This discussion is now closed.

Check out other Related discussions

What Quotes To Learn For Othello?

Thats my big problem at the moment. Othello is so full of good quotes but I have no idea which ones are the best to remember so that I could answer pretty much any question that could come up. So any suggestions would be a big help. I know the Iago "I am not what I am" is pretty classic but after that I'm stuck!! :confused:

So please help me out....

Reply 1

beach surf babe

OP

14

Anyone? Someone must have some suggestions surely :frown:

Reply 2

jonnyenglishguy

hmm. Surely the quotes you use will depend a bit on the question?! Generally anything from Iago's soliloquies would be good i would've thought....
Iago's animalistic language - "tupping your white ewe" "beast with two backs" or his lying: "I am an honest man" ----link to everyone else saying/thinking Iago is honest
and clever wordplay "lie...with her, on her, what you will"
Othello-- "nay there's more in this" giving in to Iago
"I'll tear her all to pieces" fully given in to Iago later on in the same scene and "foaming at mouth"

Othello is "much changed" and all this would "not (be) believed in Venice"

and don't forget the "green eyed monster"!
jonnyxx

Reply 3

pheephee

1

In class we were divided into 3 groups (i have a huge class of 6!) and we had to make a presentation based on the three main characters, and produce a handout, so we each made one that included a few pages of solid quotations, which is fab for revision, just suggest it to your teacher, i would.

Reply 4

buttons7

1

learn loads. go through each act and choose probably 15-20 quotes. you don't have to know them exactly, you can paraphrase and stuff, and you don't have to use them all, but if you have a good bank of information then you can answer any question you want.

here are some of the ones i vaguely remember from two and a half years ago (no idea about line breaks, though, but it doesn't matter cos you can usually make those up) :

"nay, lay thee down and roar, for thou hast killed the sweetest innocent that e'er did lift up eye"

"jealousy is the green eyed monster that doth mock the meat it feeds on"

"i would not my unhoused free condition, put into circumspection and confine, for all the seas worth"

"he loved not wisely but too well"

"if virtue no delighted beauty lack, your son-in-law is far more fair than black"

actually i can't remember any. oh well.

Reply 5

littlemissalex

13

i am not what i am!!! sorry i love that one!

Reply 6

Toscar

11

i dont remember the quote (did it last yr) but i think in either 3 III, or maybe 4 I Othello has a couplet in the middle of a speech which is the whole conundrum - " if i beleive him ,it means x, if i believe her, it means y" or something - i always thought that while maybe not pivotal, its the play in a nut shell.
Also, I ago's line , about " when he shock her, she liked him most or soemthing similar - it can lead down a really interesting path where Othello discovers his 'other' and comes to fully associate himself with it, eventually seeing himself as the enemy whom he smotes.

Reply 7

Introspecktive..

"Ha! I Like Not That!" or something similar... Basically the begining of Iago's plan taking action, as far back as I remember anyway.

Reply 8

beach surf babe

OP

14

Cheers everyone!! Thats a great help! I think I'll ask my teacher to give us a quotes lesson cos I reckon we'll need it... :smile:

Reply 9

_poptart_

2

As long as you choose quotes that represent the major themes/concerns of the play then you should be fine come exam time.
I cant remember the quotes I used sorry, it was a couple of years ago now... what exam board are you on? Do you have to use critics as well?

Reply 10

daveybaker

4

Do any of you guys reckon we could be asked about Iago and his use of solioqies?

I feel they are quite important for the play and Iago's character but my teacher feels it would be harsh and unlikly to be placed into our question.

Reply 11

girlgerms

daveybaker

Do any of you guys reckon we could be asked about Iago and his use of solioqies?

I feel they are quite important for the play and Iago's character but my teacher feels it would be harsh and unlikly to be placed into our question.

He seems to love telling the audience exactly what he is going to do next!

I think that sounds like a fair question, althougha tad tricky (I did my corusework on Othello, you see, no nasty exam!) but I think it would definately be worth doing a quick essay plan for.

Reply 12

tritogeneia1

1

How about the soliloquy that begins (or anyway contains...4 years ago now!!) ;Thus do I ever make my fool my purse..' and I think ends 'I hav't, it is engendered; hell and night/Must bring this monstrous birth to the world's light.' - where he's planning (partly). I think he also says in this one of Othello that 'It is said that twixt my sheets/He's done my office' but then goes on to say that this is not his real motivation - could be useful for tryhing to work out his motivation, if that's possible, or at any rate proving it's not sexual jealousy.

There's also the scene with Emilia and Desdemona that might be worth looking at, especially for Desdemona the drip's attitude (sorry, I don't like her, I think she's wet) - she thinks she is in the wrong, as she says 'Tell me, Emilia, dost thou think there be wives who do abuse their husbands in such gross kind?'.

Also Othello's speech when he's about to kill Desdemona (I like this speech, even if she is a drip who after it wakes up, sees him standing there saying he's about to kill her and says 'Talkst thou of killing, my lord?' instead of screaming for someone to come! I'm sure there's something to be said about that...). Othello's 'killing speech' is good for illustrating his attitude to her - he doesn't want to 'hurt' her - 'Yet I'll not shed her blood/Nor scar that whiter skin of hers than snow/ as smooth as monumental alabaster.', but he somehow thinks it is almost his divine duty - 'It is the cause, it is the cause, my soul/Let me not name it to you, you chaste stars/It is the cause.' But he also hesitates - (find others for this too) 'Put out the light, and then put out the light/If I quench thee, thou flaming minister/I can again thy former light restore/But put out thy light, and I know not wher is that Promethean heat that can thy... (damn, forgotten it)'

Anyway, hope that helps - there are lots more that I've forgotten, but surprised I've remembered even that much! I'm getting bored with my own work so decided to cone on here and quote Othello instead (ahh, something in English!).

Reply 13

beach surf babe

OP

14

poptart86

what exam board are you on? Do you have to use critics as well?

I'm doing AQA A and I don't think we have to use critics. We can use them if we want but its not a major part of it. Thanks again for your help everyone!! I was trying to figure out what kind of question we may be asked and I don't think it will be on Iago (famous last words!!!). I'm not sure what I want them to give us a question on as long as its not too difficult and evil. Iago would be quite a good question to get for me cos we've just done a practice essay on him. I've got a whole bunch of quotes now for various things which I'll post up here soon when I have time! :biggrin:

Reply 14

Squishee

I did Othello last year and I got a question about Desdemona's song 'sing willow, willow' and one on Othello in the final act.

The question on Othello was brilliant. My suggestion to you is to make a list of the themes and a list of the characters and do 2 key quotes for each. I did that and I got a B on the paper overall. My teacher assures me that my Othello answer was 1 off full marks but I was awful at Keats so that dragged it down.

Reply 15

Fluffysweetfries

18

Original post by beach surf babe

Thats my big problem at the moment. Othello is so full of good quotes but I have no idea which ones are the best to remember so that I could answer pretty much any question that could come up. So any suggestions would be a big help. I know the Iago "I am not what I am" is pretty classic but after that I'm stuck!! :confused:

So please help me out....

please can you say what grade you received? I know that this thread is old but I'm stuck on this too :frown:

i haven't been getting good grades either

What Quotes To Learn For Othello?

Related discussions

Articles for you