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Analysis of othello's soliquoy desdemona
Analysis of othello's soliquoy desdemona
The character analysis of Lady Macbeth
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At this point Desdemona seems to be an innocent woman without any knowledge, who does not even wish evil to those who do her meanness “if any such there be, heaven perdon [them]” (4.2.157). Emilia is the opposite of Desdemona, she has a good knowledge of how men are when they are jealous. He even assured that by the behavior of Othello something bad was behind all this, so he could called Desdemona a "whore".
Aligning with Anna Comnena’s overall bias, the details in The Alexiad harbor a great deal of disdain for crusaders. The East versus West mentality is evident in the narrative through Comnena’s description of the Crusaders. She uses the names “Celt” and “Norman()” as derogatory describing the Crusaders as uncultured and “riotous().” With Byzantine bias she singles out the Normans especially with respect to Nicea where they “behaved the most cruelly to all (251).” Alexius, himself is written to fear their “unstable and mobile character (248)” which reiterates battles against Normans earlier in his life.
middle of paper ... ... We also find out Emilia’s thoughts on men, and how she perceives them. She feels that ‘it is their husband’s faults if wives do fall’ which Desdemona simply replies by saying she will try to amend herself. All through the four acts, we see many sides of Desdemona. We start with a strong, brave woman, who stands up for what she believes what is right.
...illiam and thus “perished on the scaffold as a murderess” for a crime she did not commit. With Desdemona however, on one hand we could interpret her last words in act IV scene II of “nobody- myself – farewell” in response to Emilia’s question of “o, who hath done this deed?” upon finding her dying, as the words of a helpless and hapless victim giving into the patriarchal society – a common critical outlook of her, that she – or we may consider that it is her love for Othello, which leads her to cover him as a murder. The latter would imply that it is perhaps not the oppressive treatment of the patriarchal society that is influencing Desdemona’s reaction, yet the individual disposition of love. This in turn would suggest that Desdemona is actually a character in her own right and not an instrument used by Shakespeare to reveal the effects of a patriarchal society.
Shakespeare’s “Othello” categorizes multiple sins within this play. “Othello” has characters that represent specific sins of the Seven Deadly Sins. The characters, such as Iago, Roderigo, and Othello have sins such as envy, wrath, greed, and vanity that motivate them to commit acts of crimes. Iago is the root of all sins within this play, meaning he commits multiple sins. His envy and greed to become lieutenant motivates him to abandon his name of “honest Iago” and betray his own commander, Othello (Shakespeare). Roderigo is motivated through envy. His jealousy of Othello and Cassio cause Roderigo to become immersed within envy and driven to kill. Othello’s vanity stops him from believing Iago is a traitor and allows him to be tricked. His pride of his servants being completely honest betrays himself. This also drives his wrath onto killing his own wife. Sins such as envy, wrath, greed, and vanity manifest within these characters
Though her world was fall apart with Iago creating false images of an affair between her and Cassio to Othello, Desdemona strangely remains kind, innocent, and willing to grant grace. When Cassio approaches her for help, she quickly agrees to help her old friend. While she discusses relationships with Emilia, she rejects all thoughts of infidelity. She had every reason to fight Othello when Othello carries out her murder, yet she resist only a little, She responses, “The Lord have mercy on me…[and] mercy on you too” to Othello’s “Thou diest” (Othello 5.2.50; 71-74). When she is briefly revived and quested by Emilia as to who her murderer is, Desdemona only replies, “I myself” (Othello 5.2.152).
She is a caregiver. Emilia becomes close to young Desdemona. It could be implied that Emilia is a older than Desdemona, and not just because she is stated as “young Des”, but also because she is a bit naive. This is revealed when Emilia and Desdemona talking about women cheating on their husbands. Desdemona says, “I do not think there is any such woman.” With this she is trying to say that she doesn’t think any women would be capable or actually cheats on their husband. Emilia, then explains that many women do it and it's not their fault it’s their husbands. Emilia: “Yes, a dozen; and as many to th’ vantage as would store the world they play’d for. But I do think it is their husbands’ faults, If wives do fall.” In essence, Emilia is teaching young, naive Desdemona things she wouldn’t know if she didn’t have her. If she didn’t have a caregiver, and most importantly an important
Throughout the play Othello is convinced by Iago that Desdemona has had an affair with Cassio, when really Iago is trying to bring as much misery into Othello’s life as he possibly can. At one point Othello, Desdemona, and a few others are talking with Desdemona’s cousin and everything that Desdemona says helps to convince Othello that she is in love with Cassio. Eventually Othello gets mad enough and slaps her in which she reacts in a much different manner than most women of that time period would have. “Othello: I am glad to see you mad. Desdemona: Why, sweet Othello - Othello:Devil! [Strikes her.] Desdemona: I have not deserved this (4,1,217-220).” This is not the only time we see Desdemona tell Othello that he is wrong in his actions. Later, in act four, he calls her a “whore” and accuses her of sleeping around and rather than taking the heat and dealing with the verbal abuse Desdemona speaks out. “Othello:...Impudent strumpet! Desdemona: By heaven, you do me wrong! (4,2,81-82).” Desdemona tries throughout the rest of the play to convince Othello that she is faithful to him and loves him, but as hard much as she tries Othello does not believes any of it and ends up killing her. Shakespeare has made this very vocal female character to show women that even if they were to speak their mind and try to defend themselves no man would ever believe
Is there a such thing of unjust, and just laws? If these unjust laws actually exist, should one disobey these laws if unjust. These questions can be applied to Socrates, a wise philosopher, who is on death row, for disobeying the law in the novel “Five Dialogues”. revised by John M. Cooper. Socrates believes that if he broke an unjust law, then one should still be penalized for these actions, even if that law that is being broken is considered unjust. Socrates would rather die than to actually escape from his wrongdoing. Is Socrates theory of the situation infact not conclusive? In this paper, I will argue that Socrates’ argument of what is unjust and just is not persuasive, but he contradicts himself and his arguments, and one should not succumb
...woman, and her views far ahead of her time. She delivers a realistic woman, one that is her own person, and who does not define herself in terms of the men in her life. “[Her] feminist perspective allows Desdemona’s character to be aware of the Madonna-whore dichotomy that she has firmly rooted herself within.” (Guffey 2005). Professor Guffey of Purdue University states that Emilia’s wisdom, experience, and years contrasts Desdemona’s young and naïve, black and white views of the world, specifically of gender dynamics. It is clear that Emilia knows her duties as a wife and what is expected of her, but she also recognizes the many male/female contradictions and double standards present in their society and is less than pleased with them. The extremity of Emilia’s feminist ideologies is debatable, though her position as a sceptic in the play is well-established.
Iago controls Emilia and treats her as less when she does not act as a submissive wife. Therefore, Emilia follows to keep Iago satisfy. Further, Iago tells Emilia to steal the handkerchief; which she follows without knowing his intentions, to then be insulted by Iago calling her a “foolish wife” (3.3.313), and demanding her, “Go, leave me” (3.3.330). Apparently, Iago makes Emilia lesser, and she accepts her role as a submissive wife. Moreover, although Othello proclaims loving Desdemona, he perceives her as inferior as a result of jealousy. As in Act 5, Scene 2 where Othello says to Desdemona, “Down, strumpet!” (89), suggesting that he puts her in an inferior position to kill her reflecting his true perception of Desdemona. And likewise Emilia, Desdemona accepts the role of an obedient wife by using her last breath to take the fault off Othello
In Greek, Desdemona means ‘the unfortunate’, perhaps reflecting an ideology that she is not meant to be liked, merely pitied for her misfortune as a tragic victim (commonly defined as someone who dies due to the faults of others). Throughout Othello, Desdemona is presented as pure and innocent – in regards to this, Auden’s comment is unusual as Desdemona is seldom criticised; indeed many critics are complementary, giving her titles such as ‘gentle Desdemona’.
First, in order to defend Desdemona's chastity, Emilia challenges the societal norm of silence. Recall the incident when Othello calls Desdemona a "whore" for cheating. In response, Emilia protests loudly against Othello and attempts to disprove his belief that Desdemona is not chaste: "A halter pardon him [Othello]! And hell gnaw his bones! / Why should he call her [Desdemona] whore? (4.2. 143,144). Instead of Emilia conforming to the attribute of Renaissance women as silent, she condemns Othello for his false accusations against her mistress, Desdemona. Later in the play, after finding Desdemona killed, Emilia challenges silence again: "As ignorant as dirt! Thou hast done a deed-... / The Moor hath killed my mistress!" (5.2. 171,174). Although Othello tells Emilia that it would be "best" for her to remain silent, she ignores his request and ridicules him for killing "sweet" Desdemona (5.2. 169).
Iago did not stop only at 2 people that he used to get revenge on Othello, he continue using more object and this on object is easily for him to lead and control too, Emilia. Emilia is Desdemona’s lady in waiting or maid. She spends most of the time with Desdemona, so she knows and has insight about Desdemona’s personal life. Since Emilia is very close to Desdemona, of course it gives an advantage to the evil, Iago, which is Emilia’s husband. Emilia is also entrapped by Iago, although she does recognize that he is "wayward."
Desdemona's actions make it evident that the female characters in Othello are weak minded. Emilia allows herself to be abused by Iago, making her a weak woman. While she does have good intentions throughout parts of the play and is a kind hearted woman, she never defends herself to her diabolical husband. Iago constantly makes hateful and degrading insults towards Emilia. Come on, come on, come on.
It all started at the beginning when Iago said women are like “wildcats in your kitchens, saints in your injuries, devils being offended, players in your huswifery, and huswives in your bed.” (Act II, Scene I, line 122-125, pg 67) this reflects his villainy.This also tells us that Iago had no respect toward women. This may be the cause of why Iago used Desdemona as his revenge against Othello.Desdemona was only trying to help Cassio since she knew he was a decent man who was close with Othello. She was only trying to help as a friend but Iago used this as an opportunity in manipulating Othello into thinking she was in love with Cassio.Iago also got lucky when Emilia picked up the handkerchief that was accidently dropped by Desdemona, he used this as his key in adapting his plan in revenge. Desdemona was wrongfully accused by Othello but she was truly innocent and loving towards her husband. She could have fought Othello when he was suffocating her but she thought staying noble was the right thing to