“I will wear my heart upon my sleeve for daws to peck at. I am not what I am.”
Iago – Act 1, Scene 1
Iago calls honesty foolish and openly admits he survives by deceit.
“Even now, now, very now, an old black ram is tupping your white ewe.”
Iago – Act 1, Scene 1
Crude animal and racial imagery used to provoke Brabantio about Othello.
“She loved me for the dangers I had passed, and I loved her that she did pity them.”
Othello – Act 1, Scene 3
Othello explains their love as built on his stories and her compassion.
“The Moor, howbeit that I endure him not, is of a constant, loving, noble nature.”
Iago – Act 2, Scene 1
Even Iago admits Othello’s nobility, which makes his downfall more tragic.
“Oh that men should put an enemy in their mouths, to steal away their brains!”
Cassio – Act 2, Scene 3
Cassio regrets his drunkenness; the line suits addiction and self-destruction.
“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 devouring and mocking the person who feels it.
“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
Othello blames his race, manners and age for why Desdemona might reject him.
“They are all but stomachs, and we all but food. To eat us hungerly, and when they are full, they belch us.”
Emilia – Act 4, Scene 3
Emilia sums up male exploitation of women in a bitter image.
“Thy bed, lust-stain’d, shall with lust’s blood be spotted.”
Othello – Act 5, Scene 1
He imagines murder as a just punishment cleaning their marital bed.
“Put out the light, and then put out the light.”
Othello – Act 5, Scene 2
He links blowing out the candle with killing Desdemona.
“Then must you speak of one that loved not wisely but too well.”
Othello – Act 5, Scene 2
Othello’s self-judgment: his love was intense but disastrous.
“I have done the state some service.”
Othello – Act 5, Scene 2
He clings to his military service as the part of his life worth honouring.