Act 3 — Othello — Eduqas GCSE English Literature C720
Eduqas GCSE English Literature · C720
Act 3
The plot, part by part
What you need to know
Desdemona's promise to plead for Cassio, the temptation scene in which Iago plants suspicion and Othello demands proof,
the handkerchief dropped by Desdemona and taken by Emilia for Iago, Othello's vow of revenge, and his questioning of Desdemona about the handkerchief.
Key quotations: 'Ha! I like not that', 'Do not doubt, Cassio, / But I will have my lord and you again / As friendly as you were', 'I am glad I have found this napkin', 'I nothing but to please his fantasy', 'Trifles light as air / Are to the jealous confirmations strong / As proofs of holy writ', 'The Moor already changes with my poison', 'Not poppy, nor mandragora, / Nor all the drowsy syrups of the world', 'Farewell the tranquil mind! farewell content!', 'Villain, be sure thou prove my love a whore, / Be sure of it; give me the ocular proof', 'Even so my bloody thoughts, with violent pace, / Shall ne'er look back', 'Now art thou my lieutenant', 'I am your own for ever', 'That handkerchief / Did an Egyptian to my mother give', 'there's magic in the web of it'.
Structure: the temptation scene at the centre of the play, in which one long scene takes Othello from trust to a vow of revenge, and the handkerchief passing from Desdemona to Emilia to Iago.
Form: Iago's hints, echoes and pauses, and Othello's verse growing more violent as he kneels to swear revenge with Iago kneeling beside him.
Context that helps a reading: the handkerchief as Othello's first gift to Desdemona, and a husband's honour bound up in his wife's faithfulness.
Eduqas's Shakespeare questions don't mark context: the extract question (15 marks) and the whole-play essay (20 marks, plus 5 for spelling, punctuation, vocabulary and sentence structures) both mark response and analysis of language, form and structure (AO1 and AO2). Use context only in a phrase that supports an interpretation, and say which question each worked paragraph practises.
