Does Othello Love Desdemona

1000 Words2 Pages

Othello and Desdemona’s marriage was destined to be unsuccessful. There are plenty of reasons that made their marriage disastrous: the racial nature between Othello and Desdemona, his lack of a constant home, and Othello’s improper method of his courting. The main intention from Othello, he labels his wife, Desdemona who is superior to himself which prevents him from considering her a human. Othello makes himself believes that his skin color and race brands him as a contaminated person. The vision Othello perceives that Desdemona is a God. Her beauty, sex, race, and status makes her a Goddess in his vision. Othello’s delusion causes him to contemplate that Desdemona is an “Alabaster” (5.2.5) who will never respond to his affection towards her. …show more content…

The Alabaster’s surface is smooth and white which can illustrate the racial inferiority he feels towards the pure Desdemona. In the play, race plays a major role in Othello’s relationship with Desdemona. Shakespeare refers to Othello that is an upstanding citizen and loyal soldier who is still unfit to marry due to his race and physical appearance. There are several themes which reoccur when the characters in Othello who refer the Moor as a great black beast. He has been called racial slurs such as “Old black ram” (1.1.87) and a “Barbary Horse” (1.1.110). It gives a sense to the reader that Othello is animalistic, even though at the start of the play he is represented as sophisticated and civilized. The nasty talk towards Othello is a black-handed reminder that a Moor will always be a Moor. Shakespeare was moved towards in Aristotle’s definition of tragedy and molded a classical tragedy of Othello, even marking him as a black stranger (Bevington 63). Even with the rank and success, he had in his battles the constant inference of being called a beast could have caused him to believe it himself. It is obvious to Othello that Desdemona could not love an ugly black man like himself. With the constant doubt, it puts her

Open Document