Othello Quotes

Desdemona: I am hitherto your daughter: but here's my husband

I do perceive here a divided duty:
To you I am bound for life and education;
My life and education both do learn me
How to respect you; you are the lord of duty;
I am hitherto your daughter: but here’s my husband,
And so much duty as my mother show’d
To you, preferring you before her father,
So much I challenge that I may profess
Due to the Moor my lord.

– William Shakespeare

Othello, Act 1, Scene 3. Desdemona’s first words in the play introduce her as a supremely independent and articulate person. Her speech, before the Venetian Senate, father Brabantio and husband Othello, makes clear where her present loyalty lies. She speaks of her "divided" duty, voicing gratitude to her father for giving her a life and education while she was his daughter. But now she is married and her loyalty is to her husband, just as her mother’s duty was to her father. Desdemona shows great bravery here in the way she stands up to her father.

I here do give thee that with all my heart
Which, but thou hast already, with all my heart
I would keep from thee. For your sake, jewel,
I am glad at soul I have no other child:
For thy escape would teach me tyranny,
To hang clogs on them.

– William Shakespeare

Othello, Act 1, Scene 3. Reluctantly Brabantio gives his blessing to Othello on the marriage to his daughter. Brabantio doesn’t like it, but Desdemona has consented to Othello as her husband before the Duke and Senate of Venice. So Brabantio vents his anger over what he sees as his daughter’s betrayal. Showing disapproval of the marriage, he says that if he had other children he would lock them up to stop them making bad decisions. In a metaphor he refers to Desdemona as a "jewel." This would ordinarily be seen as a compliment from a father. But Brabantio has already spoken of his daughter as if she were a piece of property. So he is in effect bemoaning the loss of a prized possession, as well as a daughter.

To mourn a mischief that is past and gone
Is the next way to draw new mischief on.

– William Shakespeare

Othello, Act 1, Scene 3. In the dispute between Brabandio and son-in-law Othello over Othello’s elopement with Desdemona, the Duke of Venice offers this wise counsel. As the authority figure in Venice, he urges Brabantio not to hold onto a grudge. He cautions him that if you dwell on a wrong from the past you are just inviting more new wrongs to come along. Initially appearing to take Brabantio’s side, the Duke listens to both parties and is persuaded by Othello’s tale of how true and genuine love grew between him and Desdemona.

That I did love the Moor to live with him,
My downright violence and storm of fortunes
May trumpet to the world.

– William Shakespeare

Othello, Act 1, Scene 3. Desdemona portrays herself as a fiercely independent woman and breaker of social norms in this speech to the Senate. This is shown in her "downright violence" against custom by eloping with Othello and denying her father any say in her choice of husband. This passage shows the warrior in Desdemona taking her fortune by "storm" and asserting her right to be with the man she loves.

If I be left behind,
A moth of peace, and he go to the war,
The rites for which I love him are bereft me,
And I a heavy interim shall support
By his dear absence. Let me go with him.

– William Shakespeare

Othello, Act 1, Scene 3. Desdemona so loves Othello that she doesn’t want to be separated, even in war. Here she pleads with the Duke and his court to allow her to accompany Othello to Cyprus. In a metaphor she compares herself to a "moth of peace" if she is left behind. This demonstrates Desdemona’s strength of character, But just as moths fly towards light and flame, this also foreshadows how Desdemona is flying towards danger and death.

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.

If virtue no delighted beauty lack,
Your son-in-law is far more fair than black.

– William Shakespeare

Othello, Act 1, Scene 3. In this rhyming couplet the Duke of Venice imparts these words of wisdom to Brabantio, using color imagery and a double pun. The word black has a double meaning here, it refers to Othello’s skin color and also means ugly. The Duke is telling Brabantio that if virtue can be beautiful, then Othello is "fair" or beautiful. This of course is a backhanded compliment loaded with racial prejudice. It implies that others of Othello’s race are not virtuous like him and he is the exception.

Look to her, Moor, if thou hast eyes to see:
She has deceived her father, and may thee.

– William Shakespeare

Othello, Act 1, Scene 3. Brabantio warns Othello that Desdemona has deceived her father and will likely betray Othello as well. Brabantio is unfairly painting his daughter as a deceiver, and perpetuating the stereotype of women in general as deceivers of men. He is also planting a seed of doubt in Othello’s mind about his wife’s trustworthiness, foreshadowing later tragic events when Iago uses Brabantio’s words to persuade Othello that Desdemona is unfaithful to him.

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.

I will incontinently drown myself…It is silliness to live, when to live is torment, and then have we a prescription to die when death is our physician.

– William Shakespeare

Othello, Act 1, Scene 3. A despondent Roderigo is so obsessively in love with Desdemona that when he hears of her marriage to Othello he threatens to drown himself. He appear to have no other reason for living than Desdemona, now unattainable to him. A simpleton and weak character, this makes him ripe for Iago to manipulate and use to enact his plan for revenge against Othello. In this passage death is personified as a doctor.

Ere I would say, I would drown myself for the love of a guinea-hen, I would change my humanity with a baboon.

– William Shakespeare

Othello, Act 1, Scene 3. Love is a concept that is alien to Iago. This is seen in his cynical and misogynistic response to Roderigo, who has threatened suicide over Desdemona’s marriage to Othello. Iago uses crude animal imagery, saying that he would rather be a baboon than drown himself for the sake of a woman. Guinea hen in Shakespearean times was another term for a prostitute, which is how Iago sees women in general.

Virtue? A fig!…Our bodies are our gardens, to the which our wills are gardeners: so that if we will plant nettles, or sow lettuce, set hyssop and weed up thyme, supply it with one gender of herbs, or distract it with many, either to have it sterile with idleness, or manured with industry, why, the power and corrigible authority of this lies in our wills.

– William Shakespeare

Othello, Act 1, Scene 3. Iago is dismissive and disapproving of virtue. He doesn’t believe that the character qualities of a person are inherent. Using a garden metaphor, he explains that our will controls our emotions and behavior. He is giving advice to a lovelorn Roderigo, who thinks that suicide may be the solution to his unanswered love for Desdemona. In Iago’s speech on self-control, he is telling Roderigo that he has power over his emotions and not to let them get the better of him.

If the balance of our lives had not one scale of reason to poise another of sensuality, the blood and baseness of our natures would conduct us to most preposterous conclusions: but we have reason to cool our raging motions, our carnal stings, our unbitted lusts, whereof I take this that you call love to be a sect or scion.

– William Shakespeare

Othello, Act 1, Scene 3. Iago offers this cynical definition of love: it is simply an offshoot – "sect or scion" – of lust. He is responding to Roderigo’s threat of suicide over his unrequited love for Desdemona. He tells the depressed Roderigo that if we didn’t have reason, our passions and emotions would bring havoc to our lives. That is why we have reason to control our raging passions and impulses.

Come, be a man. Drown thyself! drown cats and blind puppies. I have professed me thy friend and I confess me knit to thy deserving with cables of perdurable toughness; I could never better stead thee than now. Put money in thy purse.

– William Shakespeare

Othello, Act 1, Scene 3. Iago appears to care for Roderigo and be his friend. He offers advice after Roderigo’s talk of drowning himself over his unrequited love for Desdemona. He urges Roderigo to be a man and says that drowning is for cats and blind puppies, not for a man like him. Iago in a metaphor compares their bond of friendship to indestructable cables that knit them together. He advises Roderigo to get some money and follow the army to Cyprus, forecasting that the love between Othello and Desdemona will not last long. The reality is that masterful manipulator Iago is using Roderigo as part of his plan to exact revenge on Othello and also to get Roderigo’s money for himself.

The food that to him now is as luscious as locusts, shall be to him shortly as bitter as coloquintida. She must change for youth: when she is sated with his body, she will find the error of her choice: she must have change, she must.

– William Shakespeare

Othello, Act 1, Scene 3. In a metaphor Iago compares Desdemona to food, and uses similes to say that while she is as delicious as locusts to Othello now she will soon taste like sour fruit to him. The unappealing fruit of the coloquintida plant was used as a purgative. Iago lets his misogynistic attitude show in his view of women as sexual food for consumption by men. He sees Othello and Desdemona’s love as merely lust, predicting that when she has had enough of his body she will seek a younger man.

Make all the money thou canst: if sanctimony and a frail vow betwixt an erring barbarian and a supersubtle Venetian not too hard for my wits and all the tribe of hell, thou shalt enjoy her; therefore make money.

– William Shakespeare

Othello, Act 1, Scene 3. Iago offers this advice to Roderigo on how to win Desdemona. He urges him to gather all the money he can so that he can effectively buy her. He uses racist language when he speaks of the frailty of the marriage vows between her and "barbarian" Othello. His sexist view of women as men’s sexual playthings is shown when he predicts that Roderigo will "enjoy her" – have sex with Desdemona. In this passage Iago identifies himself with "all the tribe of hell," practically admitting that he is demonic.

Thou art sure of me: – go, make money: – I have told thee often, and I re-tell thee again and again, I hate the Moor: my cause is hearted; thine hath no less reason. Let us be conjunctive in our revenge against him: if thou canst cuckold him, thou dost thyself a pleasure, me a sport. There are many events in the womb of time which will be delivered.

– William Shakespeare

Othello, Act 1, Scene 3. Iago responds to Roderigo’s question as to whether he can trust him. Assuring him that he can, he reiterates his hatred for Othello. Like a puppet master Iago pulls Roderigo’s strings to entice him to be his partner in crime in his revenge plot against Othello and Cassio. He grooms the weak and simple-minded Roderigo, luring him with promises of a future and sexual fulfillment with his heart’s desire Desdemona. In a metaphor, Iago compares time to a womb which will deliver these promises.

Thus do I ever make my fool my purse:
For I mine own gain’d knowledge should profane,
If I would time expend with such a snipe.
But for my sport and profit.

– William Shakespeare

Othello, Act 1, Scene 3. Soliloquies can reveal a lot about the character of the person who speaks them. In Iago’s first he sneeringly refers to Roderigo as a fool, having just convinced him to sell all his land, so Iago can further enrich himself. Using metaphors he compares Roderigo to "my purse" and "a snipe," admitting that he only spends time with this idiot to use him as a cash cow and for his amusement. Iago’s deceptive and treacherous nature is on full show here, as he manipulates Roderigo into handing over large sums of money, supposedly to purchase gifts for and win the affections of Desdemona, but instead it is pocketed by Iago.

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.

– William Shakespeare

Othello, Act 1, Scene 3. Iago has heard rumors that his wife Emilia has slept with Othello. This gives him the additional motivation to want to destroy Othello, who he hates and is intensely jealous of. However, there is no evidence that Emilia has been unfaithful to Iago. But Iago is by nature an insecure, bitter and suspicious person. In this soliloquy he admits to not knowing if the rumors are true, but intends to act as if they are and punish Othello anyway. Iago uses a metaphor to let us know what it is said Othello has been up to with Emilia – "’twixt my sheets He has done my office."

The Moor is of a free and open nature
That thinks men honest that but seem to be so,
And will as tenderly be led by th’ nose
As asses are.

– William Shakespeare

Othello, Act 1, Scene 3. In his first soliloquy, Iago reveals how he likes to take advantage of people’s good nature to use it against them. He admits that Othello is a trusting person who thinks that those who appear to be honest, like Iago, are indeed so. Iago declares his intention to use Othello’s gullible nature to manipulate him and he contemptuously compares him in a simile to an ass that can be led by the hose. Iago’s hatred of Othello is on full display here.
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