Othello Othello Quotes

Othello

Quote 34

OTHELLO
By heaven, I'll know thy thoughts.
IAGO
You cannot, if my heart were in your hand,
Nor shall not, whilst 'tis in my custody. (3.3.191-193)

Iago emphasizes that his real thoughts and feelings cannot be known by anyone—not Othello and not even the audience.

Othello

Quote 35

OTHELLO
Soft you. A word or two before you go.
I have done the state some service, and they
   know 't.
No more of that. I pray you, in your letters,
When you shall these unlucky deeds relate,
Speak of me as I am; nothing extenuate,
Nor set down aught in malice. Then must you speak
Of one that loved not wisely, but too well;
Of one not easily jealous, but being wrought,
Perplexed in the extreme; of one whose hand,
Like the base Judean, threw a pearl away
Richer than all his tribe; of one whose subdued
   eyes,
Albeit unused to the melting mood,
Drop tears as fast as the Arabian trees
Their medicinable gum. Set you down this.
And say besides, that in Aleppo once,
Where a malignant and a turbanned Turk
Beat a Venetian and traduced the state,
I took by the throat the circumcisèd dog,
And smote him, thus.                             He stabs himself.
(5.2.397-417)

Just before he commits suicide, Othello emphasizes his identity as a loyal soldier, which is how he wants to be remembered. At the same time, he also sees himself as a "malignant and a turban'd Turk" (a hated outsider and war opponent). By stabbing himself with the same sword he often used to kill enemy "Turks," Othello suggests that he sees himself as an enemy of the Venetian state.