quotes, notes, timelines & more

Home » Shakespeare's Works » Elements » Characters » Iago

Iago

Othello

The Forms of Things Unknown

Read the Note

For all the power of his poetry, volume of his vocabulary and sheer prolific output, Shakespeare seemed intent on telling us that we cannot know, truly know, what we most want to know, or even think we already know. We know this on several levels.

We’re frustrated enough that he left no correspondence, no diary, no memoir, no hand-written manuscripts.
… continue reading this note

Iago and Ulysses on Order and Degree

Read the Note

Ulysses and Iago express similar themes about order and degree. Iago speaks more specifically about seniority versus affections and recommendations.
… continue reading this note

Keeping Adultery Hidden

Read the Note

In comedy or tragedy, Shakespeare’s characters advise the prudence of spouses keeping their dalliances hidden. In Comedy of Errors, Luciana advises Antipholus of Syracuse, who she thinks is her brother-in-lawto conceal from his presumed wife Adriana, Luciana’s sister, his apparent infidelity. Iago’s observation about the adulteries of Venetian women in Othello, is similar.
… continue reading this note

Tush, never tell me! I take it much unkindly

Read the Quote

Roderigo
Tush, never tell me! I take it much unkindly
That thou, Iago, who hast had my purse
As if the strings were thine, shouldst know of this.
Iago
’Sblood, but you’ll not hear me!
If ever I did dream of such a matter,
Abhor me.
Roderigo
Thou toldst me thou didst hold him in thy hate.
… continue reading this quote

Zounds,  sir, you’re robbed

Read the Quote

Iago
Zounds,  sir, you’re robbed. For shame, put on your gown!
Your heart is burst. You have lost half your soul.
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!
… continue reading this quote

Source:
Act 1
Scene 1
Line 94

Source Type:

Spoken by:
, ,

I will incontinently drown myself

Read the Quote

Roderigo
I will incontinently drown myself.
Iago
If thou dost, I shall never love thee after. Why,
thou silly gentleman!
Roderigo
It is silliness to live, when to live is torment,
and then have we a prescription to die when death is
our physician.
Iago
O, villainous!
… continue reading this quote

Source:
Act 1
Scene 3
Line 347

Source Type:

Spoken by:
,

Thus do I ever make my fool my purse

Read the Quote

Thus do I ever make my fool my purse.
For I mine own gained knowledge should profane
If I would time expend with such a snipe
But for my sport and profit. I hate the Moor,
And it is thought abroad that ‘twixt my sheets
‘Has done my office. I know not if ‘t be true,
But I, for mere suspicion in that kind,
… continue reading this quote

Source:
Act 1
Scene 3
Line 426

Source Type:

Spoken by:

What wouldst write of me if thou shouldst praise me?

Read the Quote

Desdemona
What wouldst write of me if thou shouldst praise me?
Iago
O, gentle lady, do not put me to ‘t,
For I am nothing if not critical.
Desdemona
Come on, assay.—There’s one gone to the harbor?
Iago
Ay, madam.
Desdemona, aside
I am not merry,
… continue reading this quote

Source:
Act 2
Scene 1
Line 131

Source Type:

Spoken by:
, , ,

O, my fair warrior!

Read the Quote

Othello
O, my fair warrior!
Desdemona
My dear Othello!
Othello
It gives me wonder great as my content
To see you here before me. O my soul’s joy!
If after every tempest come such calms,
May the winds blow till they have wakened death,
And let the laboring bark climb hills of seas
Olympus high,
… continue reading this quote

Source:
Act 2
Scene 1
Line 197

Source Type:

Spoken by:
, ,

Come hither.  If thou be’st valiant

Read the Quote

Iago
Come hither. If
thou be’st valiant—as they say base men being in
love have then a nobility in their natures more than
is native to them—list me. The Lieutenant tonight
watches on the court of guard. First, I must tell thee
this: Desdemona is directly in love with him.
Roderigo
With him?
… continue reading this quote

Source:
Act 2
Scene 1
Line 235

Source Type:

Spoken by:
,

That Cassio loves her, I do well believe ‘t

Read the Quote

That Cassio loves her, I do well believe ‘t.
That she loves him, ’tis apt and of great credit.
The Moor, howbeit that I endure him not,
Is of a constant, loving, noble nature,
And I dare think he’ll prove to Desdemona
A most dear husband. Now, I do love her too,
Not out of absolute lust (though peradventure
I stand accountant for as great a sin)
But partly led to diet my revenge
For that I do suspect the lusty Moor
Hath leaped into my seat—the thought whereof
Doth,
… continue reading this quote

Source:
Act 2
Scene 1
Line 308

Source Type:

Spoken by:

Though other things grow fair against the sun

Read the Quote

Though other things grow fair against the sun,
Yet fruits that blossom first will first be ripe.
… continue reading this quote

Source:
Act 2
Scene 3

Source Type:

Spoken by:

Themes:

What wound did ever heal but by degrees?

Read the Quote

What wound did ever heal but by degrees?
… continue reading this quote

Source:
Act 2
Scene 3

Source Type:

Spoken by: