Lodovico Quotes

Is this the noble Moor whom our full senate
Call all in all sufficient? Is this the nature
Whom passion could not shake? whose solid virtue
The shot of accident, nor dart of chance,
Could neither graze nor pierce?

– William Shakespeare

Othello, Act 4, Scene 1. Lodovico arrives to Cyprus from Venice in utter disbelief at the change in Othello’s personality. The calm military leader Lodovico knew who didn’t break under pressure and was in control is not who appears before him now. The reality is that Othello has lost control, struck his wife in public and his speech is incoherent and rambling. Othello’s once noble reputation has been shattered.

O Spartan dog,
More fell than anguish, hunger, or the sea!
Look on the tragic loading of this bed;
This is thy work: the object poisons sight;
Let it be hid.

– William Shakespeare

Othello, Act 5, Scene 2. Lodovico addresses Iago and points to the tragic results of his jealous and poisonous manipulation and deception – the deaths of Desdemona, Othello and Emilia. In this pitiful scene, he vilifies Iago with a metaphor, comparing him to a bloodthirsty dog from the ancient Greek city state of Sparta. Spartan dogs were trained to hunt and kill, so Iago’s comparison to them highlights his inhumanity. Lodovico orders the bodies to be covered and hid from sight, as they are worse than pain, hunger and the stormy sea.

To you, lord governor,
Remains the censure of this hellish villain;
The time, the place, the torture: O, enforce it!
Myself will straight aboard: and to the state
This heavy act with heavy heart relate.

– William Shakespeare

Othello, Act 5, Scene 2. These last words by Lodovico to Cassio about the villain from hell Iago and his fate are the final lines of the tragedy. Cassio, now Governor of Cyprus, is given the task of punishing Iago for the crimes he has committed. Justice will finally be served on the character viewed by many as the worst of Shakespeare’s villains.
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