Othello Quotes with Explanations
Othello Act 1, Sc, 1 Quotes
"I am not what I am."
Speaker: Iago
Audience: Rodrigo
Explication: He is saying that he is not who he appears to be. "I have charged thee not not haunt about my doors."
Speaker: Brabantio
Audience: Rodrigo
Explication: Brabantio wants Rodrigo to leave. "Even now, now, very now, an old black ram / Is tupping your white ewe. Arise, arise! / Awake the snorting citizens with the bell, / Or else the devil will make a grandsire of you. / Arise, I say!"
Speaker: Iago
Audience: Brabantio
Explication: Iago is telling Brabantio that his daughter and Othello are having sex and that he needs to stop him. "I am one, sire, that comes to tell you your daugh- / ter and the Moor are now making the beast with / two backs."
Speaker: Iago
Audience: Brabantio
Explication: Iago is saying that Othello and Brabantio’s daughter are having sex. "This accident is not unlike my dream. / Belief of it oppresses me already."
Speaker: Brabantio
Audience: Iago and Rodrigo
Explication: He is saying that he dreamt of this and is worried it is true. Othello Act 1, Sc 2 Quotes
"You have been hotly called for."
Speaker: Cassio
Audience: Othello
Explication: The general’s want him and are anxious for him to get there. "Damned as thou art, thou hast enchanted her!"
Speaker: Brabantio
Audience: Othello
Explication: Othello has forced her, or tricked her. Othello Act 1, Sc 3 Quotes
"She loved me for the dangers I had passed,
And I loved her that she did pity them.
This only is the witchcraft I have used.
Here comes the lady. Let her witness it."
Speaker: Desdemona
Audience: Brabantio
Explication: But this man here is my husband now, and I owe him as much as my mother owed you, just as she preferred you to her own father. So I have to give my obedience to the Moor, my husband.
"And so much duty as my mother showed
To you, preferring you before her father,
So much I challenge that I may profess
Due to the Moor my
"I am not what I am."
Speaker: Iago
Audience: Rodrigo
Explication: He is saying that he is not who he appears to be. "I have charged thee not not haunt about my doors."
Speaker: Brabantio
Audience: Rodrigo
Explication: Brabantio wants Rodrigo to leave. "Even now, now, very now, an old black ram / Is tupping your white ewe. Arise, arise! / Awake the snorting citizens with the bell, / Or else the devil will make a grandsire of you. / Arise, I say!"
Speaker: Iago
Audience: Brabantio
Explication: Iago is telling Brabantio that his daughter and Othello are having sex and that he needs to stop him. "I am one, sire, that comes to tell you your daugh- / ter and the Moor are now making the beast with / two backs."
Speaker: Iago
Audience: Brabantio
Explication: Iago is saying that Othello and Brabantio’s daughter are having sex. "This accident is not unlike my dream. / Belief of it oppresses me already."
Speaker: Brabantio
Audience: Iago and Rodrigo
Explication: He is saying that he dreamt of this and is worried it is true. Othello Act 1, Sc 2 Quotes
"You have been hotly called for."
Speaker: Cassio
Audience: Othello
Explication: The general’s want him and are anxious for him to get there. "Damned as thou art, thou hast enchanted her!"
Speaker: Brabantio
Audience: Othello
Explication: Othello has forced her, or tricked her. Othello Act 1, Sc 3 Quotes
"She loved me for the dangers I had passed,
And I loved her that she did pity them.
This only is the witchcraft I have used.
Here comes the lady. Let her witness it."
Speaker: Desdemona
Audience: Brabantio
Explication: But this man here is my husband now, and I owe him as much as my mother owed you, just as she preferred you to her own father. So I have to give my obedience to the Moor, my husband.
"And so much duty as my mother showed
To you, preferring you before her father,
So much I challenge that I may profess
Due to the Moor my