Notes

Format of the test:
3 parts
Identify the speaker and the context in which the quote is said - 10 questions, 2 points each
Multiple choice - 20 questions, 2 points each
Interpret the language
Plot questions
http://www.litcharts.com/lit/othello/plot-overview
Author’s craft questions - irony, dramatic irony, symbolism, metaphors in the play, soliloquy
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OcEXPVQz-68WWau3Mny4teWxQXQC6H_lNfwMmy9Jcdk/edit
Essay question 30 points
Will be announced the day of the test, but will focus on Shakespeare’s characterization of Iago

Tips for reviewing:


Quotes to consider:
1. "She loved me for the dangers I had pass'd, / And I loved her that she did pity them."
Othello is talking to Barbantio and the Duke. Othello is saying that Desdemona loved him for the dangers he had survived, and he loved her for feeling such strong emotions about him. That's the only witchcraft Othello ever used. (Barbantio accused him of using witchcraft on Desdemona.)

2. “'Zounds, sir, you're robb'd; for shame, put on your gown; / Your heart is burst, you have lost half your soul...."
This is Iago talking to Barbantio. Modern Translation: “For God’s sake, sir, you’ve been robbed. Get dressed. Your heart’s going to break. It’s like half your soul’s been ripped out. At this very minute an old black ram is having sex with your little white lamb. Wake up, wake up, ring a bell and wake up all the snoring citizens. If you wait too long you’ll have black grandchildren. Get up, I tell you!” Iago is telling Barbantio that he must act because Othello is having sex with his daughter Desdemona right now. Iago is trying to sabotage Othello’s relationship.

3. "Good name in man and woman, dear my lord, / Is the immediate jewel of their souls...."
Iago is speaking with Othello about what is on Iago’s mind that is troubling him. Modern Translation: “A good reputation is the most valuable thing we have—men and women alike. If you steal my money, you’re just stealing trash. It’s something, it’s nothing: it’s yours, it’s mine, and it’ll belong to thousands more. But if you steal my reputation, you’re robbing me of something that doesn’t make you richer, but makes me much poorer.” (Full Iago Speech) Iago is talking about reputations and how stealing a reputation is worse than stealing money, as stealing a reputation only make the one person poorer. This all goes along with Iago’s grand scheme of manipulating Othello and Cassio.

4. "...'tis not long after / But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve / For daws to peck at: I am not what I am."
Act I Scene I. Iago says this to Roderigo when he is telling Roderigo about how he does not really love Othello, that he is just pretending that he does. Shows that Iago is not trustworthy to the readers. Modern Translation: “If my outward appearance started reflecting what I really felt, soon enough I’d be wearing my heart on my sleeve for birds to peck at. No, it’s better to hide it. I’m not who I appear to be.” Iago is saying that he cannot allow his true appearance to be to outworldly, that he must hide it.

5. "Reputation, reputation, reputation! I have lost my reputation! I have lost the immortal part of myself, and what remains is bestial."
This is Cassio talking to Iago about how he has lost his reputation. Modern Translation: “My reputation, my reputation! I’ve lost my reputation, the longest-living and truest part of myself! Everything else in me is just animal-like. Oh, my reputation, Iago, my reputation!” This is after Iago got Cassio drunk, and he hit Montano. Othello has already berated Cassio and demote him.

6. "0, now, for ever / Farewell the tranquil mind! farewell content! / Farewell the plumed troop, and the big wars, / That make ambition virtue!"
Othello is speaking to Iago about Desdemona cheating on him. Modern Translation: “I would’ve been happy if the whole army had had sex with her, the lowest-ranking grunts and all, as long as I didn’t know anything about it. Oh, goodbye to my peace of mind! Goodbye to my happiness! Goodbye to the soldiers and to the wars that make men great! Goodbye! Goodbye to the horses and the trumpets and the drums, the flute and the splendid banners, and all those proud displays and pageantry of war! And you deadly cannons that roar like thunderbolts thrown by the gods, goodbye! Othello’s career is over.” Othello is saying that he would have been happier if the entire army slept with Desdemona, just as long as he didn't know it. But now that he thinks that she has cheated on him, his entire peace of mind is gone and his career is now over.

7. "...then you must speak / Of one that loved not wisely but too well...."
This is Othello speaking to Lodovico and Othello is talking about how he wants to be remembered by future generations of people. Modern Translation: “Wait. A word or two before you go. I’ve given the state of Venice a bit of help in the past, and they know it. But enough about that. When you record these sad events in your letters, please describe me exactly as I am. Don’t toned things down or exaggerate them out of hostility. If you’re being fair, you’ll have to describe me as someone who loved too much, but who wasn’t wise about it. I was not easily made jealous, but once I was tricked and manipulated, I worked myself into a frenzy. Describe me as a fool who threw away a precious pearl with his own hands, like a silly Indian who didn’t know what it was worth. As someone who was not emotional, but who then cried a lot. Write all this” Othello sounds calm and rational when he is speaking here, and shows that he has come to accept the events that have occurred. He proclaims himself to have been a fair leader who just loved someone too much.

8. "Knavery's plain face is never seen til used."
This is Iago’s soliloquy. The line in bold is saying, “You can never see the end of an evil plan until the moment comes.” In the soliloquy, Iago is talking about how he will go about manipulating Othello and Cassio to satisfy his revenge. The last line his him saying that no one will suspect his plan, until the right moment comes and everything is revealed.

9. "I call'd my love false love; but what said he then? / Sing willow, willow, willow: / If I court moe women, you'll couch with moe men!"
Desdemona to Emilia about men and marriage, and what Othello said to her about sleeping with other men

10. "0, beware, my lord, of jealousy; / It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock / The meat it feeds on...."
This is Iago speaking with Othello. Othello is trying to get him to speak about what is on his mind, but Iago is trying to seem modest and not tell Othello. Modern Translation: “Beware of jealousy, my lord! It’s a green-eyed monster that makes fun of the victims it devours. The man who knows his wife is cheating on him is happy, because at least he isn’t friends with the man she’s sleeping with. But think of the unhappiness of a man who worships his wife, yet doubts her faithfulness. He suspects her, but still loves her.” Iago is saying to Othello that a man who knows that his wife is cheating on him is actually more happy than the man who suspects that his wife is. The man who knows can avoid being friends with the man who is cheating on his wife. But the man who does not know and only suspects his wife, will be doubting and questioning himself. His mind will not be at ease.

11. "It is the cause, it is the cause, my soul,-- / Let me not name it to you, you chaste stars!-- / It is the cause."
Othello to desdemona while she is asleep before he kills her, saying she has to die for what she has done but that he loves her

12. "...For that I do suspect the lusty Moor / Hath leap'd into my seat; the thought whereof / Doth, like a poisonous mineral, gnaw my innards...."
Iago soliloquy (Act 2) talking about Othello, saying he thinks he slept with his wife and he will take it as such- exact revenge against him

13. “I’ll see before I doubt, when I doubt prove, / And on the proof there is no more but this: / Away at once with love or jealousy.”
Othello is speaking to Iago. Iago has just told him that he thinks that Desdemona has cheated on him. Othello responds by saying this. “. She had her eyes wide open when she chose me. No, Iago, I’ll have to see some real evidence before I start suspecting her of anything bad, and when I suspect her, I’ll look for proof, and if there’s proof, that’s when I’ll let go of my love and my jealousy.” Othello is saying that he needs real proof to believe that she would cheat on him, and until he does, he will not believe what Iago just told him.

14. “I look down towards his feet; but that’s a fable. / If that though be’st a devil, I cannot kill thee.”
Othello to Iago right before he stabs him- saying Iago is the devil after he has learned of his plan
“I’m looking to see if you have cloven hooves like the devil. But that’s just a fairy tale. If you are a devil, I won’t be able to kill you.”

15. “I have rubbed this young quat almost to the sense, / And now he grows angry. Now, whether he kill Cassio, Or Cassio him, or each do kill the other,/ Everyway makes my gain.”
Iago (to himself)- talking about roderigo and how if either he or cassio dies he will be happy

16. “Cassio did top her. Ask thy husband else. / O, I were damned beneath all depth in hell / But that I did proceed upon just grounds/ To this extremity. Thy husband knew it all.”
Othello to Emilia saying that he knows Cassio slept with his wife and how he heard this from her husband

17. “Villainy, villainy, villainy! / I think upon ‘it, I think! I smell ‘t! O villainy! I thought so then, I’ll kill myself for grief! / O villainy! Villainy!”
Emilia- she knows that Iago made this plan and that he is evil


Shakespeare presents Iago as a collection of unsolvable puzzles. Each thing Iago says is cause for worry. He claims a reputation for honesty and plain speaking, yet he invents elaborate lies in order to exploit and manipulate other people. He treats others as fools and has no time for tender emotion, yet he is a married man and presumably once loved his wife. He cares for no one, yet he devotes his whole life to revenge rather than walk away in disdain. He believes in cheating and lying for gain, yet Shakespeare placed some of the most beautiful words in Iago's mouth. Iago has a reputation for honesty, for reliability and direct speaking. Othello and others in the play constantly refer to him as "honest Iago." He has risen through the ranks in the army by merit and achievement, and Othello, whose military judgment is excellent, has taken him as ancient (captain) because of his qualities. In Iago, Shakespeare shows us a character who acts against his reputation. Possibly Iago was always a villain and confidence trickster who set up a false reputation for honesty, but how can one set up a reputation for honesty except by being consistently honest over a long period of time? Alternatively he might be a man who used to be honest in the past, but has decided to abandon this virtue. Shakespeare has built the character of Iago from an idea already existing in the theatrical culture of his time: the Devil in religious morality plays, which developed into the villain in Elizabethan drama and tragedy. Iago says (I.1, 65) "I am not what I am," which can be interpreted as "I am not what I seem." But it is also reminiscent of a quotation from the Bible which Shakespeare would have known: In Exodus, God gives his laws to Moses on Mt. Sinai, and Moses asks God his name. God replies: "I am that I am" (Exodus,iii,14). If "I am that I am" stands for God, then Iago's self-description, "I am not what I am" is the direct opposite. Iago is the opposite of God, that is, he is the Devil. Iago in this play, has the qualities of the Devil in medieval and Renaissance morality plays: He is a liar, he makes promises he has no intention of keeping, he tells fancy stories in order to trap people and lead them to their destruction, and he sees other's greatest vulnerabilities and uses these to destroy them. Iago does all this not for any good reason, but for love of evil. Iago is surrounded with bitter irony: he is not as he seems, his good is bad for others, people repeatedly rely on him, and he betrays them. He likes to have others unwittingly working to serve his purposes. But for all this, as his plot against Othello starts moving and gathering momentum, he loses control of it and must take real risks to prevent it from crashing. Iago is a man with an obsession for control and power over others who has let this obsession take over his whole life. Necessity forces his hand, and, in order to destroy Othello, he must also destroy Roderigo, Emilia, Desdemona, and ultimately himself. The one man who survived Iago's attempt to kill him, Cassio, is the only major character left standing at the end of the play. William Hazlitt wrote: "Iago is an extreme instance . . . of diseased intellectual activity, with the most perfect indifference to moral good or evil, or rather with a decided preference of the latter, because it falls more readily in with his favorite propensity, gives greater zest to his thoughts and scope to his actions. He is quite or nearly indifferent to his own fate as to that of others; he runs all risks for a trifling and doubtful advantage, and is himself the dupe and victim of ruling passion — an insatiable craving after action of the most difficult and dangerous kind." The great nineteenth-century actor Booth wrote about playing Iago: "To portray Iago properly you must seem to be what all the characters think, and say, you are, not what the spectators know you to be; try to win even them by your sincerity. Don't act the villain, don't look it, or speak it, (by scowling and growling, I mean), but think it all the time. Be genial, sometimes jovial, always gentlemanly. Quick in motion as in thought; lithe and sinuous as a snake."
Quotes from Act III:

“Think, my lord?” Alas, thou echo’st me
As if there were some monster in thy thought
Too hideous to be shown. Thou dost mean something.
I heard thee say even now thou lik’st not that
When Cassio left my wife. What didst not like?
And when I told thee he was of my counsel
Of my whole course of wooing, thou cried’st “Indeed?”
And didst contract and purse thy brow together
As if thou then hadst shut up in thy brain
Some horrible conceit. If thou dost love me
Show me thy thought.
(110-123)
Othello talking to Iago, Iago is withholding information from Othello- making him angry

Oh, beware, my lord, of jealousy!
It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock
The meat it feeds on. That cuckold lives in bliss
Who, certain of his fate, loves not his wronger,
But, oh, what damnèd minutes tells he o'er
Who dotes, yet doubts— suspects, yet soundly loves!
Poor and content is rich, and rich enough,
But riches fineless is as poor as winter
To him that ever fears he shall be poor.
Good heaven, the souls of all my tribe defend
From jealousy!
(170-181)
Iago speaking to Othello about jealousy- doubting his wife and suspecting her of sleeping with another man but still loving her

Why, why is this?
Think’st thou I’d make a life of jealousy,
To follow still the changes of the moon
With fresh suspicions? No! To be once in doubt
Is to be resolved. Exchange me for a goat
When I shall turn the business of my soul
To such exsufflicate and blowed surmises,
Matching thy inference. 'Tis not to make me jealous
To say my wife is fair, feeds well, loves company,
Is free of speech, sings, plays, and dances.
Where virtue is, these are more virtuous.
Nor from mine own weak merits will I draw
The smallest fear or doubt of her revolt,
For she had eyes and chose me. No, Iago,
I’ll see before I doubt, when I doubt, prove,
And on the proof there is no more but this:
Away at once with love or jealousy!
(182-197)
Othello to Iago saying that he needs evidence before he can suspect his wife of anything bad

This fellow’s of exceeding honesty
And knows all quantities, with a learnèd spirit,
Of human dealings. If I do prove her haggard,
Though that her jesses were my dear heartstrings,
I’d whistle her off and let her down the wind
To prey at fortune. Haply, for I am black
And have not those soft parts of conversation
That chamberers have, or for I am declined
Into the vale of years—yet that’s not much—
She’s gone, I am abused, and my relief
Must be to loathe her. Oh, curse of marriage
That we can call these delicate creatures ours
And not their appetites! I had rather be a toad
And live upon the vapor of a dungeon
Than keep a corner in the thing I love
For others' uses. Yet ’tis the plague to great ones,
Prerogatived are they less than the base.
'Tis destiny unshunnable, like death.
Even then this forkèd plague is fated to us
When we do quicken. Look where she comes.
(263-283)
Othello speaking about how he has come to accept that his wife has cheated on him and that this is his fate because wives betray important men more than poor men

That’s a fault. That handkerchief
Did an Egyptian to my mother give,
She was a charmer and could almost read
The thoughts of people. She told her, while she kept it
'Twould make her amiable and subdue my father
Entirely to her love, but if she lost it
Or made gift of it, my father’s eye
Should hold her loathèd and his spirits should hunt
After new fancies. She, dying, gave it me
And bid me, when my fate would have me wived,
To give it her. I did so, and take heed on ’t,
Make it a darling like your precious eye.
To lose ’t or give ’t away were such perdition
As nothing else could match.
(50-60)
Othello speaking about the importance of the handkerchief to Desdemona (symbol of their love for each other)- explaining how it has special powers, trying to make her feel very bad for losing it