Appearance vs. reality

Quote	Act/Scene	Analysis
“I am not what I am” (Iago)	Act 1 Scene 1	Oxymoron; biblical allusion (Exodus and the Devil being deceiving)
“Thou has practised on her with foul charms” (Brabantio)	Act 1 Scene 2	Characterisation; presumption
“With as little web as this / will I ensnare as great a fly as Cassio” (Iago)	Act 2 Scene 1	Metaphor; animal imagery; motif of predator/ prey relationship
“good Iago” and “honest Iago” (Desdemona, Cassio, Othello)	Throughout the play	Paradoxical if his actions are compared to his false façade of friendship; epithets talking of Iago in a better light than he deserves
“As I am an honest man” (Iago)	Act 2 Scene 3	Dramatic irony
“Turn virtue into pitch” (Iago)	Act 2 Scene 3	Soliloquy; motif of blackness; associations with evil and corrupting purity
“Men should be what they seem” (Iago)	Act 3 Scene 3	Irony; deception
“She loved thee cruel Moor” (Emilia)	Act 5 Scene 2	Revelation in the denouement

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