What quotes are relevant to the losses in Othello?

Othello is filled with loss. Brabantio believes that he has lost his daughter Desdemona when she elopes with Othello. Iago provokes him by announcing at his window, “Your heart is burst, you have lost half your soul.” Brabantio is so unhappy about Desdemona choosing Othello over him, he dies: “pure grief / Shore his old thread in twain.”

In terms of relationships, Desdemona feels that she has lost her husband after he accuses her of...

Othello is filled with loss. Brabantio believes that he has lost his daughter Desdemona when she elopes with Othello. Iago provokes him by announcing at his window, “Your heart is burst, you have lost half your soul.” Brabantio is so unhappy about Desdemona choosing Othello over him, he dies: “pure grief / Shore his old thread in twain.”

In terms of relationships, Desdemona feels that she has lost her husband after he accuses her of infidelity, though she has no idea why: “by this light of heaven, / I know not how I lost him.” The rift between Cassio and Othello is also foreshadowed when Cassio loses “him on a dangerous sea.”

Another major theme is the loss of reputation. Cassio loses his reputation, “the immortal part of” himself, when he gets drunk, and Othello, who “wert once so good,” certainly loses his reputation when he abuses and murders Desdemona. Perhaps the handkerchief is a representation of all these losses: Othello becomes furious when Desdemona misplaces the handkerchief he gave her. To him it represents their relationship. When Iago puts it into Cassio’s hands, Othello believes the transference of the handkerchief represents the transference of Desdemona’s affections to Cassio.

Finally, there is the loss of life in Othello. Othello kills Desdemona, whose death is grieved by everyone, particularly Othello and Emilia. Othello says that he “Like the base Indian, threw a pearl away / Richer than all his tribe,” that pearl being Desdemona herself. As a result, Othello loses his will to live, “For, in [his] sense, 'tis happiness to die,” and commits suicide. Othello, Desdemona, Emilia, and Roderigo all suffer the ultimate loss: death.