The society in which Othello takes place is a patriarchal one, where men had complete control over women. They were seen as possessions rather than being just as equally human and capable of duties performed by men. All women of the Elizabethan were to obey all men, fathers, brothers, husbands, etc. Which leads me to the most reliable and trustworthy character of Desdemona, whom goes through many trials just to satisfy her love. Shakespeare brings the thought of Desdemona into the play by Barbantio, her father, “It is too true an evil. Gone she is....Oh, she deceives me Past thought! …” (1.1.163)(1.1.168-169), whom has just found she has taken off with Othello and firstly suspects they have been hitched. Shakespeare gives reader the impression Desdemona is a devious imp full of disrespect towards her father. However, surpassing normal tradition of asking of her fathers’ permission to wed, Desdemona ran off and did marry the moor. This in a sense was her emancipation of her father’s possessiveness and oblivion of Othello’s dominance over her. Othello replies to Barbantio’s accusation, sedating or using black magic on his daughter, by saying, “My very noble and approved good masters, That I have ta’en away this old man’s daughter. It is most true.” (1.3.79-81), which brings me to the claim that Desdemona’s character in this tragedy, was only to become and to serve as Othello’s private possession rather than a typical beloved daughter or wife as in modern time. Shakespeare bases this tragedy on the foundation of Desdemona’s character by the symbol of the discrimination of women in the Shakespearean time era. Desdemona even for the first and only time within the play stands up and challenges her inferiority under her father’s aut...
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...irl she always, throughout the end of the play, tends to bow down to her lord with no opposition showing the claim of her character being nothing more than an object for the men in the play to use as a slave with no pay as well as a consistent source of sexual desires.
Even on her death bed, Desdemona’s character of an inanimate object belonging to Othello is carried on. It is lead on by Emilia’s question of “who hath done this deed” (5.2.137) referring to Desdemona’s death and her reply, “Nobody. I myself. Farewell. Commend me to my kind lord. Oh, farewell!”(5.2.138-139), overall putting the responsibility of her death upon herself. Leaving the readers impression of Desdemona as one filled with sympathy and rage against her unwillingness to fight her independence as well as against the men of this time period for not realizing the importance of such a woman.
I’ll make thee an example” Only because Desdemona has been awaken he will do harm. Desdemona is shown in many different ways in this scene; Iago’s many faces has different opinions of Desdemona; one of sexual desire, one of hate, one of friendlyness. Othello is deeply in love with her and sees nothing but joy and innocence. Cassio only sees goodness and compliments her in every possible way. Desdemona herself is a young woman but brave, strong and witty; her presence in Cyprus and leaving her father and marrying in secret all show her brave and less innocent side.
Actions and events that are happening around a character often contribute to the decisions that they make. Desdemona tries to talk to Othello about giving Cassio his lieutenant position back but she keeps asking " But shall ’t be shortly?" (Shakespeare 3.3.56) and badgering Othello. This causes Othello to become exasperated with her and need some time alone. Desdemona is increasing Othello's suspicion that she is cheating on him by talking to Cassio and only talking about Cassio. Othello is most certainly not going to give Cassio his position back because he think Cassio is untrustworthy and a cheater. In The Other Wes Moore, Tony's actions contributed to many of the other Wes Moore's actions and decisions. One of the first actions Tony had
Regardless of the status of women, Desdemona demonstrates independence and maturity. She makes her own decision to marry Othello without her father’s permission. When her father, Brabantio, discovers of the wedlock of her and Othello, she defends her decision by saying, “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” (I, 3, 213-218). Desdemona does not just succeed in defending her decision, but she exhibits her independence from her father and that he cannot restrict her from marrying Othello. In addition to her independence, her maturity is shown by the fact that she has no racial prejudice. This level of racial tolerance she displays differs from the insults to Othello from Iago and Rodrigo, as well as the subconscious bias of the rest of the characters. While explaining her love for Othello to her father, Desdemona explains that she “saw Othello’s visage in his mind” (I, 3, ...
Othello is a play that asks us to examine the position of women in society. This play explores issues such as clandestine marriage, accusations of adultery, and it includes three different social classes of women. First, we have Desdemona, this is a woman from a noble family in Venice and has the least amount of freedom. Her behavior was watched very carefully. The perception of Desdemona is created by the language that other characters use to describe her. In Act 2, Scene 1, Cassio refers to Desdemona as ‘a maid/That paragons description and wild fame’; that she
Within Shakespeare’s Othello there is an analysis into the context of the female. Brabantio’s rhyming couplet “Look to her, Moor, If thou hast eyes to see/ She has deceived her father, and may thee,” demonstrates his domineering and patronising attitude, as the Elizabethan era was a patriarchal society and the role of the female was to be ‘obedient’ to their father or husband. Brabantio also endeavours into placing a seed of doubt in Othello’s mind as a result of his jealousy. Consequentially Brabantio objectifies Desdemona when he states, “Where has thou stow’d my daughter?” exemplifying how he deems her as a possession, which can be stolen like any other. Othello prolongs this objectification through asserting that he “won his daughter” portraying Desdemona as a prize to be won, and a possession to be owned and argued over by husband and father. Desdemona is depicted early on in the play as the “angel” wi...
These lines are the first hint given that Desdemona may not have always been completely captivated by her husband. These words, not denied by Othello, sit in contrast to his own. Upon hearing her words, Othello seems a changed man, depressed and submissive, his new attitude brought on by “Desdemona’s own honest account of her original feelings for Othello and the role Cassio played in Othello’s winning of her” (Macaulay 269). With just a little concern for Othello’s own pride, Desdemona have chosen to withhold some words or soften their blow. Instead, her own pride continues to lead her headlong onto a destructive
In Shakespeare’s play “Othello” the main characters Othello and Desdemona suffer a tragic fate due to their actions and unforeseen circumstances. A majority of Desdemona’s suffering is down to Iago’s manipulation. However, it could also be argued that Iago is not completely to blame for the misfortune of Desdemona. We as the readers can see evidence of this at certain points in the play where Iago has planted the seeds of despair and Desdemona and Othello have fallen for his plans. In this essay, I will look at key moments in the play where Desdemona is presented as a tragic victim by the writer and justify why she is a tragic victim using quotes from the play.
No other woman’s virtues could compare to Desdemona’s. She is the wife that that “even though…may not always understand, [will] always feel you, and feel with you (Parker 232). This devotion is so wholesome, that Iago the vilest of them all, cannot help to love. Her loyalty is so worthy that she even risks her relationship with her father for loyalty to her husband. Her father’s disapproval of the Moor causes her to remind her father that “Othello is her husband; and just like her mother showed to him, she will put her husband over her father’s beliefs” (1.3.183-186). Her pure judgment of others seeks to see the good in others so much that she becomes oblivious to Othello’s jealousy disputes. Her blindness of truth causes her to lose her life due to false accusations that Iago embedded in Othello’s head. Even while on her death bed, she refuses to admit to her friend Emilia that Othello is her murder. Desdemona is, “at once the property and an angel of selflessness… that looks forward to the bourgeois age and to its conception of women” (Rose.284). Her intentions are so pure that she blames herself for her own death, saying “a guiltless death I die” (5.2.125). Her love for Othello is so strong that she will not even point her finger at who actually killed her. She would rather blame herself for his doing’s, than being the wife who deceived her husband. Her devotion
Women were used to gain a dowry after marriage and as a tool to create offspring for a man. This status leads to Desdemona’s death. Othello sees Desdemona as his property, and therefore treats her like she is an object and not a person. By having this jealous mindset from the start, Iago is easily able to persuade Othello that Desdemona is cheating on him. Although Iago is extremely deceptive and talented with words, if women had a higher status in the world, and Othello was not as misogynistic and territorial, he most likely would not have believed Iago. Othello is also easily manipulated because he is insecure about himself and his status as a Black Muslim in the world. Desdemona deceived her father to marry Othello so, as Brabantio pointed out, what would stop Desdemona from deceiving Othello? Although Iago’s rhetoric and Othello’s race and ethnicity constantly caused problems for the couple, the root of the issue fell onto Othello’s attitude towards women, and especially towards Desdemona. Other than women lacking social agency in general in that time period, Othello treated Desdemona like she was a prize to be won, and after he won her, she was his to treat as he pleased. This idea that Desdemona was a pure virgin and belonged to Othello ultimately led to her
Even though in the play, women are mainly seen as submissive, there are a few incidents of women establishing their beliefs and act as an individual.
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’.
In Othello men see women as objects to control, first by their father, and then by their husband. When Iago yells to Brabantio, telling him his daughter has gone off to marry Othello, he yells "Thieves, thieves! / Look to your house, your daughter, and your bags! / Thieves, thieves!" (Othello I.i.79-80). Othello has taken away Brabantio's property, his daughter, and is called a thief because of it. Desdemona refuses to be treated like property, however and makes "A gross revolt, / tying her duty, beauty, wit and fortunes" (Othello I.i.134-135) to Othello. Her marriage to Othello is not an act of a free woman, but a revolt by Brabantio's property. Desdemona is also incapable of independent feelings or thoughts. Othello must have "Enchanted her" (Othello I.ii.63), "In chains of magic" (Othello I.ii.65), because she could never make such a choice on her own. In Brabantio's mind, only he can know what is in Desdemona's best interest and then choose it for her. Brabantio tries to guard her, but Desdemona has "Run from her guardage" (Othello I.ii.70). In Othello the culture of the time treats women as objects to be guarded and watched over, too tender and gentle to fend for themselves in a dang...
Desdemona and Othello have just eloped at the beginning of the play. The first run-in with Desdemona is with her father, Brabantio. He asks her about her duties as a daughter, and she responds saying her duty as a wife now supercedes her former place. Society in the 1600s expected women to be subservient and obedient, as Brabantio’s outrage at Desdemona’s elopement shows. Women were required to remain loyal to men. Additionally, as a daughter, Desedmona was required to ask permission to be married, and because she did not she turned away from society’s expectations. However, by saying that she is now loyal to her husband more than to her father, Desdemona sticks with society’s expectations. But the shock of her marrying without permission was enough to anger and sadden Brabantio, the symbol for society in the beginning of the play.
Desdemona is portrayed as the highest class a female could accomplish. She is elegant, honest and loyal to her husband as any other good Elizabethan married woman would be. She is presented as the ideal woman. Desdemona symbolizes innocence and helplessness against men. Shakespeare presents Desdemona as a mature and knowledgeable woman for her age as she defends her love for Othello to her father, Brabantio. However this is seen differently in the eye's of the society. Brabantio declares her as "Against all rules of nature"(scene.. line...). This statement reveals what the society believes what is natural and what is unnatural. To the society, "natural" is when a women complies to their husbands and fathers wishes, but it's unnatural for a women to do anything else. Women are referred to as property, clearly stated when Desdemona's father angrily calls Othello a "theif" (scene...line..). Here, Brabantio addresses Desde...
The Relationship Between Othello and Desdemona We first learn of there being a relationship between Othello and Desdemona when Iago and Roderigo are telling Roderigo (Desdemona's). Father, that ''an old black ram is tupping your white ewe''. This is referring to Othello and Desdemona having sexual intercourse, and. Shortly after hearing this, we became informed that Desdemona is "Tying" her duty, Beauty, Wit, and Fortunes In an extravagant and wheeling. stranger''.