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22 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
- 3rd side (hint)
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“He hath achieved a maid that paragons description and wild fame” |
Cassio is confident and eloquent which is evident in his verbose speech. Here hyperbole is used to highlight how Desdemona is beyond description. He uses courtly language to praise Desdemona for Othello’s sake but this could be interpreted as romantic interest. |
Act 2 Scene 1 lines 61-62 |
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“Tempests themselves, high seas and high winds…Their mortal natures, letting go safely by the divine Desdemona” |
Cassio states that even the most unruly of storms are in awe of Desdemona’s beauty. He likens her to a goddess, a woman with power. Through his speech we see that he is a gentleman, accomplished and honourable and also of an upper class. |
Act 2 Scene 1 lines 68-72 |
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“You men of Cyprus, let her have your knees!” |
Cassio tells the men to bow down to Desdemona, once again reinforcing this image of her as a goddess, a woman above all who defies description. |
Act 2 Scene 1 line 84 |
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“‘Tis my breeding that gives me this bold show of courtesy” |
Cassio has been brought up as a gentlemen, he exhibits his courtly manners in a way that is patronising to Iago who is of a lower class. |
Act 2 Scene 1 lines 98-99 |
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“Sir, would she give you so much of her lips as of her tongue she oft bestows on me you’d have enough” |
Iago mocks Emilia in public by talking about how much she scolds him behind doors. It gives us an insight into their marriage and Emilia’s treatment as his wife. |
Act 2 Scene 1 lines 100-101 |
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“Alas! She has no speech” |
Emilia can’t defend herself because they are in a public setting and would be seen as being defiant. This is the behaviour of a model wife. Desdemona is socially superior so she can speak in this situation. |
Act 2 Scene 1 line 102 |
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“Come on, come on, you are pictures out of doors, bells in your parlours, wild-cats in your kitchens, saints in your injuries, devils being offended, players in your housewifery, and housewives in…your beds!” |
Iago generalises all women, claiming that outside they are lovely in a world where they have no power but inside they are demons, commanding and dictating rules and master manipulators, using sex for their own demands. |
Act 2 Scene 1 lines 109-112 |
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“O my fair warrior!” |
This subversion of gender stereotypes highlights how Desdemona has survived her first storm metaphorically and physically. “Fair” is the antithesis of a beautiful white woman. |
Act 2 Scene 1 line 179 |
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“Reputation is an idle and most false imposition” |
Iago comforts Cassio in the way any friend would, playing on his deceitful nature. Iago’s words seem wise but may have shocked a contemporary audience who would understand how important reputation is. |
Act 2 Scene 3 line 264 |
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“Our general’s wife is now the general” |
Iago claims that Desdemona is the one who has the power in her marriage to Othello. She subverts gender roles in commanding authority. |
Act 2 Scene 3 line 310 |
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“She is of so free, so kind, so apt, so blest a disposition that she holds it a vice in her goodness not to do more than she is requested” |
Iago knows that Desdemona will go out of her way to help Cassio because that is who she is as a person. He turns all her good qualities into something that can be seen as being infidelity. |
Act 2 Scene 3 lines 315-317 |
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“Divinity of hell! When devils will the blackest sins put on they do suggest at first with heavenly shows as I do now” |
Iago himself is an oxymoron much like the language he uses. He represents a dichotomy of morals because in him heaven and hell are closely entwined. “Blackest sins” once again shows how racist he is. |
Act 2 Scene 3 lines 345-347 |
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“I will turn her virtue into pitch” |
Iago will manipulate every good action of Desdemona and turn it to tar or in other words she will go from “white” to “black”. |
Act 2 Scene 3 line 355 |
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“If it were now to die ‘twere now to be most happy” “I cannot speak enough of this content” |
Othello talks of fate. He can’t imagine how life could get any better in this moment and we see how overcome with happiness he is. Here Shakespeare uses proleptic irony to highlight how things drastically change for the married couple. |
Act 2 Scene 1 line 187-188 & 194 |
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“To give satiety a fresh appetite, loveliness in favour, sympathy i years, manners and beauties, all which the Moor is defective in” |
Iago lists all of Othello’s insecurities that make him easy to manipulate. He simply can’t understand their love. There is also a theme of hunger symbolising lust. |
Act 2 Scene 1 lines 226-228 |
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“Her delicate tenderness will find itself abused, begin to heave the gorge, disrelish and abhor the Moor-very nature will instruct her in it” |
Iago believes it is only natural that Desdemona’s love will turn to hate. He completely debases human emotions in claiming Othello will make Desdemona sick through his actions. |
Act 2 Scene 1 lines 230-232 |
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“I do suspect the lusty Moor hath leaped into my seat” |
Iago reduces Emilia to a functional object through sexual imagery as we see to some extent why he hates Othello. |
Act 2 Scene 1 lines 293-294 |
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“Doth like a poisonous mineral gnaw my inwards…and nothing can or shall content my soul till I am evened with him, wife for wife” |
The thought of Othello and Emilia together pains Iago, not because he loves her but because it is a blatant attack on his masculinity and honour. He won’t forgive Othello until he enacts revenge and ruins his marriage. This gives an audience real insight into how twisted Iago is. |
Act 2 Scene 1 lines 295-297 |
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“A jealousy so strong that judgement cannot cure” |
Iago plans to warp Othello’s mind to the point where it can’t be changed. His insecurities and paranoia surrounding his marriage will consume him and not even good sense can protect him from it. |
Act 2 Scene 1 line 300 |
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“She’s a most fresh and delicate creature” |
Cassio’s pure admiration of Desdemona makes it easy for Iago to manipulate their friendship. |
Act 2 Scene 3 line 20 |
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“The lieutenant is to be saved before the ancient” |
Iago’s jealousy stems from not being of the upper class. Here we see Cassio presenting the snobbery of the upper class as he believes that since he is socially superior he is line for salvation before Iago. |
Act 2 Scene 3 line 106 |
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“Reputation, reputation, reputation!” “O, I have lost my reputation, I have lost the immortal part of myself-and what remains is bestial” |
Men’s honour in Elizabethan England was of the utmost importance. His reputation is his word, it is everything about him that shows he can be trusted. Cassio believes that now he has damaged his reputation his soul is lost. Perhaps his soul is a symbol of his power and status because now he is no longer a gentleman. |
Act 2 Scene 3 lines 258-260 |
