In William Shakespeare’s “Othello”, Othello is a Venetian General who sails to Cyprus to fight the Turkish fleet. Before Othello goes to Cyprus, he secretly marries Desdemona, a young and beautiful Venetian girl by telling his war stories. Due to fate and Shakespeare’s use of assonance, it results in all the characters traveling to Cyprus. Othello and Desdemona leave Venice with the excitement of being a newlywed couple and plan to have their honeymoon in Cyprus. Othello’s love for Desdemona fails as his hamartia of jealousy and skepticalness causes his trust for Desdemona to break, as she is an inexperienced and young youth.
In chapter 3 scene 3 page 141 Iago accuses Desdemona of cheating on Othello with Cassio. Othello is in distress and in disbelief that she would do such a thing. This ends in Othello believing the lies and murdering his own wife when she was fully loyal to him. Desdemona never did anything wrong and only lied in order to save her own life. Her goal in her marriage was to live happily with her husband but Iago ruined that for his own selfish desires.
Desdemona is the perpetual dutiful wife to Othello, which fulfills feminist expectations of women as wives during this time period. Othello was written in the Elizabethan Era, so that means that Desdemona had to be the perfect wife that a Elizabethan wive would be. Desdemona had to obey the commands that was given to her. Desdemona can be viewed as submissive and oppressed.
In the tragedy of Othello, the protagonist Othello transforms from a loving husband to a paranoid shell of himself, tortured by delusions of infidelity. At the beginning of the play, Othello and his new bride, Desdemona are married despite their differences in age, race and background. Othello was initially accused of using “witchcraft” to lure Desdemona into marriage. After Desdemona assured her father before the senate that her loyalties are now divided between her father and her new husband and she was willingly embarking on this new chapter, he bestowed his blessing upon the couple.
It is also important to note that there are different types of jealousy at play in Othello for different characters-- Iago’s envy of Cassio is not in the same branch as Othello and Brabanzio’s watchfulness and ownership over Desdemona. Unfortunately, in the case of Othello, Desdemona’s class is often hidden as a source of jealousy, due to her innocent characterization and place as the long-suffering victim. However, it is still made evident to the audience that Desdemona is a valuable resource to be had. This is made to be even more of a problem when race is brought into the equation-- not only is Desdemona of a higher class than Othello, she is also of a higher ranking race as a white
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.
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”
Desdemona becomes too caught in her love for Othello to the point she lacks concern for her physical being, inevitably leading to her death. Another character that Shakespeare uses to show the importance of balance through his destruction was Iago. After realizing Othello promoted Cassio over himself, Iago, enraged, says, “But he, sir, had th' election and I, of whom his eyes had
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.
She went against her father’s will and chose to marry the Moor, Othello. The trust bond shared between Othello and Desdemona had been broken due to the lies that were being fed to him which ultimately led to the death of both their lives. In Shakespeare’s Othello, a wedding based on a lie,
Through everything with her dad and everyone’s disapproval Desdemona remained positive with all the hardships she went through and kept a good attitude. Another good thing she did was fulfilled her correct roles and duties such as being a good wife, helping others, and being faithful and loyal. At any moment Desdemona could have left Othello because all of the chaos she had to go through, but she didn’t, instead she stuck by his side through thick and thin. An example of this would be one of her final words to Othello “ And you have mercy on me too!
Desdemona, daughter to senator Brabantio has spurned the advances of eligible young Venetian men, but is captivated by Othello chiefly because of his harsh experiences. We first come
Iago’s manipulation has driven Othello insane, leading to Iago’s plans on his last night. Othello tells Iago to go get some poison to kill Desdemona, but Iago refuses and just tells him to strangle her in her bed (IV. I. 223-229). Iago’s manipulation has not only lead Othello to believe the rumor is true, but has lead him to kill his own wife as well. Iago even manipulates Othello to strangle her, which is a much personal and vengeful death than poison. All of this manipulation results in Desdemona’s death,
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.
