Othello

Othello este o piesă de teatru, o tragedie scrisă de William Shakespeare în 1603.

Titlul complet al piesei în engleză Othello, the Moor of Venice se traduce prin Othello, maurul
din Veneția. Subiectul se bazează pe o nuvelă italiană Un Capitano Moro (Un căpitan maur),
scrisă de Cinthio, un discipol al lui Giovanni Boccaccio și publicată în 1565.
Peronajele principale sunt:
• Othello, un general maur din armata venețiană:
• Desdemona, soția lui Othello;
• Michael Cassio, locotenentul lui Othello;
• Iago, omul ce cerdiță al lui Othello.
Subiectul:
Piesa începe cu momentul în care Roderigo, un nobil bogat, i se plânge lui Iago, un militar de
rang înalt, că nuu i-a spus nimic despre căsătoria secretă între Desdemona, fiica senatorului
Brabantio, și Othello un general maur din armata venețiană. Roderigo este foarte supărat, pentru
că o iubește pe Desdemona, pe car o și ceruse de soție, fiind refuzat.
Pe de altă parte, Iago este supărat pe Othello, pentru că voia să înalțe în grad, și să-i pună
comandant, pe un anume Michael Cassio, care era mai tânăr drcât el, și îi spune lui Roderigo că
dorește să se folosească de Othello în avantajul său. .... (de continuat)
Datorită varietății de teme abordate, rasism, iubire, gelozie, trădare, tragedia Othello își păstrează
actualitatea.
Piesa a stat la baza libretului operei Othello de Verdi.
Inspirația
Sura tragediei este a șaptea povestire din cea de-a treia zi din Hecatommithi (O sută de povestiri)
de Giraldi Cinthio, publicată în 1566 în Veneția, detaliile despre oraș fiind probabil luate de
dramaturg dintr-o lucrare de Lewknor.[1] Din opera lui Cinthio, Shakespeare a preluat firul narativ
principal, personajele protagoniste, tactica lui Iago de răzbunare, conflictul sufletesc al lui
Othello, precum și câteva amănunte precum rolul batistei.[1] O paralelă între cele două lucrări
evidențiază asemenările, în special după debarcarea din Cipru. Totuși, Shakespeare se
îndepărtează de sursă prin reinterpretare dramatică a acțiunii și motivarea psihologică a
personajelor, încât, dincolo de aspectele de suprafață, sursa devine un reper vag.[2] Precum a
declarat shakespeariologul Irving Ribner:
"Povestirea lui Cinthio cuprindea elementele de bază necesare dramei intenționale de
Shakespeare. El găsise aici conflictul omului care, indus în eroare, alege calea răului și e chinuit
apoi de remușcări. Găsise și sugestia că tânăra fată iubise pe maur pentru marile lui virtuți, ca și
sublinierea de către Cinthio a caracterului nefiresc al unei astfel de căsătorii."[2]
Există de asemenea detalii preluate de autor din propriile sale opere, în special cele scrise cu
puțin înainte, precum Troilus și Cresida.[2]
[modifică] Compoziția
Tragedia este împărțită în cinci acte, astfel: actele I, II și IV au trei scene, actul III are patru
scene, iar ultimul are doar două.
În piesă apar o serie de ambiguități lexicale, pe lângă cele simbolice. Astfel este cazul
adjectivului "honest" (ro - "onest", "cinstit"), care, împreună cu substantivul "honesty"
("onestitate", "cinste"), apare de 52 de ori în Othello. Criticul literar William Empson a abordat
evoluția sensurilor și a statutului social al cuvântului "honest", de la medievalul "care merită să
fie respectat de societate" până la argoticul "care e unul de-ai noștri", folosit începând cu mijlocul
secolului al XVI-lea. Potrivit lui, "Într-un anumit stadiu al evoluției sale, cuvântul a ajuns să
implice ideea că acela care acceptă dorințe firești, care nu trăiește după principii, este omul căruia
i se potrivește înțelesul agreabil al lui «honest»."[3]
Un cuvânt cheie este "jealous" (și "jealousy"), care în piesele shakespeareane poate să însemnse
"gelos" ("gelozie") sau "bănuitor" ("bănuială"); un altul este verbul "think", care are mai multe
sensuri: primul este acela de "a fi convins" iar al doilea este de "a bănui (doar)", "a fi de părere",
acest joc dintre sensuri fiind exploatat de dramaturg într-o suită de dialoguri dintre Othello și
Iago.[

Othello
Othello, the Moor of Venice is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to
have been written in approximately 1603, and based on the Italian short story "Un
Capitano Moro" ("A Moorish Captain") by Cinthio, a disciple of Boccaccio, first
published in 1565. The work revolves around four central characters: Othello, a
Moorish general in the Venetian army; his wife Desdemona; his lieutenant, Cassio;
and his trusted ensign Iago. Because of its varied and current themes of racism,
love, jealousy, and betrayal, Othello is still often performed in professional and
community theatres alike and has been the basis for numerous operatic, film, and
literary adaptations.

Characters
• Othello, the Moor: an African prince and
general in the Venetian military.
• Desdemona, Othello's wife and daughter
of Brabantio
• Iago, Othello's ensign and Emilia's
husband, a villain. He hides his real
nature under the veil of 'honesty'.
• Emilia, Iago's wife and Desdemona's
maidservant
• Cassio, Othello's lieutenant.
• Bianca, Cassio's lover
• Brabantio, a Venetian senator,
Gratiano's brother, and Desdemona's
father
• Roderigo, a dissolute Venetian, in love
with Desdemona
• Duke of Venice, or the "Doge"
• Gratiano, Brabantio's brother
• Lodovico, Brabantio's kinsman and
Desdemona's cousin
• Montano, Othello's Venetian
predecessor in the government of Cyprus
 • Clown, a servant
• Officers, Gentlemen, Messenger, Herald,
Sailor, Attendants, Musicians, etc.

Plot
The play opens with Roderigo, a rich and dissolute gentleman, complaining to Iago, a high-
ranking soldier, that Iago has not told him about the secret marriage between Desdemona, the
daughter of a Senator named Brabantio, and Othello, a Moorish general in the Venetian army. He
is upset by this development because he loves Desdemona and had previously asked her father
for her hand in marriage. Iago is upset with Othello for promoting a younger man named Cassio
above him, and tells Roderigo that he plans to use Othello for his own advantage. Iago's argument
against Cassio is that he is a scholarly tactician with no real battle experience from which he can
draw strategy; in contrast, Iago has practical battle skills. By emphasizing Roderigo's failed bid
for Desdemona, and his own dissatisfaction with serving under Othello, Iago convinces Roderigo
to wake Brabantio, Desdemona's father, and tell him about his daughter's elopement. Iago sneaks
away to find Othello and warns him that Brabantio is coming for him.
Before Brabantio reaches Othello, news arrives in Venice that the Turks are going to attack
Cyprus; therefore Othello is summoned to advise the senators. Brabantio arrives and accuses
Othello of seducing Desdemona by witchcraft, but Othello defends himself successfully before an
assembly that includes the Duke of Venice, Brabantio's kinsman Lodovico and Gratiano, and
various senators, explaining that Desdemona became enamored of him for the stories he told of
his early life, not because of any witchcraft he might have used. The senate is satisfied, but the
broken Brabantio leaves with a word of warning: "Look to her Moor, if thou hast eyes to see, she
has deceived her father, and may thee!" By order of the Duke, Othello leaves Venice to command
the Venetian armies against invading Turks on the island of Cyprus, accompanied by his new
wife, his new lieutenant Cassio, his ensign Iago, and Emilia as Desdemona's attendant.
The party arrives in Cyprus to find that a storm has destroyed the Turkish fleet. Othello orders a
general celebration. Iago schemes to use Cassio to ruin Othello and takes the opportunity of
Othello's absence at the celebration to persuade Roderigo to engage Cassio in a fight. He achieves
this by getting Cassio drunk on wine after Cassio's own admission that he cannot hold his drink.
The brawl greatly alarms the citizenry, and Othello is forced to quell the disturbance. Othello
blames Cassio for the disturbance, and strips him of his rank. Cassio is distraught, but Iago
persuades him to importune Desdemona to act as an intermediary between himself and Othello,
and persuade her husband to reinstate him.
Iago now persuades Othello to be suspicious of Cassio and Desdemona. As it happens, Cassio is
having a relationship of sorts with Bianca, a prostitute. Desdemona drops the handkerchief that
was Othello's first gift to Desdemona and which he has stated holds great significance to him in
the context of their relationship. Iago asks Emilia to steal it. Emilia, unaware of what Iago plans
to do with the handkerchief, steals it. Iago plants it in Cassio's lodgings as evidence of Cassio and
Desdemona's affair. After he has planted the handkerchief, Iago tells Othello to stand apart and
watch Cassio's reactions while Iago questions him about the handkerchief. Iago goads Cassio on
to talk about his affair with Bianca, but very quietly mentions her name so that Othello believes
they are still talking about Desdemona when Cassio is really speaking of Bianca. Bianca, on
discovering the handkerchief, chastises Cassio, accusing him of giving her a second-hand gift
which he received from another lover. Othello sees this, and Iago convinces him that Cassio
received the handkerchief from Desdemona. Enraged and hurt, Othello resolves to kill his wife
and Iago is "asked" to kill Cassio as a duty to their intimacy. Othello proceeds to make
Desdemona's life a misery, hitting her in front of her family. Desdemona laments her suffering,
remembering the fate of her mother's maid, who was forsaken by her lover.
Roderigo complains that he has received nothing for his efforts and threatens to abandon his
pursuit of Desdemona, but Iago convinces him to kill Cassio instead, because Cassio has just
been appointed in Othello's place, and—Iago argues—if Cassio lives to take office, Othello and
Desdemona will leave Cyprus, thwarting Roderigo's plans to win Desdemona. Roderigo attacks
Cassio in the street after Cassio leaves Bianca's lodgings. They fight and both are wounded.
Cassio's leg is cut from behind by Iago who manages to hide his identity as perpetrator. Passers-
by arrive to help; Iago joins them, pretending to help Cassio. Iago secretly stabs Roderigo to stop
him from confessing, and accuses Bianca of conspiracy to kill Cassio.
In the night, Othello confronts Desdemona, and then kills her by smothering her in bed, before
Emilia arrives. At Emilia's distress, Othello tries to explain himself, justifying his actions by
accusing Desdemona of adultery. Emilia calls for help. The Governor arrives, with Iago and
others, and Emilia begins to explain the situation. When Othello mentions the handkerchief as
proof, Emilia realizes what Iago has done; she exposes him, whereupon Iago kills her. Othello,
realizing Desdemona's innocence, attacks Iago but does not kill him, saying that he would rather
have Iago live the rest of his life in pain. Lodovico, a Venetian nobleman, apprehends both Iago
and Othello, but Othello commits suicide with a dagger before they can take him into custody. At
the end, it can be assumed, Iago is taken off to be tortured and possibly executed.
[edit] Cinthio source
Othello is an adaptation of the Italian writer Cinthio's tale, "Un Capitano Moro" ("A Moorish
Captain") from his Gli Hecatommithi (1565), a collection of one hundred tales in the style of
Boccaccio's Decameron. No English translation of Cinthio was available in Shakespeare's
lifetime, and verbal echoes in Othello are closer to the Italian original than to Gabriel Chappuy's
1584 French translation. Cinthio's tale may have been based on an actual incident occurring in
Venice about 1508.[1] It also resembles an incident described in the earlier tale of "The Three
Apples", one of the stories narrated in the One Thousand and One Nights (Arabian Nights).[2]
Desdemona is the only named character in Cinthio's tale, with his few other characters identified
only as "the Moor" (Othello), "the squadron leader" (Cassio), "the ensign" (Iago), and "the
ensign's wife" (Emilia). Cinthio drew a moral (which he placed in the mouth of Desdemona) that
European women are unwise to marry the temperamental males of other nations.[3]
Cinthio's Moor is the model for Shakespeare's Othello, but some researchers believe the poet also
took inspiration from the several Moorish delegations from Morocco to Elizabethan England
circa 1600.[4] While Shakespeare closely followed Cinthio's tale in composing Othello, he
departed from it in some details. Brabantio, Roderigo, and several minor characters are not found
in Cinthio, for example, and Shakespeare's Emilia takes part in the handkerchief mischief while
her counterpart in Cinthio does not. Unlike in Othello, in Cinthio, Iago lusts after Desdemona and
is spurred to revenge when she rejects him. Shakespeare's opening scenes are unique to his
tragedy as is the tender scene between Emilia and Desdemona as the lady prepares for bed.
Shakespeare's most striking departure from Cinthio is the manner of his heroine's death. In
Shakespeare, Othello suffocates Desdemona, but in Cinthio, Othello commissions Iago to
bludgeon his wife to death with a sand-filled stocking. Cinthio describes each gruesome blow,
and, when the lady is dead, Iago and Othello place her lifeless body upon her bed, smash her
skull, and cause the cracked ceiling above the bed to collapse upon her, giving the impression its
falling rafters caused her death. In Cinthio, the two murderers escape detection. Othello then
misses Desdemona greatly, and comes to loathe the sight of Iago. He demotes him, and refuses to
have him in his company. Iago then seeks revenge by disclosing to Cassio Othello's involvement
in Desdemona's death. The two depart Cyprus for Venice, and denounce Othello to the Venetian
Seignory; he is arrested, taken to Venice, and tortured. He refuses to admit his guilt and is
condemned to exile. Desdemona's relatives eventually find and kill him. Iago, however, continues
to escape detection in Desdemona's death, but engages in other crimes while in Venice. He is
arrested and dies after being tortured. Cinthio's "ensign's wife", Emilia, survives her husband's
death to tell her story.[5]
The notes in Wordsworth Editions' publication of Othello states that the Cinthio tale has a
"partly-racist warning."[6]
[edit] Date and text
The earliest mention of the play is found in a 1604 Revels Office account, which records that on
"Hallamas Day, being the first of Nouembar ... the Kings Maiesties plaiers" performed "A Play in
the Banketinghouse att Whit Hall Called The Moor of Venis." The work is attributed to
"Shaxberd." The Revels account was first printed by Peter Cunningham in 1842, and, while its
authenticity was once challenged, is now regarded as genuine (as authenticated by A. E. Stamp in
1930).[7] Based on its style, the play is usually dated 1603 or 1604, but arguments have been made
for dates as early as 1601 or 1602.[1][8]
The play was entered into the Register of the Stationers Company on October 6, 1621, by
Thomas Walkley, and was first published in quarto format by him in 1622: "Tragœdy of Othello,
The Moore of Venice. As it hath beene diuerse times acted at the Globe, and at the Black-Friers,
by his Maiesties Seruants. Written by VVilliam Shakespeare. London. Printed by N. O. [Nicholas
Okes] for Thomas Walkley, and are to be sold at his shop, at the Eagle and Child, in Brittans
Bursse, 1622."
One year later, the play was included among the plays in the First Folio of Shakespeare's
collected plays. However, the version in the Folio is rather different in length, and in wording: as
the editors of the Folger edition explain: "The Folio play has about 160 lines that do not appear in
the Quarto. Some of these cluster together in quite extensive passages. The Folio also lacks a
scattering of about a dozen lines or part-lines that are to be found in the Quarto. These two
versions also differ from each other in their readings of numerous words.[9] Scholars differ in their
explanation of these differences, and no consensus has emerged.[9] One explanation is that the
Quarto may have been cut in the printing house to meet a fixed number of pages.[1] Another is that
the Quarto is based on an early version of the play, while the Folio represents Shakespeare's
revised version.[9] Most modern editions are based on the longer Folio version, but often
incorporate Quarto readings of words when the Folio text appears to be in error.[10] Quartos were
also published in 1630, 1655, 1681, 1695, 1699 and 1705.
[edit] Race
There is no consensus over Othello's race. E.A.J. Honigmann, the editor of the Arden
Shakespeare edition, concluded that Othello's race is ambiguous. "Renaissance representations of
the Moor were vague, varied, inconsistent, and contradictory. As critics have established, the
term 'Moor' referred to dark-skinned people in general, used interchangeably with similarly
ambiguous terms as 'African', "Ethiopian', 'Negro', and even 'Indian' to designate a figure from
Africa (or beyond).[12][13] Various uses of the word 'black' (for example, "Haply for I am black")
are insufficient evidence for any accurate racial classification, Honigmann argues, since 'black'
could simply mean 'swarthy' to Elizabethans. Iago twice uses the word 'Barbary' or 'Barbarian' to
refer to Othello, seemingly referring to the Barbary coast inhabited by the "tawny" Moors.
Roderigo calls Othello 'the thicklips', which seems to refer to European conceptions of Sub-
Saharan African physiognomy, but Honigmann counters that, as these comments are all intended
as insults by the characters, they need not be taken literally.[14]
Michael Neill, editor of the Oxford Shakespeare edition, notes that the earliest critical references
to Othello's colour, (Thomas Rymer's 1693 critique of the play, and the 1709 engraving in
Nicholas Rowe's edition of Shakespeare), assume him to be Sub-Saharan, while the earliest
known North African interpretation was not until Edmund Kean's production of 1814.[15]
Honigmann discusses the view that Abd el-Ouahed ben Messaoud ben Mohammed Anoun,
Moorish ambassador of the Arab King of Barbary to Queen Elizabeth I in 1600, was one
inspiration for Othello. He stayed with his retinue in London for several months and occasioned
much discussion. While Shakespeare's play was written only a few years afterwards Honigman
questions the view that ben Messaoud himself was a significant influence on it.[16]
Othello is referred to as a “Barbary horse” (1.1.113) and a “lascivious Moor” (1.1.127). In III.III
he denounces Desdemona's supposed sin as being "black as mine own face." Desdemona's
physical whiteness is otherwise presented in opposition to Othello's dark skin; V.II "that whiter
skin of hers than snow." Iago tells Brabantio that "an old black ram / is tupping your white ewe"
(1.1.88). In Elizabethan discourse, the word "black" could suggest various concepts that extended
beyond the physical colour of skin, including a wide range of negative connotations.[17][18]
Othello was frequently performed as an Arab Moor during the 19th century. He was first played
by a black man on the London stage in 1833, by [[Ira Aldridge]. However, the first major screen
production casting a black actor as Othello wouldn't come until 1995 with Laurence Fishburne
opposite Kenneth Branagh's Iago (not that there have been many major screen productions of
Othello).[19] In the past, Othello would often have been portrayed by a white actor in blackface or
in a black mask; more recent actors who chose to ‘blacken up’ include Lawrence Olivier (1965),
Anthony Hopkins (1981) and Orson Welles.[19] Ground-breaking black American actor Paul
Robeson played the role from 1930-1959. The casting of the role comes with a political subtext.
Patrick Stewart played the role in the Royal Shakespeare Company's 1997 staging of the play[20]
[21]
and Thomas Thieme, also white, played Othello in a 2007 Munich Kammerspiele staging at
the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford. Michael Gambon also took the role in 1980 and 1991;
their performances critically acclaimed.[22][23]
[edit] Themes
[edit] Iago / Othello
Although eponymously titled, suggesting that the tragedy belongs primarily to Othello, Iago
plays an important role in the plot, and has the biggest share of the dialogue. In Othello, it is Iago
who manipulates all other characters at will, controlling their movements and trapping them in an
intricate net of lies. He achieves this by getting close to all characters and playing on their
weaknesses while they refer to him as "honest" Iago, thus furthering his control over the
characters . A. C. Bradley, and more recently Harold Bloom, have been major advocates of this
interpretation.[24] Other critics, most notably in the later twentieth century (after F. R. Leavis),
have focused on Othello. Apart from the common question of jealousy, some[who?] argue that his
honour is his undoing, while others address the hints of instability in his person (in Act IV Scene
I, for example, he falls 'into a trance').[citation needed]
[edit] Othering
As the Protestant Reformation of England highlighted the importance of pious, controlled
behaviour in society; it was the tendency of the contemporary Englishman to displace society's
undesirable qualities of barbarism, treachery, jealousy and libidinousness onto those who are
considered 'other'.[25] The assumed characteristics of black men, or 'the other', were both
instigated and popularized by Renaissance dramas of the time; for example, the treachery of
black men inherent to George Peele's 'The Battle of Alcazar' (1588)
[edit] The hero
There have been many differing views on the character of Othello over the years. They span from
describing Othello as a hero to describing him as an egotistical fool. A.C Bradley calls Othello
the "most romantic of all of Shakespeare's heroes" and "the greatest poet of them all". On the
other hand, F.R. Leavis describes Othello as "egotistical". There are those who also take a less
critical approach to the character of Othello such as William Hazlitt saying that "the nature of the
Moor is noble... but his blood is of the most inflammable kind".

Othello

Othello: The Moor of Venice is a play (ca. 1603) by William Shakespeare. The play is a
concentrated, tightly constructed domestic tragedy, with almost no subplot for relief, centered on
five or six central characters. Othello is commonly considered one of Shakespeare's great
tragedies and one of his finest works.
Act I
• Heaven is my judge, not I for love and duty,
But seeming so, for my peculiar end:
For when my outward action doth demonstrate
The native act and figure of my heart
In compliment extern, 'tis not long after
But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve
For daws to peck at: I am not what I am.
○ Iago, scene I

• Even now, now, very now, an old black ram

Is tupping your white ewe.
○ Iago, scene I

• Your daughter and the Moor are now making the beast with two backs.
○ Iago, scene I
 • Keep up your bright swords, for the dew will rust them.
○ Othello, scene II

• My story being done,

She gave me for my pains a world of sighs:
She swore, in faith, 'twas strange, 'twas passing strange;
'Twas pitiful, 'twas wondrous pitiful.
○ Othello, scene III

• She lov'd me for the dangers I had pass'd,

And I lov'd her that she did pity them.
○ Othello, scene III

• The robb'd that smiles, steals something from the thief;

He robs himself that spends a bootless grief.
○ Duke of Venice, scene III

• Look to her, Moor, if thou hast eyes to see:

She has deceived her father, and may thee.
○ Brabantio, scene III

• Thus do I ever make my fool my purse.

○ Iago, scene III

• I hate the Moor;

And it is thought abroad, that 'twixt my sheets
He has done my office: I know not if 't be true;
But I, for mere suspicion in that kind, will do as if for surety.
○ Iago, scene III

• The Moor is of a free and open nature,

That thinks men honest that but seem to be so,
And will as tenderly be led by the nose
As asses are.
○ Iago, scene III

[edit] Act II
 • If after every tempest come such calms,
May the winds blow till they have waken'd death!
○ Othello, scene i

• Knavery's plain face is never seen till us'd.

○ Iago, scene i

• Reputation is an idle and most false imposition; oft got without merit and lost without
deserving.
○ Iago, scene iii

• And what's he then that says I play the villain?

When this advice is free I give and honest,
Probal to thinking and indeed the course
To win the Moor again? For 'tis most easy
The inclining Desdemona to subdue
In any honest suit: she's framed as fruitful
As the free elements. And then for her
To win the Moor — were't to renounce his baptism,
All seals and symbols of redeemed sin,
His soul is so enfetter'd to her love,
That she may make, unmake, do what she list,
Even as her appetite shall play the god
With his weak function. How am I then a villain
To counsel Cassio to this parallel course,
Directly to his good? Divinity of hell!
When devils will the blackest sins put on,
They do suggest at first with heavenly shows,
As I do now: for whiles this honest fool
Plies Desdemona to repair his fortunes
And she for him pleads strongly to the Moor,
I'll pour this pestilence into his ear,
That she repeals him for her body's lust;
And by how much she strives to do him good,
She shall undo her credit with the Moor.
So will I turn her virtue into pitch,
And out of her own goodness make the net
That shall enmesh them all.
○ Iago, scene iii

[edit] Act III

• Excellent wretch! Perdition catch my soul,
But I do love thee; and when I love thee not,
Chaos is come again.
 ○ Othello, scene iii

• Men should be what they seem;

Or those that be not, would they might seem none!
○ Iago, scene iii

• Good name in man and woman, dear my lord,

Is the immediate jewel of their souls:
Who steals my purse steals trash; 'tis something, nothing;
’Twas mine, 'tis his, and has been slave to thousands;
But he that filches from me my good name,
Robs me of that which not enriches him,
And makes me poor indeed.
○ Iago, scene iii

• O! beware, my lord, of jealousy;

It is the green-ey'd monster which doth mock
The meat it feeds on.
○ Iago, scene iii

• 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 once to be resolved.
○ Othello, scene iii

• She did deceive her father, marrying you;

And when she seem'd to shake and fear your looks
She lov'd them most.
○ Iago, scene iii

• Othello: I do not think but Desdemona's honest.

Iago: Long live she so, and long live you to think so!
Othello: And, yet, how nature erring from itself,—
Iago: Ay, there's the point.
○ Scene iii

• If she be false, O! then heaven mocks itself.

I'll not believe't.
○ Othello, scene iii
 • O! now, for ever
Farewell the tranquil mind; farewell content!
○ Othello, scene iii

• Villain, be sure thou prove my love a whore,

Be sure of it; give me the ocular proof;
Or, by the worth of mine eternal soul,
Thou hadst been better have been born a dog
Than answer my wak'd wrath.
○ Othello, scene iii

• 'Tis not a year or two shows us a man:

They are all but stomachs, and we all but food;
They eat us hungerly, and when they are full,
They belch us.
○ Emilia, scene iv

[edit] Act IV
• Who would not make her husband a cuckold to make him a monarch?
○ Emilia, scene iii

• Heaven me such uses send,

Not to pick bad from bad, but by bad mend.
○ Desdemona, scene iii

[edit] Act V
• O damn'd Iago! O inhuman dog!
○ Roderigo, scene i

• Put out the light, and then put out the light.
○ Othello, scene ii

• [He kisses her]

O balmy breath, that dost almost persuade
Justice to break her sword. One more, one more!
Be thus when thou art dead, and I will kill thee,
And love thee after. One more, and that's the last!
So sweet was ne'er so fatal. I must weep,
But they are cruel tears. This sorrow's heavenly;
It strikes where it doth love. She wakes.
 ○ Othello, scene ii

• What noise is this? Not dead — not yet quite dead?

I that am cruel am yet merciful;
I would not have the linger in thy pain
So, so.
○ Othello, scene ii

• I hold my peace, sir? no;

No, I will speak as liberal as the north;
Let heaven and men and devils, let them all,
All, all, cry shame against me, yet I'll speak.
○ Emilia, scene ii

• Demand me nothing: what you know, you know:

From this time forth I never will speak word.
○ Iago, scene ii

• I pray you, in your letters,

When you shall these unlucky deeds relate,
Speak of me as I am; nothing extenuate,
Nor set down aught in malice: then, must you speak
Of one that lov'd not wisely but too well;
Of one not easily jealous, but, being wrought,
Perplex'd in the extreme; of one whose hand,
Like the base Indian, threw a pearl away
Richer than all his tribe; of one whose subdu'd eyes
Albeit unused to the melting mood,
Drop tears as fast as the Arabian trees
Their med'cinable gum. Set you down this;
And say besides, that in Aleppo once,
Where a malignant and a turban'd Turk
Beat a Venetian and traduc'd the state,
I took by the throat the circumcised dog,
And smote him thus.
○ Othello, scene ii

• I kissed thee ere I killed thee, no way but this,

Killing myself, to die upon a kiss.
○ Othello, scene ii