Close Reading: Othello Othello is a man of romantic nature. He has fell in love with the beautiful Desdemona. He was accused of stealing her away from her father. Othello was of a different race and did not fit in with her family. Othello makes a plea for Desdemona and tells his story which wooed her to begin with. Othello tells of the love that her father showed him since his boyish days. This was like a match made in heaven that overcame many obstacles which got in their way. Othello could not understand why he was good enough to work and fight alongside of her father, but was not good enough for his daughter. Othello proved that he was once in Desdemona’s father’s favor. There is no better way to prove this than when Othello said in lines 127-131 in 1.3: Her father loved me, oft invited me, Still questioned me the story of my life From year to year, the battles, sieges, fortunes That I have passed. I ran it through even from my boyish days Othello was showing that the connections were there for years. He and Desdemona have known each other since childhood. Othello tried to explain that there was no poison, only a story of events in his life and that she had pity for him. Desdemona showed bravery and mannish demeanor, which Othello fell in love with. Even with all the invites, battles, sieges, and fortunes they shared he still would not consent to his daughter marriage to Othello. Racism was very much alive even as far back as Shakespeare. However, in lines 133 – 135 in 1.3 Othello says, To th’ very moment that he bade me tell it, Wherein I spoke of most disastrous chances, Of moving accidents by flood and field, Of hair-breadth scapes I’th’ imminent deadly breach, This is where Othello is descr... ... middle of paper ... ...allen in love with is the dangers in which he has gone through. Like many women, Desdemona fell in love with dangers and thrill of the chase. It seems like most of us women love the adventures of seeking what we know is wrong. This passage is a soliloquy or speech from Othello to Desdemona’s father. He is telling how she has become his wife. Othello plea’s with Desdemona’s father for his blessing and to be a family. Othello states that her father has treated him well for many years and should honor his daughter for loving such a man. Othello and Desdemona is a love made in heaven. They are willing to fight alongside each other in battles and love one another in happy times. Work Cited Cohen, Walter, J.E. Howard, K. Eisaman Maus. The Norton Shakespeare. Vol. 2 Stephen Greenblatt, General Editor. New York, London. 2008. ISBN 978-0-393-92991-1
As the details of her recent marriage to Othello unfold, Desdemona appears to be a woman driven by emotions. She marries a man because he has shared his stories of grand adventure. In order to do so, she elopes from her loving father’s house in the middle of the night. These seem like actions of emotion stemming from her love – or possibly infatuation – for Othello. Contradictory to this, when asked to speak about her willingness to enter the marriage, she responds with a very clear and sensible reason for staying with Othello:
In Act 1. Desdemona admits that she fell in love with Othello's eloquence and harrowing adventures; 'I saw Othello's visage in his mind'. This outlines his sense of nobility in language,which empahsis how much of an experienced warrior ans revered noble man he is. Moreover Desdemona reveals Othello's nobility of love, 'She loved me for the dangers I had passed/ I loved her that she did pity them'. She succeeds in unveiling a side in Othello's nature which show him as a loving, respectful husband. He is clearly trustful of Desdemona and is not by any means jealous of him, as he allows her to travel to Cyprus with Iago,' To his conveyance I assign my wife'.
Othello and Desdemona’s marriage was doomed from the start. Even considering the racial nature of the marriage, his lack of a constant home, and the improper method of his courting, there is another reason why their marriage would never have worked. Othello’s label of Desdemona prevents him from considering her a person. He thinks of her instead as superior to himself in every way, to the point that she is a god. Her race, beauty, and status make her godly in his mind. Because Othello thinks of Desdemona as “Alabaster”(5.2.5) he will never consider her capable of responding to his love.
that completely destroys his life”("Othello"). Othello is shown he is a good man within the first few scenes of the play: “She wished she had not heard it; yet she wished That heaven had made her such a man” (1.3.162-163). This line in Act I spoken by Othello, is an indication that he is a good person although it may appear that he has stolen Desdemona away from her father. Othello speaks that although he has taken Desdemona as his wife without Brabantio’s consent, he is a good person for stating his reasons for his actions as well as standing his ground. After Othello’s marriage to Desdemona, the conflict is started when Iago insinuates t...
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.
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
The role of jealousy, love and betrayal play a major role in The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice. The entire play is based on the human interactions of the characters as related to Othello and Desdemona. The characters’ personalities, their social status, and their relationships to each other control the story line and their fate in the play. Othello is portrayed early in the play as an outsider with animalistic characteristics by Iago and Roderigo because of jealousy. “Your heart is burst; and have lost half of your soul/Even now, now, very now, an old black ram/Is tupping your white ewe”.(531) Desdemona’s father, Brabantio, accuses Othello of using witch craft on his daughter. “If she in chains of magic were not bound/ Whether a maid so tender, fair, and happy/ So opposite to marriage that she shunned…” (535) This point is important because Othello must defend himself not only to Desdemona’s father, Brabantio, but to the entire Venetian Senate. “And till she come, as truly as to heaven,/ I do confess the vices of my blood./ So justly to your grave ears I’ll present/ How I did thrive in this fair lady’s love, / And she in mine.” (539) Othello proves himself to be an intellectual hero early in the play. He has worked hard to gain respectability and power, but because he has a different background, is from another country, is dark-skinned and is older than Desdemona, he becomes jealous very quickly of Cassio. Cassio is from the same social class, is compatible with Desdemona and is a young handsome man. Iago has also convinced Cassio to seek favor with Desdemo...
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’.
Shakespeare shapes the tension between Othello and other characters by a moor as an army general of high power, and was generally accepted as a man in society. However, as Othello and Desdemona are secretly married, the view of Othello instantly changes due to interracial marriage being seen as immoral. Shown in act 1 scene 3 Othello stands before the court, and is accused of stealing the daughter of Brabantio, as there is a generalization that Desdemona could never marry a moor, unless it was against her will. Othello says “her father loved me, oft invited me, Still questioned me the story of my life From year to year – the battles, sieges, fortunes That I have passed.” The marriage of Othello and Desdemona has changed Brabantio’s view on the ‘moor’, as he was acceptin...
In Othello’s day and age women were seen as a man’s property. They were assigned a man to marry and that’s how it was. Levenson states “A marriage which met parental opposition inevitably led to disaster” (Levenson 851). Although, in this play Desdemona and Othello got married without Desdemona’s father’s approval and this sparks quite a problem. Not only is Othello a colored man, he didn’t get Desdemona’s father’s approval before they got hitched. Even though Othello was a general he still was ridiculed because of his skin color. Desdemona’s father saw her as his property, she was his daughter, and he did not like the idea of a man stealing her from him. This all ties into the fact that women were not even listened to.
Desdemona has, therefore, some quite serious faults as a wife, including a will of her own, which was evident even before she was married. This does not mean that she merits the terrible accusations flung at her by Othello, nor does she in any way deserve her death, but she is partly responsible for the tragic action of the play. Othello’s behavior and mounting jealousy are made more comprehensible if we remember what Elizabethan husbands might expect of their wives. (45)
...mona has fallen in love with is the dangers in which he has gone through. Like many women, Desdemona fell in love with dangers and thrill of the chase. It seems like most of us women love the adventures of seeking what we know is wrong.
The whole ordeal of the elopement serves to indicate the fact that there must be a strong bond between the two characters. Desdemona and Othello both lost extremely good reputations. Desdemona, ‘a modest maid of such a still and quiet disposition that she blushed at her own shadow’. The fact that Desdemona ‘In spite of her youth, her country, her reputation, everything!’ eloped with Othello is in itself a very ‘bold’ action of love. Desdemona lost her father’s respect the one to whom ‘gave me life’ and to whom she was ‘eternally grateful’.
Later, when he is speaking to the duke, Othello says, “Most humbly, therefore, bending to your state, I crave fit disposition for my wife” (I.iii.231). Once again, he continues to stay calm and nonchalant as he explains to the duke that he has done nothing in his life involving witchcraft but that Desdemona and he got married because “She lov'd me for the dangers I had pass'd, And I lov'd her that she did pity them” (I.iii.167), meaning Desdemona fell in love with Othello because of the stories he told her, not be...
Desdemona is determined and strongminded when she marries Othello, in spite of the finger pointing from Iago who says that she is under a spell and is lying to her father. “Like many of Shakespeare's other female characters, Desdemona does not symbolize the conventional heroine of sixteenth century women” (Levenson). When Shakespeare wrote Othello, women had a small number of human rights and little influence on the general public. They had practically no say in organizing their own matrimonies, and were expected to marry a man selected by their father. Desdemona, however, regardless of any proposals from a number of men and public warning, continues on her chase of Othello, and in the end marries