Notesale: Turn your study into money

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'Will you think so?'
• Enter in conversation: emblematic of mutual dependence
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Othello echoes Iago's words three times, conveying Iago's power:
• 'Think so
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unauthorised kiss
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naked in bed?'
Othello is reduced to asking questions:
• 'What then?'
• 'May she give that?'
Effect of the handkerchief on Othello:
• Comes over his mind like 'the raven o'ver the infected house': ravens symbolise death, dark imagery
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Iago and Othello sharing iambic pentameter, just as Desdemona and Othello have done:
• Iago replacing Desdemona, ultimate power ('our captain's captain
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• Becomes at the mercy of his tortured imaginings ('noses, ears, and lips' become surrogate genitalia in
Othello's visualisation of Cassio and Desdemona's affair)
• The fit conveys Othello both literally and metaphorically at his lowest
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• Return to the physical: hits Desdemona, has a fit ('savage madness
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Iago's inhumane nature:
• 'Rub him about the temples' is Cassio's natural, human response (though ironic given that the fit was
caused by Othello's overwhelming reaction to being cuckolded
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'
• Malign reminder of Cassio's loss of rank when he addresses him as 'lieutenant
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Iago's control over other characters:
• 'Withdraw yourself' and Cassio leaves
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'
Noble Othello reduced to eaves dropping:
• Punctuates the conversation with comments that indicate his pressure of feeling and how he regards

Cassio as man who has humiliated him
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His atavism is also shown when he says 'I will chop her into messes
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• Everything of which Desdemona is accused
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• 'Nine years a killing
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O the world have not a sweeter
creature'; 'Hang her
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Desdemona's unwitting addition to Othello's anger:
• 'For the love I bear to Cassio'
• 'I am glad on't'
• Iago doesn't have to say anything at this point; Othello misinterprets things for himself
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• Atavistic; reduction of character
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• Physical turning point in the ruin of Othello's public image
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Lodovico as a symbol of Venetian society:
• 'This would not be believed in Venice': shock shows how far Othello has devolved
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(His
Iagoisation can also be seen when he exclaims 'goats and monkeys,' an echo of Iago's words: 'prime as
goats, as hot as monkeys
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'
• 'Lay down my soul at stake': foreshadows Emilia's death while defending Desdemona
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subtle whore'
• 'Some of your function, mistress': treats Emilia as if she were a brothel keeper
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Desdemona's obedience:
• 'Upon my knees': subservient, image of vulnerability
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• 'Am I that name': cannot even say the word 'whore,' let alone be one
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'
• 'Let nobody blame him, his scorn I approve - nay, that's not next
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dries up'; 'cistern for foul toads': juxtaposes to initial imagery
of love as great as waves 'Olympus high
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• Speech to Desdemona infected by imagery: 'summer flies are in the shambles'; 'weed
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Othello's complete change:
• 'I took you for that cunning whore of Venice/that married Othello': notable third person shows separation
from himself (or, alternatively, his pain at his cuckoldry
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Desdemona's soliloquy:
• Only three lines, no voice
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