AQA English Literature A-level

Othello
Overview of Text and Key Scenes

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Overview

Othello, thought to have been written in 1603, is one of William Shakespeare’s most famous plays.
It is set in Venice and Cyprus in the late sixteenth century, roughly contemporary to when it was
written. It consists of five acts and is an example of a Shakespearean tragedy, following the titular
hero, a ‘Moor’, whose flaws and misjudgements lead to his as well as other characters’ downfalls.
Shakespeare delves into the psyches and motivations of Othello and those of the antagonist
Iago, an ensign who falsely convinces Othello that his wife has been unfaithful. The play explores
love and jealousy, racism and prejudice, deception and manipulation, revenge, and justice.
Its central focus on love and revenge, which has captured readers and audiences for centuries; it is
still performed all over the world today.

Genre

Othello is one of the great Shakespearean tragedies. It is primarily the tragedy of Othello himself
and of his fall from grace, but also a love tragedy as the relationship between Othello and
Desdemona breaks down. These two different tragic paths are interwoven: the interracial
marriage-of-equals is in part a cause of Othello’s decline, as his marriage to a noble Venetian lady
is what Iago uses to manipulate him.

Shakespeare draws on the Ancient Greek genre of tragedy in Othello. His play follows some
typical tragic conventions: it is the story of a strong and striking hero whose misjudgements and
flaws lead to widespread suffering, and ultimately the death of himself and those around him.

There are some important keywords to learn when it

comes to tragedy. The tragic hero’s hamartia is his
fatal flaw which leads to his downfall; it is the cause of
mass suffering and calamity. Most noteworthy is that in
a tragedy, the tragic events are the result of man’s
own actions. Although tragic heroes tend to have
numerous flaws or failings of judgement, there is one
main cause of their tragic trajectory. Othello’s
hamartia is generally considered to be jealousy,
which enables him to be tricked and manipulated by Iago. It is also worth thinking about the other
flaws in Othello’s character, for example his insecurity and gullibility, and how they interact with
his hamartia. You could also consider how the tragedy of love is important here: Othello kills
Desdemona as a result of a jealous rage.

At the end of a classical tragedy, the hero experiences a moment of anagnorisis, in which he
becomes aware of his mistakes and misjudgements. This is often followed by catharsis, an
emotional release in which the protagonist realises that his downfall was brought about by his own
actions and errors. This is a moment of cleansing, and of clearing the soul of wrongdoing; in
spectating the play, the audience experiences a similar cleansing and feels a strong emotional
release as well. This moment of realisation always comes too late, and this contributes to the
tragedy of the situation: the hero is ready to amend but, due to his own actions, this is no longer
possible.

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Although Othello is a tragedy, there are also some unusual aspects of the play which do not fit
quite so clearly into this genre. Othello holds a high rank in the military (a general), but he is not a
king or a nobleman in the way some of Shakespeare’s other famous tragic heroes are (e.g.
Hamlet, Macbeth, King Lear); he is more ordinary. He is also an outsider in Venetian society due
to his race and seeming ‘otherness’.

Structure

Othello spans five acts, typical of a Shakespearean tragedy. In fact, the structure of the play ties in
with its genre: across the five acts, we follow the tragic hero’s rise, followed by a reversal of his
fortune, through to his fall.

Othello is at his noblest in Act I. His language is elevated and controlled:

“Most potent, grave, and reverend signiors,

My very noble and approved good masters,
That I have ta'en away this old man's daughter,
It is most true” (Act I Scene III).

He speaks in elevated blank verse and is polite and gracious towards the Senators whom he
addresses. He is modest as well: he goes on to claim “Rude am I in my speech” (Act I Scene III)
although his actual words prove otherwise. His fluent language gives us the impression of a
character who is commanding and dignified, a conspicuous and striking tragic hero who is
primed for a reversal of fortune.

By Act IV, his verse has broken down and become fragmented and confused:

“Lie with her! lie on her! We say lie on her, when

They belie her. Lie with her! that's fulsome.
--Handkerchief--confessions--handkerchief!--[...]--Is't possible?--Confess--handkerchief!--O
devil!--” (Act IV Scene I).

This reads more like a train of thought than an elevated speech. His speech is now broken down
into short sentences and exclamations as his own mental state breaks down as well. The
frequent exclamation marks and pauses also indicate his nervousness and lack of composure, a
strong contrast to Act I.

This break-down of language is closely tied to the play’s structure, as it allows us to track the rise
and fall from grace of the tragic hero across the five acts.

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Key Themes

Love is one of the main themes in Othello. The play primarily focuses on Othello and
Desdemona’s relationship which is initially a genuine and reciprocal marriage of equals; he says
that “She loved me for the dangers I had passed / And I loved her that she did pity them”
(Act I Scene III). The splitting of this sentence evenly across two lines of iambic pentameter
indicates their reciprocal love, as their love is evenly shared and divided across the two lines.
However, Othello’s love for Desdemona is used against him. Iago draws on Othello’s marital
insecurities - the fact that he married a white Venetian woman, and that her father disapproved of
the match - to turn him against his wife.

The theme of love is closely tied to jealousy, which we have already identified as Othello’s fatal
flaw. But Othello is not the only character prone to jealousy, as it is Iago’s jealousy of Cassio’s
promotion that triggers the entire storyline. Shakespeare uses the famous metaphor of jealousy as
“the green-eyed monster which doth mock / The meat it feeds on” (Act III Scene III). This
creates an image of characters who are helpless in the face of their own jealousy; it is a
destructive and monstrous force throughout the play.

Race is another key theme in Othello. Racist stereotypes and assumptions are rife throughout,
and inform many of the characters’ actions. Iago constantly uses derogatory and racist language
to describe Othello. He dehumanises him (“An old black ram/Is tupping your white ewe” (Act I
Scene I)) and calls him the spawn of the devil (he says to Brabantio “the devil will make a
grandsire of you”, Act I Scene I). Brabantio despises the match and does not believe Desdemona
could have married him willingly (“O thou foul thief, where hast thou stow'd my daughter? /
Damn'd as thou art, thou hast enchanted her”, Act I Scene II). Some critics and viewers have
thought that Shakespeare presents Othello as nothing more than a stereotype of a Moor. For
example, in Act III Scene III there are fewer than 400 lines between Othello declaring his love for
Desdemona (“Perdition catch my soul / But I do love thee”) and confessing his hatred and
desire to murder her (“I will withdraw / To furnish me with some swift means of death / For
the fair devil”). In the first Act, Iago declares that “[t]hese Moors are changeable in their wills”
(Act I Scene III), implying that Othello is more prone to jealousy and easily turns on his wife
because he is of African descent. Hugh Quarshie, who played Othello in the 2015 RSC
production, discussed his initial reluctance at taking on the role for fear of reinforcing racist
stereotypes.

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Truth and deception are also important in Othello. Iago is a character brimming with deception:
early on in the play he admits “I am not what I am” (Act I Scene I), and the audience is left
wondering what motivates his evil actions. Othello, on the other hand, is a character striving for
truth and honesty. He calls Iago “honest Iago” four times in the play, and he will not doubt
Desdemona without the “ocular proof” of her infidelity, and Iago must “be sure thou prove my
love a whore” (Act III Scene III). Othello’s insistence on honesty and evidence speaks to his
integrity as the play’s protagonist, but even this is turned against him when Iago feigns the
evidence of Desdemona’s unfaithfulness with the handkerchief.

Context

The settings in Othello are integral to the plot. In the late 16th and early 17th centuries, Venice
was famed for its wealth, cosmopolitan culture, and political stability. It was thought of as a
place of female promiscuity and sexual freedom, and as a mixing pot filled with people of
different races. It was renowned for the freedom it offered its diverse range of citizens, many of
whom (like Othello) were immigrants who had adopted Venetian values. It was both familiar and
exotic, situated in Europe but with close trading ties to the Middle East and North Africa. Its
geographical closeness but simultaneous otherworldliness make it an excellent location for
Shakespeare to explore human relationships, especially interracial and intercultural ones.
Although Othello is still an outsider, he nonetheless has a place in the multicultural Venetian
society.

Much of the play is also set at an outpost in Cyprus, in the Venetian-Ottoman wars throughout
the late 16th century. Cyprus is even further removed from the Venetian setting where the play
begins, both geographically and culturally. The further the action is removed from the perceived
‘civilisation’ of Europe, the more we see the break-down of relationships and civility.

Othello is a ‘Moor’ but this had numerous different connotations in Shakespeare’s England. Today,
the part is nearly always performed by a black actor, and Iago’s derogatory descriptions of
Othello describe him as black. But the word ‘Moor’ was also used in the 16th and 17th centuries to
describe the people of North Africa as well, so Othello’s exact race is unknown and debated.
Performance history should be considered as well: the role was written for a white actor. Richard
Burbage, one of the most famous actors in Shakespeare’s company, is most likely the first actor to
have performed the role, wearing black make-up and a wig made from black lambswool.

Characters

● Othello: the play’s protagonist. A ‘Moor’ whose precise background is unknown, but who
converted to Christianity and became a military general in the Venetian army. At the
beginning of the play he is a composed and powerful figure, but he easily falls prey to his
own insecurities and Iago’s manipulations, and his love for his wife, Desdemona, is
turned against him into an all-consuming jealous rage.

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● Desdemona: the daughter of Venetian senator Brabantio, and wife of Othello. She is a
good and loyal wife. She follows Othello to war in Cyprus. She also has some
strong-willed moments, for example she attempts to persuade Othello to forgive Cassio in
Act III Scene III. On her deathbed she is an image of virginal innocence, lying in her
wedding sheets and still declaring “the loves I bear to [Othello]” (Act V Scene II).

● Iago: Othello’s ensign and the play’s antagonist. Iago is generally considered to be the
most evil of Shakespeare’s villains. He turns Othello against Desdemona through careful
manipulation, but his motivations are never entirely clear. He is in-part jealous that
Othello did not promote him (see Act I Scene I), and in-part driven by racially-motivated
hatred. He refuses to repent at the end of the play.

● Emilia: the wife of Iago, and Desdemona’s attendant. She is suspicious of her husband
but only realises his duplicitous plan when it is too late and her mistress is dead. It is Emilia
who exposes Iago to Othello: “may his pernicious soul / Rot half a grain a day! he lies
to the heart” (Act V Scene II).

● Brabantio: Desdemona’s father and a Venetian senator. He disapproves of the match

between his daughter and Othello, which has taken place in secret. In fact, he is convinced
that Othello has “enchanted” her into marriage (Act II Scene II).

● Cassio: Othello’s lieutenant and a friend of Desdemona. Iago uses this friendship, and
Cassio’s youth, to play on Othello’s insecurities and to convince him that Cassio is
Desdemona’s lover.

● Roderigo: a nobleman in love with Desdemona. He teams up with Iago and pays him to
court Desdemona on his behalf, little knowing Iago’s true motives. Iago convinces Roderigo
to assist him in killing Cassio, but then subsequently kills him to keep his cover.

● Bianca: a courtesan who is in love with Cassio. When Othello overhears Cassio talking
about Bianca, Iago convinces him that he is talking about Desdemona instead.

● The Duke of Venice: the leader of the governing authority in Venice. He reconciles the
disagreement between Othello and Brabantio over the former’s marriage, and he appoints
Othello to the outpost in Cyprus.

● Gratiano: Brabantio’s brother. He finds the wounded Cassio after he has been attacked by
Roderigo.

● Lodovico: a distant relative of Desdemona. He acts as a messenger between Venice and

Cyprus.

● Montano: the governor of Cyprus before Othello. In Act II, he fills us in on the status of the
war.

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Quick Summary

Act 1
● As the play opens, Iago is telling Roderigo that he hates Othello because Othello
promoted Cassio instead of him. Iago’s hatred for Othello is obvious.
● Iago and Roderigo travel to Brabantio’s house, the father of Othello’s newly-wed, to tell him
of his daughter’s marriage to ‘the Moor’. Brabantio is angered and orders Othello’s arrest.
● Brabantio and Othello appear before the governing Duke of Venice, and Othello explains
that Desdemona fell in love with him after hearing stories about his life. She is called to
witness and confirms her genuine love for him.
● Othello is called to Cyprus to command a force against the Turks, and Desdemona
accompanies him.
● In a moment alone with Roderigo again, Iago convinces him to follow them to Cyprus and
tells the audience of his plan to convince Othello that Desdemona is having an affair with
Cassio.

Act 2
● Cassio, Iago, Desdemona, and Emilia disembark in Cyprus and are greeted by the
governor. The friendship and goodwill between Cassio and Desdemona is apparent, and
Iago will use this to his advantage.
● Othello arrives and announces a night of celebrations because the Turkish fleet was
wrecked in a storm.
● Iago begins his plan to manipulate Othello. He convinces Roderigo to pick a fight with the
drunk Cassio and in the midst of this the governor of Cyprus becomes injured.
● Othello dismisses Cassio from his service.
● Feigning friendship, Iago advises Cassio to speak to Desdemona and enlist her help in
seeking Othello’s forgiveness.
● Iago delivers another soliloquy, telling the audience that his plan is going well so far.

Act 3
● Desdemona is sympathetic with Cassio’s situation and promises to speak to Othello on his
behalf. She wholeheartedly defends Cassio to her husband, and asks him for a pardon.
● Immediately after, Iago begins to convince Othello explicitly that there is something
between Cassio and Desdemona: “Look to your wife; observe her well with Cassio”
(Act III Scene III). Othello is now thoroughly suspicious but has no proof.
● Desdemona drops her handkerchief and Emilia takes it, saying Iago asked her to steal it
“a hundred times” (Act III Scene III).Othello returns to Iago, angry that he let himself be
swayed by Iago. He insists the Iago provide some “ocular proof” (Act III Scene III) before
he goes any further.
● Iago claims he has heard Cassio sleep-talking about Desdemona, and that he has seen
him using Desdemona’s handkerchief. This is proof enough for Othello, and he decides
that he will kill his wife and Iago will kill Cassio.

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 ● Desdemona is upset that she has lost the handkerchief as it was a gift from Othello. She
again tries to convince her husband to forgive Cassio, but this only hardens Othello’s
heart against her.

Act 4
● Feigning supportiveness, Iago continues to talk to Othello about Cassio and Desdemona.
He stages a conversation between himself and Cassio for Othello to overhear; he asks
Cassio about his lover Bianca, but tells Othello that they are discussing Desdemona.
● Othello’s mental state worsens and he determines to kill Desdemona that evening.
● Desdemona defends Cassio once again and Othello hits her.
● Emilia helps Desdemona prepare for bed and is concerned about Othello’s behaviour, but
Desdemona stays loyal to her husband.
● Emilia delivers a speech in which she blames men for not understanding that women have
feelings just as men do.

Act 5
● Roderigo attacks Cassio, who stabs Roderigo in return. Othello overhears and thinks that
Iago has killed Cassio, as they agreed. Iago pretends to be enraged at Roderigo’s actions
and kills him.
● Othello enters the bedchamber where Desdemona is sleeping. He urges her to confess
and suffocates her when she will not admit her guilt.
● Emilia enters and tells Othello that Iago was lying and that she took Desdemona’s
handkerchief and gave it to her husband. Iago stabs her, and Othello realises he has been
tricked.
● Iago is arrested, and Othello stabs himself in grief.

Analysis - Act I

● Significantly, Iago and Roderigo are the first characters we are introduced to in the play,
rather than Othello himself. This creates anticipation, but it also alters our opinion and
interpretation of the titular character. The fact that we meet Iago first, and hear his opinion
towards Othello, sets us up to be sympathetic towards Iago.
● Knowing nothing of Othello’s true character at this point in the play, we easily believe Iago’s
depiction of him. He is not mentioned by name but is referred to simply as “the Moor” (Act
I Scene I). Already in the opening scene, Shakespeare establishes the idea that Othello will
be defined by his race, and this is something that repeats throughout the play.
● However, Iago’s true villainy quickly becomes obvious and we are not sympathetic
towards him for long.
● Act I is important in establishing the characters and their backgrounds:
- Othello ‘the Moor’ is an outsider, and we see this in Iago’s and Brabantio’s
treatment of him.
- The Venetians disapprove of Othello’s marriage to Desdemona. Act I Scene III
gives us an important insight into their relationship and establishes their marriage
as one between equals.

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 - Desdemona is strong and outspoken rather than passive. She defends her love
for Othello and speaks directly to the Duke of Venice using an imperative: “Most
gracious duke, / To my unfolding lend your prosperous ear” (Act I Scene III).
Through her language, she demands that the Duke listens to her.
- In this Act, we also gain a sense of the importance of Iago. He both opens and
closes Act I and this establishes him as a structurally dominant character who is
integral to how the plot unfolds.

Key Quotes & Analysis

● Act I Scene I: “an old black ram / Is tupping your white ewe”
This is the first of many animalistic and racist descriptions. This dehumanises Othello,
describing him with bestial lusts. This vulgar description puts Desdemona in a position of virginal
innocence, but as a woman who is dominated by her animalistic husband: she is “white” and is
the grammatical object of the sentence (Othello is the subject). The bestial language that is used
to describe Othello would have had particular resonance for Shakespeare’s audience. The Great
Chain of Being was a hierarchical Christian structure which ranked all beings, from God at the
top, down through angels, humans, animals, and plants. Animals were even lower than the
lowliest of humans, and this quote therefore demonstrates Iago’s belief that ‘Moors’ (people of
African descent) are lowlier than Europeans, and are even less than human. In this opening
scene, Othello is also referred to as a “Barbary horse” and he and Desdemona having sex are
“making the beast with two backs”. Furthermore, to Shakespeare’s contemporary audience the
word “black” refers not only to colour but also to morality; as the opposite of white, black stood
for evil and the devil. By drawing attention to Othello’s colour, Iago emphasises his apparent evil
nature.

● Act I Scene I: “Were I the Moor I would not be Iago. / In following him I follow but
myself; / Heaven is my judge, not I for love and duty, / But seeming so for my
peculiar end… I am not what I am”
We often need to break down Iago’s language in order to understand it fully, and this fits with his
deceptive and wily nature. He speaks cryptically, and acts cryptically. He also denies his own
self by saying “I am not what I am”, and we never truly know Iago or his motives throughout the
play.

● Act I Scene II: “Damn'd as thou art, thou hast enchanted her”
Brabantio cannot fathom why Desdemona would have married a ‘Moor’ unless she were
enchanted by him. This introduces the motif of witchcraft into the play: Othello is constantly
associated with witchcraft, and this gives him an air of otherworldliness and exoticism. Magic is
neither understood nor accepted by Christian Europe, so associating Othello with magic further
removes him from European society and exoticises him as an ‘other’.

● Act I Scene III: “Her father loved me; oft invited me; / Still question'd me the story of
my life, / From year to year, the battles, sieges, fortunes, / That I have passed. / I ran
it through, even from my boyish days…”
This is a long but important speech as we are given an insight into Othello’s past. In this passage,
Shakespeare draws on travel writing, a popular contemporary genre in which European travellers

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would explore previously unvisited territory and write down their experiences in a fanciful and
exoticised way. The difference here is that Othello, an African, is
describing his own story but using the style of an exoticised
travel narrative to please his European listeners. There is a sense
that he is performing his own story: he “ran it through”, as you
might run through lines for a rehearsed play. His experiences pile
up through his use of anaphora: “Of moving accidents... / Of
hair-breadth scapes… / Of being taken…”.

Othello goes on to describe how Desdemona would “With a greedy ear / Devour up my
discourse”: This image can be deconstructed in several ways. On the one hand, it suggests that
Desdemona is perhaps not so pure and innocent as she initially seemed because she is “greedy”,
one of the Seven Deadly Sins. On the other hand, this image also suggests that Othello is
“devour[ed]” by the Venetian listeners; they consume his background so that he may become a
part of their society. This is indicative of a late 16th- / early 17th-century fascination with
‘otherness’ and the unknown. This was a time of exciting exploration; in 1577-1580, Francis
Drake completed his circumnavigation of the world in a single expedition, and a few years later in
1620 the Mayflower would carry English pilgrims across the Atlantic to the ‘New World’. As a
result of this contemporary interest in the unknown, Shakespeare’s audience listens to Othello’s
story of far away lands and different people with an interested and “greedy” ear, just as Othello’s
audience does.

Othello refers to his journey as “My pilgrimage”. This indicates his assimilation into Christianity.
His non-Christian origins are only acceptable to the Venetians because he tells them a sanitised
version which ends in conversion to Christianity.

There is one more important image in this speech. In response to Brabantio’s accusations that he
enchanted Desdemona, Othello explains that his words are “the only witchcraft I have used”.
Although he seemingly denies his use of witchcraft, he still associates himself with it. This is
another indication that Othello is being defined by his ethnicity and fulfilling what the Europeans
expect of him.

● Act II Scene I: “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.”
This quote from Iago is easy to overlook as it comes at the end of Act I and is not referred to again.
This offers another motivation for Iago’s behaviour: he’s heard a rumour that Othello slept with his
wife, Emilia, and therefore seeks revenge. It might also explain the specific nature of the way in
which he ruins Othello (convincing him his wife has had an affair, as Iago believes his wife has).

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This also cements a clear distinction between Othello and Iago; the former is insistent that he will
not act against Desdemona without proof, whereas Iago will seek revenge on “the mere
suspicion”. However, we might mock Iago for this because there is absolutely no indication of an
affair between Othello and Emilia in the play. So rather than offering a motivation for Iago, in a way
it undermines him, as we question if he is making up reasons without evidence to justify his
actions to the audience.

Analysis - Act II

● After establishing the characters and the setting in Act I, Act II is where Shakespeare
begins to zoom in on their relationships and motivations. The external threat of war with
Cyprus is dismissed when we are told “our wars are done” (Act II Scene I) at the very
beginning of this Act.
● Instead, Shakespeare sets up Iago’s “web” (Act II Scene I) of control and manipulation;
this is of much more interest than external factors such as war. By cutting off the external
world, the intensity of the play and of the characters’ relationships increases because we
focus more on them.
● Shakespeare plays with dramatic irony throughout Othello and we see this firstly in Act II.
For example, the audience is left with a sense of foreboding when Cassio takes
Desdemona’s hand at the end of Scene I. We can see that this is innocent, which makes
our knowledge that this moment will be twisted against the innocent characters even more
horrific.
● When Desdemona enters the stage after the brawl in Scene III, Othello ushers her off to
bed again: “All's well now, sweeting; come away to bed”. This foreshadows the next
moment we will see Desdemona in bed in Act V, when Othello strangles her. We will recall
how rapidly their relationship deteriorated over a mere three acts of the play.
● Iago once again closes the Act with a soliloquy. He is the character with the most
on-stage time, and he has many more soliloquies than Othello. Shakespeare seems more
interested in delving into Iago’s psyche and motivations than those of the eponymous
hero.

Key Quotes & Analysis

● Act II Scene I: ‘With as little a web as this will I ensnare as great a fly as Cassio’
Iago uses extensive animal imagery to describe Othello, but also refers to himself as a spider.
This is a very fitting image for Iago’s character, and allows us to visualise his role in the play. He
spins a wide web of lies intended to “ensnare” and to trap many of the characters, including
Othello, Desdemona, Cassio, Roderigo, and Emilia. The image of Iago as a spider also attributes
to him a degree of authority over the plot. He is the character in charge of spinning the web and
making the decisions that affect the other characters.

● Act II Scene III: “Why, how now, ho! from whence ariseth this? / Are we turn'd Turks,
and to ourselves do that / Which heaven hath forbid the Ottomites? / For Christian
shame, put by this barbarous brawl”

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This quote from Othello reveals the Venetian fear and dismissal of outsiders. When they fight,
they are compared to “Turks”, the very foreigners they are fighting against in the war. The
Venetians clearly believe themselves to be superior and more civilised. The fact that Othello
speaks this line is noteworthy, and on the one hand this suggests that he does not consider himself
as an outsider as he abruptly dismisses other outsiders. But on the other hand this creates a sense
of foreboding as we are aware that Othello himself will be manipulated and ultimately purged
from Venetian society.

● Act II Scene III: Reputation, reputation, reputation! O, I have lost / my reputation! I

have lost the immortal part of / myself, and what remains is bestial. My reputation, /
Iago, my reputation!”
Cassio is distraught at ruining his reputation, and this quote reveals to us the importance of
reputation throughout the play as a whole. Iago’s manipulations ruin the reputations of Cassio,
Desdemona, and Othello, all whilst he builds up his own false reputation of honesty.

● Act II Scene III: “she’s framed as fruitful / As the free elements [...] As [...] 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.”
This quote, spoken by Iago, is an interesting insight into his attitude towards Desdemona. This
depiction of her is sexually charged: she is “fruitful”, suggesting fertility and productivity, and
has an “appetite”, i.e. a sexual appetite. In the early 17th century, Venice had a reputation as
being a place of female promiscuity and prostitution (even more so than other cities) - its
liberality applied to sexuality as well as the diversity of its citizens. When Iago frames Desdemona
as unfaithful, he draws on and utilises these stereotypes of Venetian women. This quote also
furthers our impression of Iago as a mastermind orchestrating the entire plot - he explicitly claims
to be making “the net / That shall enmesh” the other characters. Furthermore, the motif of black
as evil crops up again here. Desdemona and her innocence will be tainted: white will turn to
“pitch”, a very dark black substance.

Analysis - Act III

● Act III is the centre-point of the play and, as is typical in a tragedy, it is the turning point for
the tragic hero.
● Dramatic timing is important in Scene I: Iago manipulates the events but is able to
convince Othello that they are natural, for example by hinting that Cassio’s exit is proof of
his guilt.
● Act III Scene III is arguably the most important in the whole play, as Othello is successfully
convinced of his wife’s infidelity and decides he will kill her. He comes utterly convinced of
Desdemona’s guilt in a startlingly short space of time (fewer than 400 lines).
● Scene III draws a parallel with medieval morality plays in which Good and Evil are
personified as characters who tempt the protagonist, or try to convince him to remain
good. In Othello, Iago is the personification of evil whilst Othello tries to remain true to his
values and conscience.

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 ● We can think of the play’s structure as a hill: we climb up in Acts I and II, before reaching
the summit of Act III and rapidly declining in Acts IV and V.
● This analogy can also be applied to Othello’s mental state: this is the last Act in which
Othello is mentally stable, and we will see this in the breakdown of his language.
● Again, Shakespeare uses dramatic irony in this Act to increase the sense of tragedy. This
is the moment from which there is no going back and the audience knows that after Othello
determines to kill Desdemona, they are both doomed. From now on, we are simply
watching the inevitable play out.
● We learn the full importance of the handkerchief as a symbol in this Act. As a gift from
Othello to Desdemona, it represents his non-Christian heritage (it was a gift from his
mother), but it also comes to represent Desdemona’s faithfulness. When Othello believes
she has given it away, she has not only given away the love that they shared but also her
own body.
● Scene IV can be read as a trial scene, in which Othello is the prosecutor and
Desdemona’s failure to produce the handkerchief becomes the evidence that seals her
doom.

Key Quotes & Analysis

● Act III Scene III: “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!”
The theme of seeing is important in Othello. This is partly because of its focus on colour; Othello
is aware that as a “Moor” he looks different to the Venetians around him, so when he says that his
wife “had eyes, and chose me” the subtext is that she chose him despite his ethnicity. This is
a subtle indication of Othello’s insecurities, as he feels that Desdemona had to overlook his
ethnicity in order to marry him, and he is constantly aware of his difference. This quote also
introduces Othello’s need for proof, and this idea will recur throughout the scene.

● Act III Scene III: “I am glad I have found this napkin: / This was her first
remembrance from the Moor: / My wayward husband hath a hundred times / Woo'd
me to steal it; but she so loves the token, / For he conjured her she should ever keep
it, / That she reserves it evermore about her / To kiss and talk to.”
This is another example of dramatic irony: Emilia does not realise the impact of her actions, but
the audience knows that in stealing the handkerchief and giving it to Iago, Emilia unwittingly seals
her mistress’s doom.

● Act III 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 man's eternal soul, / Thou hadst been better
have been born a dog / Than answer my waked wrath!”
Othello comes back to the importance of sight and of having visual proof of Desdemona’s
infidelity. His insistence on evidence is a testament to his honesty and nobility, but it also leaves
him open to manipulation because when Iago falsely produces evidence, Othello immediately
determines to murder his wife. The exclamation at the end of this quote tells us that Othello shouts
at Iago here, indicating his rising temper and anger. The 2015 RSC production of Othello
included a torture scene at this moment in the play: Othello interrogated Iago to ensure he was

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certain of Desdemona’s infidelity. The addition of this scene solidified the audience’s notion of
Othello’s absolute dedication to determining the truth.

● Act III Scene III: “Arise, black vengeance, from thy hollow cell! / Yield up, O love, thy
crown and hearted throne / To tyrannous hate! Swell, bosom, with thy fraught, / For
'tis of aspics' tongues!”
This is where we start to see the break-down of Othello’s mental state through his language. His
increasing anger is evident here through his repeated exclamations. He is losing control over
language, just as he loses control of his temper.

Analysis - Act IV

● From Act IV, we witness Othello’s mental and physical breakdown as he is consumed by
jealousy and anger. As is typical of a tragedy, the general law and order of society also
breaks down as the tragic hero falls from grace.
● Othello hits Desdemona in Scene I, and this is a strong reversal of the earlier love and
affection that was so visible between the couple in Acts I and II.
● The arrival of Lodovico, a messenger from Venice, in Scene I broadens the scope of the
play and reminds us of the external world. However, we know that by this stage Othello has
become too wrapped up in his own jealousy and confusion that he will not make it back to
Venice.
● Desdemona puts her wedding sheets on the bed that she is to sleep in. She will be
murdered in this bed while she sleeps, so the wedding sheets become her symbolic
grave. This is fitting: the wedding sheets are used when the bride loses her virginity, and
Desdemona is an innocent and a faithful wife, so she dies in sheets that symbolise this
innocence.
● The sheets can also symbolise Othello and Desdemona’s marriage, which was full of love
when the first married but is now sadly full of hate.
● Emilia delivers a famous speech on womanhood and marriage: “Let husbands know /
Their wives have sense like them: they see and smell / And have their palates both
for sweet and sour, / As husbands have”. She speaks up for some of the unfairnesses
that women faced in marriage, and defends their human rights. This is a strong moment for
Emilia’s character, who thus far in the play has only accidentally assisted Iago in framing
Desdemona. It is a precursor to her confrontation of Othello and Act V, and her revealing
of Iago as a liar.

Key Quotes & Analysis

● Act IV Scene I: “Lie with her! lie on her! We say lie on her, when / they belie her. Lie
with her! that's fulsome. / --Handkerchief--confessions--handkerchief!--[...] Pish!
Noses, ears, and lips. / --Is't possible?--Confess--handkerchief!--O devil!--”
We saw Othello’s language begin to break down in Act III, but now it breaks down into several
short exclamations and clauses. His speech is reflective of his mental state: he is struggling to
think clearly and see past his jealousy. This is a clear contrast to Othello’s composure that we

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witnessed at the beginning of the play, where he spoke fluently and poetically. His repetition of
“handkerchief” also indicates his obsessive fixation - this apparent evidence of Desdemoma’s
affair is what his decision to murder her hangs on.

● Act IV Scene I: “Do it not with poison, strangle her in her bed, even / the bed she
hath contaminated.”
Iago draws attention to the marriage bed, which Desdemona ironically has not “contaminated”.
She is as good and innocent as the day she married Othello, and this is symbolised when she
makes up the bed with her wedding sheets again.

● Act IV Scene II: “his unkindness may defeat my life, / But never taint my love. I
cannot say 'whore:' / It does abhor me now I speak the word;”
Desdemona’s speech in this Act strongly contrasts Othello’s. She retains her composure, even
with the creeping knowledge of her imminent death, and this is indicated in her calm and poetic
language. She draws attention to her own goodness and purity: she will not allow herself to be
“taint[ed]”, and cannot bring herself to even say the word “whore”. This directly contrasts Othello
who, earlier in this scene, called her a “whore” and an “Impudent strumpet!”. By this stage in
the play, Shakespeare draws our attention to Othello and Desdemona as opposites: Othello as
dark and evil, and Desdemona as white and pure.

Analysis - Act V

● Act V is where we see the minor characters’ plotlines come to a close. Roderigo is killed by
Iago and we realise just how futile his role in the play was; he was simply a pawn for Iago,
and is killed when he is no longer useful.
● Othello’s soliloquy at the beginning of Scene II is calm and composed, and reminds us of
his characterisation in Acts I and II. He is no longer raving and confused, but instead
deadly certain on his course of action. This heightens our sense of tragedy because he
has been so far manipulated by Iago, he almost resembles his old self, yet he is certain of
his wife’s guilt.
● Desdemona is an image of perfect innocence in this Act: she is sleeping in her white
wedding sheets. As she is smothered, she begs to say “one prayer!” but she is denied
this.
● Emilia is a strong voice in the final scene. She defies her husband on numerous occasions
in order to speak the truth: “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” (Act V
Scene II). She speaks out despite Iago threatening her, and she eventually pays with her
life when he stabs her. Despite the fact that Desdemona has been silenced, Emilia
becomes the final strong female voice of the play.
● Othello now calls Iago a “devil” and although his realisation comes too late, it does
restore some sense of right to the play.
● Othello kills himself to atone for his wrongdoings. Suicide in the context of Jacobean
England is even more of a tragic end for the protagonist since it was considered a mortal

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 sin to take one’s own life, akin to murder, rather than allowing God to carry out his
judgement. This is a truly tragic and pitiful end for the once-great Othello.
● Lodovico, one the minor characters, speaks the final words in the play. There is no sense
of justice or promise of future hope at the end of this tragedy; instead it ends in
bleakness. Iago still lives, Gratiano seizes Othello’s possessions, and Lodovico returns to
Venice to share the sad news.
● There is a final reference to sight in Lodovico’s last words, a theme which has been so
prevalent throughout the play. Seeing Othello slumped against Desdemona’s corpse
“poisons sight” (Act V Scene II); it is too horrific to look at, so the curtains on the stage
must be drawn.

Key Quotes & Analysis

● Act V Scene II: “Yet I’ll not shed her blood; / Nor scar that whiter skin of hers than
snow [...] / Yet she must die, else she’ll betray more men.”
Othello cannot bring himself to mar Desdemona’s beauty. He will not shed her blood, and we can
draw a parallel here to her virginal purity. A woman bleeding on her wedding night was thought to
be proof that she was a virgin, so Othello refusing to shed Desdemona’s blood when he kills her
allows her to remain in a state of premarital innocence. This is how Othello wishes to remember
her, before she seemingly cheated on him. The use of the modal verb - she “must” die -
demonstrates the strength of Othello’s conviction here, and how he feels almost duty-bound to
kill her. He insists on his own honour right through to his death, and begs people to believe that
“nought I did in hate, but all in honour”.

● Act V Scene II: “When I have pluck'd thy rose, / I cannot give it vital growth again. / It
must needs wither”
Again, the way Othello refers to Desdemona before killing her references her virginity. This quote
implies that her beauty has “wither[ed]” after she has lost her virginity. This is what Othello truly
regrets because he believes her corruption to be from sleeping around with other men. In
Othello’s mind, if Desdemona was still innocent and virginal, he would not have to kill her. For him,
his wife’s lack of innocence is the true tragedy.

● Act V Scene II: “Speak of me as I am; nothing extenuate, / Nor set down aught in
malice: then must you speak / Of one that loved not wisely but too well; / Of one not
easily jealous, but being wrought / Perplex'd in the extreme”
Shortey before Othello kills himself, he fixates on how he will be remembered. At the very close of
the play, Shakespeare returns again to the idea of reputation: rather than worrying about his
actions, Othello is more worried about how he will be remembered and talked about after death.
His anxiety is with his legacy, and in his final speech he attempts to exert control over how he
will be remembered, as one who loved too much.

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