Othello and Desdemona's relationship

• How is their marriage described

  The language focuses on the unnatural aspects to present them as being outside the natural order
• Impact of race imagery

  Reinforces idea that Desdemona and Othello are an unnatural match
• 'Moor'

  • The derived from a term used for people of Muslim origins and is a derogatory term towards Othello. Used to specify him as an outsider. 
• ‘Moorship’


  Not a word of status, mocks Othello's status by implying that he does not deserve it due to race
• ‘An old black ram is tupping your white ewe’

  Using overtly sexual metaphors of him ‘tupping’ Brabantio’s ‘white ewe’ when referring to Othello puts primacy on his race which reflects the attitudes towards inter-racial marriages. The juxtaposition of black and white. The black sheep is a rarity, it mirrors Othello’s position as a black man in Venice. Black sheeps were often viewed as outcasts.
• ‘Is there not charms by which the property of youth and maidhood may be abused?’


  Brabantio's horror emerges from the thought of his daughter being with Othello who is presented as lustful and with a sinister sexuality. It robs Desdemona of her agency. 
• ‘a maid, so tender, fair, and happy’


  • Desdemona’s lexical field of innocence and purity. She is desexualised and has child-like innocence. This is in direct contrast to racial stereotypes and the accusations against Othello of dark magic. Brabantio’s issue is not necessarily with her lack of chastity, but rather the inter-racial relationship
  • Brabantio considers it impossible that she has chosen to marry Othello of her own free will
• ‘What a full fortune does thick lips owe’

  • shows the values of Elizabethan society. They believed that Othello does not deserve to be with Desdemona due to his race. It is based on racial stereotypes. Establishes the reason for jealousy as by societies standards, Iago should have more power
• ‘Thieves, thieves’


   racial stereotypes. Also establishes women as not having autonomy. They are pieces of property to be stolen.
• ‘The devil will make a grandsire of you’


  gives Brabantio a harsh ultimatum to stop the relationship or invite the devilm into his family. It compares Othello to the devil. Racial stereotype based on the idea that black people are descendants of the devil and not Christian. Implies that interracial marriage is unholy
• ‘My life upon her faith’

  foreshadowing as when Othello looses faith in Desdemona and her chastity, their relationship begins to collapse, resulting in both of their deaths.
• ‘My fair warrior’ ‘my dear Othello’


  Strong overtones of courtly love, where woman’s purity is idolised, placing emphasis on the fidelity and purity of wives in Renaissance literature
• ‘They kiss’


  symbol of connection
• ‘Sport for Jove’ ‘full of game’


  what Iago says about Desdemona
• Othello and Desdemona are discussing what to do about Cassio together. Although it is Othello’s decision alone since he is the Commander, he consults his wife, showing his positive attitude and genuine respect for Desdemona in contrast to society's beliefs about women having no rights.
• ‘But I do love thee! When I love thee not, chaos is come again’

  • Othello declares that he will be damned by the extremity of his love. Desdemona is essentially tasked with maintaining the sanity of her husband.
• ‘I have a pain upon my forehead here’


  Othello makes a reference to the cuckold’s horns growing from his forehead. Renaissance men often suspected their wives of adultery because of the stigma around being a "cuckold." A cuckolded man (a man whose wife is cheating on him) faced both social humiliation and ruined credit. Such harsh consequences led to frequent paranoia, also called horn-madness because of the metaphorical horns that supposedly sprout from the cuckold's brow.
• ‘I think my wife be honest, and think she is not’

  Part of a couplet. Othello admits to the nuanced nature of his trust in others. In this moment he cannot decide whether Desdemona is faithful and Iago dishonest, or if Desdemona is faithless and Iago honest. Shakespeare structures this phrase to encompass both realities
• ‘Thou hast set me on the rack'


  Othello compares the pain of Desdemona’s alleged adultery to the Medieval torture rack. Othello’s point is that knowing just “a little” about Desdemona’s adultery is the greatest torture of all.
• ‘I’ll tear her all to pieces!’

  exclamation shows the beginning of Othello’s loss of control and violent tendencies. The verb ‘tear’ is graphically vicious in regards to Desdemona.
• ‘Arise, black vengeance, from they hollow cell’


  Represents Othello’s descent into madness and is bubbling over his calm exterior. Echoes a spell like what Brabantio had said earlier.
• ‘Damn her, lewd minx’


  contrast to ‘my gentle Desdemona’. He damns her to hell. Shakespeare presents how jealousy propagates itself like a virus. Once a jealous thought has been planted, it uses everything it needs to support its hypothesis.

  Othello's passionate love for Desdemona is turning to passionate harted
• ‘Insatiable appetite’


  Desdemona is loosing her angelic image to Othello and is becoming a lustful ‘creature’. The jealousy is growing as like what Cassio said ‘You have lost no reputation at all unless you repute yourself such a loser’, she is loosing her image.
• Why is Othello corrupted by jealousy

  Othello’s judgement is being crowded and corrupted by jealousy, loosing site of his love for her and falling into Iago’s beliefs that it is in a woman’s nature to cheat
• ‘He falls down in a trance’

  Othello’s fainting indicates the extremity of his jealousy and rage overcoming him.
• Othello strikes Desdemona in Act 4, scene 1

  • Othello striking Desdemona reveals the attitudes of the time as the abuse was acceptable due to Desdemona’s alleged unfaithfulness 
• ‘Yet she must die, else she’ll betray more men’


  • Othello’s rationalisation, as in reality he is not concerned about betrayal of other men. He cannot stand the thought of Desdemona with ‘more men’ if they were to separate and he would have to allow her to have complete freedom with other lovers. He is being characterised as being governed by his emotions rather than reason. She has innocence and is the tragic victim. The phrase is horrific in its simplicity. He can extinguish human life as simply as a candle flame
• ‘Tho art to die’


  Othello’s simple declaration is chilling
• ‘He kisses her’


  emotional, it acts as a goodbye. It’s his eternal longing
• Body vs soul


  He will kill her mortal body, but not her soul. He won’t be responsible for damning her soul