SparkNotes: Othello: Quiz

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1. What pattern is embroidered on the handkerchief?

(A) Strawberries

(B) Dots

(D) Daggers

2. How is the Turkish fleet thwarted?

(A) In battle with Othello’s fleet

(B) By a storm

(D) In battle with ships from Rhodes

3. What rank does Cassio hold before Othello strips it from him?

(A) Corporal

(B) Private

(D) Colonel

4. Which of the following animal epithets is not applied to Othello during the play?

(A) Ram

(B) Horse

(D) Ass

5. How old is Iago?

(A) Thirty-five

(B) Nineteen

(D) Fifty

6. What is “the beast with two backs”?

(A) A mutant horse

(B) Othello

(D) Conjoined twins

7. What is Brabanzio’s position in Venice?

(A) Senator

(B) Duke

(D) Stable-hand

8. Where does Iago tell Roderigo that Othello and Desdemona are sailing to from Cyprus?

(A) Morocco

(B) America

(D) Mauritania

9. Who made the handkerchief that Othello inherited from his mother?

(A) Barbary

(B) Othello’s mother

(D) A sibyl, or female prophet

10. What first attracted Desdemona to Othello?

(A) His strong hands

(B) His beautifully crafted armor

(D) The stories he told about his past

11. What rank does Iago begrudgingly hold?

(A) Colonel

(B) Sergeant

(D) Captain

12. From whom did Desdemona first hear the “song of ‘Willow’”?

(A) Othello

(B) Her mother’s maid, Barbary

(D) Emilia

13. Which of the following epithets is most commonly applied to Iago throughout the play?

(A) “Honest”

(B) “Fat”

(D) “Ugly”

14. Whose death does Graziano report in the final scene?

(A) The duke’s

(B) Lodovico’s

(D) Brabanzio’s

15. Which of Cassio’s weaknesses does Iago exploit?

(A) His inability to ride a horse

(B) A low tolerance for alcohol

(D) A short attention span

16. Whom does Iago refer to as the true general?

(A) The duke

(B) Brabanzio

(D) Lodovico

17. How does Othello kill Desdemona?

(A) He stabs her

(B) He smothers her

(D) He beats her to death

18. What, according to Iago, is the “green-eyed monster”?

(A) Envy

(B) Greed

(D) Jealousy

19. Whom does Cassio wound in the drunken brawl of Act II, scene iii?

(A) Roderigo

(B) Iago

(D) Graziano

20. With whom does Cassio dine the night he is stabbed?

(A) Othello

(B) Lodovico

(D) Bianca

21. What is Othello holding as he stands over the sleeping Desdemona?

(A) A light

(B) A sword

(D) A pillow

22. Who is the first character to refer to Othello by name?

(A) The duke

(B) Iago

(D) Desdemona

23. According to Lodovico’s letter, who is to replace Othello as governor of Cyprus?

(A) Montano

(B) Cassio

(D) Lodovico

24. On the night of her death, what does Desdemona ask Emilia to do?

(A) Put ribbons in Desdemona’s hair

(B) Sing Desdemona to sleep

(D) Embroider Desdemona a new handkerchief

25. What does Iago counsel Roderigo to do?

(A) “Put seeds in thy garden”

(B) “Put money in thy purse”

(D) “Put thy head upon my shoulder”