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Character development of Othello
Essay on love in othello
Theme of jealousy in othello
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More handpicked essays just for you.
Character development of Othello
Essay on love in othello
Theme of jealousy in othello
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Desdemona married Othello causing Roderigo to become jealous. Roderigo had desired Desdemona. Lastly, Othello was jealous because he was convinced that his wife, Desdemona, was cheating on him with Cassio. Overall, through manipulation, jealousy leads to destruction.
Moreover, Shakespeare presents Desdemona as a celestial figure at the start of Act 3 scene 3, as to when Cassio regards her as being ‘Bounteous’, meaning generous or plentiful. However, the word is often associated with agriculture and because of this; the word could also arguably be linked with the Cornucopia, or horn of plenty, which in Greco-Roman mythology was a personification of the Earth. This makes Desdemona seem ethereal and thus Goddess-like. This is further emphasised as to when Cassio almost dehumanise himself by referring to himself in third-person: “Whatever shall become of Michael Cassio”, which in contrast to Desdemona’s previous Goddess-like appearance, makes him seem almost worthless. Similarly, ‘La Belle Dame Sans Merci’
Desdemona shows where her loyalty lies in this quote. At the start, Desdemona talks about her duty to her father, Brabantio, and how she is supposed to respect him above all others. Desdemona then turns it around by talking about how her mother showed more duty to Brabantio than her own father and Desdemona says that she will do the same. Desdemona proves her loyalty to Othello quite well. She chose her husband, the man she loved, over her own father.
Men depersonalised even their own wives in order for them to have felt justified to use them for personal benefits. One of the senators, a person of importance in society, says “Adieu brave Moor; use Desdemona well,” after Desdemona gained Brabantio’s permission to marry Othello. The word “use” shows that it would be customary to exploit and take advantage of women. Furthermore, after the marriage, Othello says “The purchase made… The profit’s yet to come.”
She was Desdemona's maid, a woman of practical intelligence and emotional resilience that played a great role and character. She follows Iago in wifely duty throughout, but during the play develops a strong loyalty to Desdemona and, at the end, denounces Iago's lies to defend Desdemona's reputation very well. She speaks disparagingly of men, but, until the last scene, she supports her husband when needed. When finally she sees the truth, Emilia abandons all loyalty to Iago and verbally attacks him for the villain he is. In response, he silences her by killing her.
The way these women act and conduct themselves is unquestionably related to the ideological expectations of Elizabethan and patriarchal society. Desdemona, Othello 's wife and Brabantio 's daughter, is represented as the ideal woman. So she would never be disloyal to her husband. On many occasions, Desdemona obeys her husband firmly and calls herself obedient even after Othello hits her. She was loving and loyal to Othello and wishes a long marriage of prosperity and commitment that would lead to her ultimate happiness.
Desdemona is a white, Venetian debutante that chooses to marry a black man, a Moor, over the wishes of her father. At the beginning of the play, merely six hours after being married, Desdemona’s father attempts to stop her from accompanying Othello on military duty. He relents when Desdemona pledges her allegiance to Othello by telling her father, “But here’s my husband, And so much duty as my mother showed to you, preferring you before her father, so much I challenge that I may profess due to the Moor my Lord”
Othello secretly marries Desdemona without telling anyone because he is afraid of the reactions he might get from the
Due to the fact that there is not a single relationship in Othello that demonstrates true friendship, the tragedy unfolds and results in all characters ' demise. This can be seen when Othello vilifies Desdemona for being a disastrous wife and says, "I will withdraw, To furnish me with some swift means of death, For the fair devil [Desdemona]. Now art thou my lieutenant" (3.3 543-545). As a result, this shows how arguably the most sacred friendship is not even true in between Othello and Desdemona. Othello is notably naive in this instance due to the fact that he puts his wife on death row based on the suspicion Iago planted.
Even after all the change they had gone throuhg, when he is about to kill her, the audience sees hints of what they used to have because it is the first time they are talking with the connection that they had. It is in this short episode before her death where it is shown that Desdemona truly knew who Othello was and that Othello just wants the best for Desdemona. “Some bloody passion shakes your very frame,” (V,ii. 53), Desdemona says this to Othello, which shows that she knew that there was something wrong with him and that it was his passion that ate him up. We see that he loves her and wants the best for her because he insists that she pray before he kills her because “[Othello] would not kill thy unprepared spirit,” (V,ii. 36). Othello is a different man and can no longer give her the love that she deserved.
In Othello, Othello and Desdemona are both characters that are struggling with their identities. In the beginning of the play we find Othello as a respectful man that is successful, but then we get Iago that manipulates him to make him seem as the bad guy. We also find Desdemona that turns against her father and the Elizabethan society to marry Othello, but we also find that she is respectful and obedient to Othello.
Shakespeare’s play, Othello, deeply explores the effects of jealousy on a person. Shakespeare also portrays the different types of jealousy and alludes to the causes of them. Othello is a tragic play written by William Shakespeare around 1603, about a man, Iago, who plots to take revenge on a Moorish soldier, Othello, for he has “done my (Iago’s) office”. The deaths of several people, including Othello’s wife Desdemona, Iago’s wife Emilia, Othello and Iago’s companion Roderigo, were all directly linked to Iago’s actions. Othello illustrates that jealousy often leads to revenge, jealousy can prevent a successful relationship, and jealousy leading to one’s downfall.
Othello believes his friend Lago over Desdemona his own wife. Instead of treating her fairly and the way she deserved he argues with her and ridicules her. Desdemona is a perfect example of a wife and Othello will not believe her because she is just a woman. Othello is easily convinced his wife is cheating and feels humiliated and therefore feels it is justified for him to smother her. When Othello states, “She turned to folly, and she was a whore” (5.2.134)
Olson, Rebecca. “ Too Gentle: Jealousy and Class in Othello.” Journal for Early Modern Cultural Studies, vol. 15, no. 1, 2015, pp. 3–25.
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the definition of err is: “to make a mistake.” Within Shakespeare’s Othello there are plentiful amounts of mistakes being made; the main of which being Othello’s doubts in his wife, Desdemona. Although it may seem that Othello’s err of murdering Desdemona is simply due to the fact Iago is giving Othello false clues of his wife’s ‘affair’ with one of his lieutenants, Cassio; it is actually caused by Othello’s tragic flaw: his lack of self-confidence. Othello states, once he begins doubting Desdemona’s honesty, “Haply, for I am black and have not those soft parts of conversation that chamberers have, or for I am declined into the vale of years […]”