5, Scene 2)

• Othello’s passive language here demonstrates how far he has fallen under Iago’s influence:

  • The sentence structure (“it comes o’er my memory”) suggests that his mind is being acted upon by a deadly external force

  • This creates an impression of Othello as a victim and emphasises the extent of his suffering

• The symbolism here is an apt piece of foreshadowing:

  • In early modern superstition, ravens were thought to be bad omens, and harbingers of death

  • The image suggests a tragic outcome for Othello and his “house”

Love and relationships

Meaning and context

• Here, Iago explains to the audience his motivation for wanting to discredit Othello

• He claims that there are rumours of Othello having an affair with Emilia, although the audience are never given any reason to think that this might be true

Analysis

• Iago’s words here reveal a great deal about patriarchal attitudes towards women and infidelity:

  • Iago’s sexual jealousy seems to be prompted less by a sense of injustice, and more by competitiveness and possessiveness

  • Othello displays a similarly possessive quality when he describes Desdemona’s “stol’n hours of lust” with Cassio (Act 3, Scene 3)

  • Both men seem to feel as though they have been robbed: their motivation for revenge stems from losing possession of something that they hold dear

• This covetousness reflects the view in Shakespeare’s England of women as objects, as the property of their fathers and husbands:

  • In this patriarchal environment, sleeping with somebody’s wife was seen as akin to theft, and was an attack on the reputation of their husband

• Iago does not present any proof that Othello has slept with Emilia, nor does he seem to believe that he needs to:

  • Shakespeare highlights here how worryingly flimsy motives for revenge can be

  • Iago’s words also highlight the dangers of tying one’s reputation entirely to the sexual possession of another

Meaning and context

• In Act 4, Scene 3, Emilia and Desdemona discuss infidelity in the wake of Othello’s accusations and mistreatment of Desdemona

• While Desdemona cannot understand why women would cheat on their husbands, Emilia’s approach is more pragmatic

Analysis

• Emilia recognises the double standards of their patriarchal society:

  • Her argument is that by mistreating their wives, men prompt women to stray

  • While Emilia’s logic is undeniable, Shakespeare also presents the opposite viewpoint through Desdemona, who is mistreated horribly and yet remains chaste until the very end

• There is also a tragic aspect to Emilia’s complaint, as she seems to recognise:

  • Even if men are responsible for their wives straying, the inherent misogyny of their society means that the blame and judgement falls upon the women regardless

• This line may also suggest a degree of self-awareness on Emilia’s part as to her relationship with Iago:

  • Emilia does, after all, commit the “ill” of taking Desdemona’s handkerchief at the behest of Iago, who “hath a hundred times / Woo’d me to steal it” (Act 3, Scene 3)

  • It is never revealed whether Emilia had any idea about her husband’s intentions with the handkerchief

  • It is implied in Act 5, Scene 2, though, that she suspected at least some of the “ills” that he intended: “I think upon’t. I think—I smell’t”

Race and appearance

Meaning and context

• The Duke of Venice speaks this line in Act 1, Scene 3 after Brabantio voices his objections to Othello’s marriage to Desdemona

• Brabantio accuses Othello of enchanting his daughter with witchcraft, but the Senate is convinced by the testimony from Othello and Desdemona

Analysis

• In this line, the Duke defends Othello against Brabantio’s accusations that Othello used “magic” on Desdemona, and his use of “black” is therefore ambiguous:

  • The Duke may be suggesting that Othello’s behaviour is not linked to witchcraft: in the early modern imagination, the devil was commonly depicted as a black figure

  • On the other hand, the Duke may be arguing that Othello’s behaviour and nobility give him more in common with the “fair” (that is, white) Venetians than with the commonly held stereotypes of black men

• Deeming Othello “fair” is clearly intended as a compliment, but the Duke’s words are also marred by prejudice:

  • The compliment hinges on the idea that blackness has negative connotations

  • The implication, therefore, is that Othello is “fair” despite the fact that he is black

• The term “black” in Shakespeare’s England referred to a myriad of different skin colours rather than connoting a single race or nationality:

  • Instead, “black” here connotes Othello’s otherness and his status as an outsider

  • In this sense, the Duke’s compliment, regardless of intent, singles Othello out as a foreign ‘other’

  • The suggestion that he almost fits in implies that, on a fundamental level, he cannot

• Ania Loomba reads Othello’s standing in Venice as conditional:

  • She describes him as “valuable as a Christian warrior, or the exotic colonial subject in the service of the state”

  • The Senate gives him the Cyprus command in this same scene

Meaning and context

• In Act 3, Scene 4 Desdemona praises Othello’s personality to Emilia

• She suggests that his virtuous qualities are a result of his race rather than something to be praised in spite of it

Analysis

• Desdemona’s positive view of Othello’s race and background contrasts with the unforgiving racial stereotypes in early modern England:

  • Shakespeare’s audience would have recognised, and likely believed in, stereotypes of savage black barbarians

• The picture of Othello that Desdemona presents here matches the tone of Othello’s descriptions of himself in Act 1, Scene 3:

  • In defending his marriage to Desdemona, Othello emphasises his nobility and honour while articulating himself with poetic grace

  • The two lovers are evidently well matched despite their racial difference

• Ironically, Othello eventually proves himself fully capable of jealousy and savage behaviour:

  • Shakespeare does not suggest at any point, however, that Othello’s failings are linked to his blackness

Meaning and context

• In these lines, Iago begins to give Othello reason to doubt Desdemona’s chastity by highlighting their differences

• Iago lists, perhaps in order of importance, their different nationalities, skin colours, and social status

Analysis

• Here, Iago’s insinuations about Desdemona’s romantic preferences actually expose his own prejudicial attitudes towards race and “nature”:

  • These lines suggest that Iago’s hatred for Othello may spring from the fact that Othello courted and married a beautiful Venetian woman

  • By doing so, Othello behaved as though he was Desdemona’s equal in “degree” (class) and race

  • Othello states as much when he describes Desdemona as “half the wooer” in Act 1, Scene 3

  • This attitude defies the hierarchies of race and social standing in Iago’s Venice and also in Shakespeare’s England. To Iago, the union is clearly something unnatural

• Importantly, however, Othello does not voice any disagreement with Iago’s views on the natural order of things, even if he does not wish to believe that Desdemona has been unfaithful:

  • His silence on this matter (and eventual descent into a jealous madness) suggests that Othello harbours a degree of internalised racism

  • The audience may even infer that Iago voices Othello’s own fears in these lines

• Iago makes his point by using a tripartite list that emphasises the differences between Othello and Desdemona

Deception and honesty

Iago tells the audience in the first scene that he is lying to everyone. No one on stage works this out until the final scene. So the audience watches the whole play knowing what Othello does not. Shakespeare marks this with one word: “honest” and its forms appear more than fifty times in the play, most often about Iago, and often from characters who are wrong.

Paired quotations

Meaning and context

• Iago says the first line to Roderigo in the opening scene, explaining why he goes on serving a man he hates

• Emilia speaks the second in the final scene, when she realises her husband caused Desdemona’s death, and that the handkerchief she gave him was the instrument

Analysis

• Nobody on stage can act on “I am not what I am”:

  • The audience learns everything from it, but only Roderigo hears it, and he depends on Iago too heavily to fully comprehend it

  • The phrasing turns God’s words in Exodus, “I am that I am”, inside out, so Iago defines himself by negating God. A Jacobean audience would catch this more readily than a modern one

  • The line also makes the audience complicit. They know more than Othello does from Act 1, and can only watch

• Emilia’s line names the deception at last, and Shakespeare marks the moment by breaking the verse:

  • The triple repetition and the broken syntax show her working the truth out in front of the audience

  • “Smell’t” is a physical verb for a mental realisation, and it picks up Iago’s own use of smell for suspicion in Act 3, Scene 3

• The pair frames the whole play as one action. Iago says he is lying in the first scene, and Emilia exposes him in the last:

  • She is the only character who suspects him and says so aloud, and he kills her for it before the scene ends

Sources:

Shakespeare, W. (1951) ‘Othello’, in P. Alexander (ed.) The Complete Works of William Shakespeare: The Alexander Text. London: Collins.

Shakespeare, W. (1986) ‘Othello’, in S. Wells and G. Taylor (eds.) The Oxford Shakespeare: The Complete Works. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Bradley, A.C. (1904) Shakespearean Tragedy. London: Macmillan.

Leavis, F.R. (1952) ‘Diabolic Intellect and the Noble Hero’, in The Common Pursuit. London: Chatto & Windus.

Loomba, A. (1989) Gender, Race, Renaissance Drama. Manchester: Manchester University Press.