Othello Character Quotes

But that I love the gentle Desdemona,
I would not my unhoused free condition
Put into circumscription and confine
For the sea’s worth.

– William Shakespeare

Othello, Act 1, Scene 2. After Iago tells Othello that Brabantio may try to divorce him and Desdemona, Othello declares his deep love for Brabantio’s daughter. In a metaphor Othello compares the value of his freedom as a single man and love for Desdemona to all the treasures of the sea. He would not have given up this freedom for the sea’s riches, except that he loves Desdemona, he says.

Keep up your bright swords, for the dew will rust them.
Good signior, you shall more command with years
Than with your weapons.

– William Shakespeare

Othello, Act 1, Scene 2. Othello cuts a dignified and authoritative figure when faced with the threat of violence by an armed Brabantio and his men. The experienced general manages to lower the temperature with calming words. He tactfully reminds the Senator that he is old, adding that his years command more respect than his weapons. It is ironic that a military general, skilled at warfare and fighting, is the one to bring peace to a potentially violent situation.

Valiant Othello, we must straight employ you
Against the general enemy Ottoman.

– William Shakespeare

Othello, Act 1, Scene 3. The Duke of Venice greets Othello warmly here, commenting on his bravery and his value to Venice and its people. The Duke’s appointment of Othello to lead the army in Cyprus to fight the invading Turks indicates the great respect in which the Moor is held. This is in contrast to other characters like Iago and Brabantio who use racist and offensive language to describe Othello.

Rude am I in my speech,
And little bless’d with the soft phrase of peace.

– William Shakespeare

Othello, Act 1, Scene 3. Othello speaks with modesty and humility before the Duke of Venice and Senators meeting in council. He confesses to not being very good with words, since he was a soldier from the age of seven and associates himself with the roughness of war. However, his words turn out to be ironic, because before the council Othello proves to be a good speaker who defends with eloquence his marriage to Desdemona.

I will a round unvarnish’d tale deliver
Of my whole course of love; what drugs, what charms,
What conjuration and what mighty magic,
For such proceeding I am charged withal,
I won his daughter.

– William Shakespeare

Othello, Act 1, Scene 3. Othello is being ironic when announcing to the Duke and council that he will tell them the drugs, charms and powerful magic he used to win Desdemona’s love. He is saying that he used no witchcraft, as charged by Desdemona’s father, but they simply fell in love.

I do beseech you,
Send for the lady to the Sagittary,
And let her speak of me before her father:
If you do find me foul in her report,
The trust, the office I do hold of you,
Not only take away, but let your sentence
Even fall upon my life.

– William Shakespeare

Othello, Act 1, Scene 3. Othello, taken before the Duke and Senators for questioning, stakes his life on Desdemona’s love for him. He asks that she be sent for to address her father’s charge that she was seduced by Othello’s witchcraft. If she speaks badly of him, Othello invites the Duke to take away his office and even sentence him to death. Othello puts his life on the line here, confident that Desdemona will provide proof that her father’s allegation is false.

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.

– William Shakespeare

Othello, Act 1, Scene 3. Brabantio views Othello as someone who has bewitched his daughter using magic spells, but Brabantio didn’t always have this hostile opinion of the Moor. Othello recounts how Brabantio once had a strong love for him and was admiring of his soldierly reputation and the battles and sieges he fought in.

Wherein I spake of most disastrous chances,
Of moving accidents by flood and field,
Of hair-breadth ‘scapes i’ the imminent deadly breach,
Of being taken by the insolent foe
And sold to slavery, of my redemption thence
And portance in my travels’ history.

– William Shakespeare

Othello, Act 1, Scene 3. For a man who claims to be not a good speaker, Othello’s strong rhetoric is in full flow when he defends himself before the Duke and council. A man with the gift of storytelling, he reveals how he recounted to Desdemona and her father the exotic details of his adventurous life, including daring escapes and how he was sold into slavery and got his freedom back.

She’d come again, and with a greedy ear
Devour up my discourse.

– William Shakespeare

Othello, Act 1, Scene 3. Othello tells how Desdemona fell in love with him through listening to his dramatic tales of derring-do and distant adventures as a fearless soldier. The description of Desdemona’s ear as "greedy" is an example of personification. The use of animalistic words like "greedy" and "devour" paint a picture of Desdemona as a passionate woman of sexual desires, in contrast to the demure and chase image her father has portrayed of her.

I did consent,
And often did beguile her of her tears,
When I did speak of some distressful stroke
That my youth suffer’d. 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:
She wish’d she had not heard it, yet she wish’d
That heaven had made her such a man: she thank’d me,
And bade me, if I had a friend that loved her,
I should but teach him how to tell my story.
And that would woo her.

– William Shakespeare

Othello, Act 1, Scene 3. Othello tells the Duke of Venice and Brabantio the story of how Desdemona fell in love with him. On hearing his harrowing and exotic tales of an adventurous youth, it was the brave Othello’s suffering that won her heart. Desdemona’s compassionate nature is revealed here, also that it was Desdemona who fell in love with Othello first.

So please your grace, my ancient;
A man he is of honesty and trust:
To his conveyance I assign my wife,
With what else needful your good grace shall think
To be sent after me.

– William Shakespeare

Othello, Act 1, Scene 3. When the Duke of Venice asks Othello to go to Cyprus to defend it from a Turkish invasion, Othello entrusts Desdemona to the care of Iago who will follow in another ship with whatever Othello needs for the journey. Othello believes Iago to be honest and true, but in reality Iago hates him and is plotting against him. This is dramatic irony, since the audience is aware of Iago’s real feelings towards Othello.

My life upon her faith!

– William Shakespeare

Othello, Act 1, Scene 3. Othello’s answer to Brabantio’s warning that Desdemona may deceive him is filled with irony and double meaning. Swearing his complete trust in Desdemona, he says he would bet his life upon her faith. But it is Othello’s own faith in Desdemona that is later questionable, when he believes the lies about her infidelity drip-fed to him by the duplicitous deceiver Iago. It is Othello’s lack of faith that prompts him to kill Desdemona. When Othello realizes that she has been faithful all along, he kills himself, literally giving his life for what he believes was her lack of faith. Othello’s statement also draws attention to the duplicity of language and of character in the play, the greatest example of this being Iago. There is also foreshadowing in Othello’s words, which turn out to be strangely and tragically prophetic.

If after every tempest come such calms,
May the winds blow till they have waken’d death!
And let the labouring bark climb hills of seas
Olympus-high and duck again as low
As hell’s from heaven!

– William Shakespeare

Othello, Act 2, Scene 1. After passing through a violent storm Othello lands in the port of Cyprus for a joyful reunion with with beloved Desdemona. He uses metaphorical imagery to convey the great happiness she brings to him. She is his calm after the storm. This is the high point of their love and happiness.

If it were now to die,
‘Twere now to be most happy; for, I fear,
My soul hath her content so absolute
That not another comfort like to this
Succeeds in unknown fate.

– William Shakespeare

Othello, Act 2, Scene 1. An overjoyed Othello meets up with Desdemona after surviving the sea storm off Cyprus. He describes it as the happiest he has ever been and will ever be. If he were to die now, it would be at the most joyful moment of his life, he says. This shows the intensity of the love between the two. But there is tragic irony in Othello’s words, for they never will be this happy again as that love comes under strain. Foreshadowed is how their love will be tested to breaking point by Othello’s jealousy and Iago’s manipulations, leading to a horrific fate for both.
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