“O, beware, my lord, of jealousy! It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on.”
Iago – Act 3, Scene 3
Famous image of jealousy consuming and mocking the person who feels it.
“I speak not yet of proof… I would not have your free and noble nature out of self-bounty be abused.”
Iago – Act 3, Scene 3
Iago flatters Othello’s nobility while secretly planting doubt about Desdemona.
“No, Iago, I’ll see before I doubt.”
Othello – Act 3, Scene 3
Othello initially insists on proof before suspicion, a standard he later abandons.
“I saw’t not, thought it not, it harmed not me.”
Othello – Act 3, Scene 3
He remembers when ignorance kept him free from jealousy and pain.
“Her name, that was as fresh as Dian’s visage, is now begrimed and black as mine own face.”
Othello – Act 3, Scene 3
Othello connects Desdemona’s supposed corruption with his own racial self-loathing.
“I am bound to thee forever.”
Othello – Act 3, Scene 3
He pledges himself to Iago, unknowingly binding himself to his destroyer.
“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.”
Othello – Act 3, Scene 3
He blames his race, social awkwardness and age for why Desdemona might turn from him.
“She’s gone. I am abused; and my relief must be to loathe her.”
Othello – Act 3, Scene 3
He decides hatred is the only way to cope with imagined betrayal, before any proof exists.
“I have no judgment in an honest face.”
Desdemona – Act 3, Scene 3
She trusts appearances, unaware that Iago’s “honest” face hides deceit.
“Villain, be sure thou prove my love a whore.”
Othello – Act 3, Scene 3
He demands proof from Iago, but will later act on insinuation and the handkerchief alone.