... obviously upset by Cassio's injuries, but immediately responds to being called a strumpet. "I am no strumpet, but of life as honest as you thus abuse me (line 142)." Bianca is more honest than Emilia (who lied about the handkerchief that ultimately costs Desdemona her life), and Iago (who accused her of ... therefore do anything for him. But Cassio does not reciprocate Bianca's feelings. He states to Iago "Alas, poor rogue, I think i' faith she loves me." (4.1.128) Cassio essentially uses Bianca's love to his own means. He gets her to willingly do chores for him (e.g. copy the embroidery...

• Word Count: 4504
• Approx Pages: 18

... Yet with his lover, Bianca, a whore and a courtesan with no honour in the Elizabethan sense of the term, he uses imperatives such as "Take me this work out." and "Go to, woman". This may show that Cassio and Bianca are a more intimate couple than the others in the play ... , at least from a modern perspective, as pathetic, while from an Elizabethan audience's point of view she can be seen as an honourable character. Women like Hero were easily slandered as, in Elizabethan times, female sexuality was something feared by men. They were seen to have a dangerous power to tempt and seduce whi...

• Word Count: 4511
• Approx Pages: 18
• Grade Level: High School

... lodging lose this napkin And let him find it. Trifles light as air Are to the jealous confirmations strong As proofs of holy writ. This may do something. The Moor already changes with my poison- (Act 3, Scene 3, Line 322-326). Here Iago tells of how wife Emilia has picked up the ... what Iago has told him. Othello speaks to Desdemona using words with ambiguous meanings. While he is implying one thing, Desdemona thinks he is talking about something else. "This argues fruitfulness and liberal heart. Hot, hot, and moist." (Act 3, Scene 4, Line 34-35). Desdemona does not think much of ... O...

• Word Count: 2824
• Approx Pages: 11
• Grade Level: High School

... lodging lose this napkin And let him find it. Trifles light as air Are to the jealous confirmations strong As proofs of holy writ. This may do something. The Moor already changes with my poison- (Act 3, Scene 3, Line 322-326). Here Iago tells of how wife Emilia has picked up the ... what Iago has told him. Othello speaks to Desdemona using words with ambiguous meanings. While he is implying one thing, Desdemona thinks he is talking about something else. "This argues fruitfulness and liberal heart. Hot, hot, and moist." (Act 3, Scene 4, Line 34-35). Desdemona does not think much of ... O...

• Word Count: 2824
• Approx Pages: 11
• Grade Level: High School

... did not create those ideas, he merely manipulated and chanelled them. Othello describes Brabantios additude and friendliness towards him in this quote. Her father loved me, oft invited me, Still questioned me the story of my life From year to year-- the battles, sieges, fortunes, That I have passed. (1.3, ln 149-152) Brabantio enjoyed ... would not have gotten the impression that he loved him. As soon as Brabantio learns about Othellos secret he is outraged. His anger may have something to do with how Iago puts it to him, but the seeds of hate were already planted, Iago merely watered th...

• Word Count: 3763
• Approx Pages: 15
• Grade Level: High School

... having a fit. He must not be disturbed, for he will soon come to his senses. He asks Cassio to return shortly, for he has something important to tell him. Iago proceeds very cautiously. As soon as Othello revives, Iago tells him to hide behind the curtains and, from there, ... killed immediately. Iago promises to help him. He will undertake to murder Cassio that very night; Othello must strangle Desdemona in the very bed that she has defiled. Othello agrees. Lodovico and Gratiano, messengers from Venice, arrive, accompanied by Desdemona. Lodovico hands Othello a letter from the Duke with ...

• Word Count: 6585
• Approx Pages: 26
• Grade Level: High School

... first impression of Desdemona and creates a certain angelic' image of her in the audience's mind. In Act 1 Scene 3 Othello says he loves Desdemona for her pity, understanding and gentle admiration "She gave me for my pains a world of sighs-. These descriptions are given before the audience sees Desdemona and would leave them expecting a quiet, gentle wallflower. However, when Desdemona appears ... women's different views on men are contrasted, highlighting Desdemona's innocence, purity and virtue. Desdemona says she would never be unfaithful " No, by this heavenly light beshrew me if I ...

• Word Count: 2631
• Approx Pages: 11
• Grade Level: High School

... thief- and that he "Hast enchanted her!- [1.2.63-65], thus implying that for no other reasons would Desdemona have willingly fallen in love and married Othello. He claims "She is abused, stol'n from me, and corrupted By spells and medicines bought of mountebanks, For nature no preposterously to err, Being not deficient, blind, or lame of sense, Sans witchcraft could not."" [1.3.60 ... , assay. - there's one gone to the harbor? Iago: Ay, madam Des: I am not merry; but I do beguile The thing I am by seeming otherwise. - Come, how wouldst thou praise me? where she displays her wit. She has ...

• Word Count: 3595
• Approx Pages: 14
• Grade Level: High School

... his exotic qualities. Othello admits as much when he tells the duke about his friendship with Brabanzio. He says, "[Desdemona's] father loved me, oft invited me,/ Still questioned me the story of my life/ From year to year" (I.iii.127–129). Othello is also able to captivate his peers with ... I'll intermingle everything he does/ With Cassio's suit" (III.iii.27-30).  Though in most cases, her persistence for a cause would be a virtue, she makes the situation unspeakable worse by nagging Othello about Cassio. This also gives the reader a hint of how deep the relationship that exists be...

• Word Count: 2512
• Approx Pages: 10
• Grade Level: High School

... , "thick-lips' towards the Moor, Othello. Line 80 - Patriarchal Power The female in the patriarchal household is material under the authority of her father until she marries. Iago yells out "Thieves, thieves, thieves! Look to your house, your daughter, and your bags! " The daughter is grouped among the house and ... if he were to fight Othello. Line 65-71 - Brabantio Insults Othello "Whether a maid so tender, fair, and happy, so opposite to marriage that she shunned the wealthy curled darlings of our nation , would ever have, t'incur a general mock, run from her guardage to the sooty bos...

• Word Count: 3368
• Approx Pages: 13
• Grade Level: High School

... instance, when Tiresias wants not to tell Oedipus that he is the cause of the plague, Oedipus states, Oh I'll let loose, I have such fury in me-" and he proceeds to throw insult after insult at him. Later, Oedipus tells his wife that he killed a man where three roads met, because the old ... man himself were about to thrust me off the road -brute force- and the one shouldering me aside, the driver, I strike him in anger!" Even when Oedipus finds out he is the son of his wife and he ... when he is in a sticky situation. When Othello even slightly suspects his wife of cheating on him, Oth...

• Word Count: 3079
• Approx Pages: 12

... celebrates "the marriage of two minds" as embodied in Othello and Desdemona. They marry in spite of the protests of Desdemona's father, and she faithfully follows her husband wherever he is sent. Their romantic marriage, however, is ruined by the villainous machinations of Iago. Othello is eventually ... the evil he preaches and without external cause. Emilia understands that such jealousy is not a natural affliction but a self induced disease of the mind. She tells Desdemona, "Jealous persons are not ever jealous for the cause, but jealous for they are jealous. It is a monster begot upo...

• Word Count: 4125
• Approx Pages: 17
• Grade Level: High School

... not to mention humorously, in the following masterful passage written by Bernard Levin: "If you cannot understand my argument, and declare 'It's Greek to me', you are quoting Shakespeare; if you claim to be more sinned against than sinning, you are quoting Shakespeare; if you recall your salad days, you ... the devil his due - if the truth were known (for surely you have a tongue in your head) you are quoting Shakespeare; even if you bid me good riddance and send me packing, if you wish I were dead as a door-nail, if you think I am an eyesore, a laughing stock, the devil incarnate, a sto...

• Word Count: 3419
• Approx Pages: 14
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... its inability to realise that human ideals are only hindering life's potential fruits', and that he exploits such idealists simply because he can; as he says of Othello, "He holds me well; The better shall my purpose work on him-. This lack of trust in civilisation also emerges in another of his supposed motives, that of his wife's infidelity; in the ... of others on truthful elements. The fact that he is so ready to use Roderigo's racial prejudices as evidence to support his argument, such as in the phrase "If she had been blessed, she would never have loved the Moor-, demonstrates the...

• Word Count: 2807
• Approx Pages: 11
• Grade Level: Graduate

... a man, if nothing happens. Iago then remarks that if he were to give his wife a handkerchief, it would be hers to do as she wished with it. These persistent implications of Desdemona's unfaithfulness work Othello into an incoherent frenzy. He focuses obsessively on the handkerchief and keeps pumping Iago ... and allure with her adulterous actions. He suggests that he wi! ll poison his wife, but Iago advises him to strangle her in the bed that she contaminated through her infidelity. Iago also promises to arrange Cassio's death. Desdemona enters with Lodovico, who has come from Venice wi...

• Word Count: 2963
• Approx Pages: 12
• Grade Level: High School