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Brabantio the Protective Father in Shakespeare's Othello
While little girls are eagerly anticipating the day they will meet the man of their dreams, they are also imagining up their dream wedding. Fathers, on the other hand, are secretly dreading the day to come. They do their best to see that the "right" man will marry their daughter. But at the same time, they want to try to keep them from meeting him so soon. In William Shakespeare's Othello, Brabantio is protective, racially prejudiced, and a heartbroken man. He represents the typical father who is disappointed when he realizes that "daddy's little girl" is all grown up and ready to leave the nest.
Brabantio is a very protective father. He makes sure that his daughter Desdemona lives a sheltered life under his care. She is his only child so he treats her like a prized possession. He also made certain to keep her under a tight leash, especially with male callers. When Roderigo tries to court her, he disapproves, "The worser welcome!/ I have charged thee not to haunt my doors./ In honest plainness thou hast heard me say/ My daughter is not for thee" (1.1.93-95). Brabantio is in disbelief when Roderigo instead tells him of Desdemona's elopement with Othello and says:
O heaven! How got she out? O treason of
the blood!
Fathers from hence trust not your daughters' minds
by what you see them act. Is there not charms
By which the property of youth and maidhood
May be abused? Have you not read, Roderigo,
Of some such thing? (1.1.165 - 170)
Here, Brabantio is shocked by this information. He directs his statement toward Roderigo, but almost seems as if he were scolding himself for trusting his daughter too much. Brabantio was convinced that his daughter was obedient and followed his rules. He was almost certain that his careful upbringing would not lead to the very thing he tried so hard to prevent.
Brabantio is also racially prejudiced. He is upset when he discovers that Othello, the Moor, is the man that Desdemona has chosen. He feels that Othello is not worthy of his daughter's love because he possesses darker skin and is of Arabian descent.
	Iago uses a different tactic to manipulate Brabantio. He changes Brabantio's way of looking at the marriage of his daughter Desdemona to Othello. He awakes Brabantio by saying "Awake! What, ho, Brabantio! Thieves! Thieves! Look to your house, your daughter, and your bags! Thieves! Thieves!" (I.i.76-78) By saying this, Iago shows a new perspective to Brabantio by insinuating that Othello has stolen his daughter. Iago reinforces this when he say's,
Brabantio is a Venetian Senator with definite ideas on the subject of his daughter. He wants to choose a husband for her who he feels is of her caliber and who can provide her a good life, as well as raise the family's esteem in Venetian society. At that time, this was his right as Desdemona's father. Then, when life expectancy was short, Brabantio would have wanted a son of a rich house who could inherit the family wealth, and was only a couple years older than his daughter, so she would not be widowed or have to return to her father's dependence.
middle of paper ... ... Brabantio uses his social position to intimidate people with his words. Roderigo speaks to Brabantio. politely and gracefully
sax’s Othello, reflect the context and values of their times. 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.
In the opening scenes, Shakespeare portrays Othello as a noble character. When Brabantio seeks vengeance for "stealing" his daughter, Othello expresses his actions with, "tongue out his [Brabantio's] complaints" (1.2.21). Throughout this scene, Othello remains calm
At the beginning of the play, the audience is made aware that Othello is a Moor working in the service of Venice. During the time the play was written, racism was strong. Despite Othello’s carefully built up life in which he managed to rise from being very poor to a powerful general, he still experienced racism from characters such as Roderigo and Brabantio. In Act One Scene One, Brabantio is appalled at the idea of his delicate daughter Desdemona secretly marrying a black man without his consent. He openly insults Othello, oblivious to Othello’s power: “That thou hast practiced on her with foul charms, Abused her delicate youth with drugs or minerals.” Brabantio is accusing Othello of witchcraft and trickery, and suggesting that no one could ever love him without the influence of his evil witchcraft. The audience feels pity for Othello because they know that Othello loves Desdemona and that he is a kind man, and is receiving these insults because of his race. The audience realises that he is already at a ...
It's clear that Othello is held in high esteem when, as he enters, one of the senators states "Here comes Barbantio and the valiant Moor"(47). Othello's confidence in himself, another of his positive attributes, is clearly portrayed as he defends himself and his recent marriage to Desdemona, the daughter of the Venetian Senator Barbantio. In his defense, he associates himself with one of the "great ones" of the world. He also demonstrates confidence in himself and his actions when Barbantio, Desdemona's outraged father, accuses the Moor of witchcraft. His stature, that of a tall, dark, African Moor, combined with his personal magnetism, assist him in gaining the respect and allegiance of the Venetian people and its senators. The respect of the people is brought forth in Act 1, Scene 2, when Montano, the Governor of Cyprus, is awaiting the arrival of Othello's ship, following a strong storm at sea, and remarks he has "served him' and the man [Othello] commands/ Like a full soldier" (35-36).
Othello has a beneficial quality to him; a quality that he uses time and time again. He uses his foreign and exotic nature to his advantage. Othello’s mystique and masculinity captivates his young Venetian wife Desdemona and sets him apart from her other uninteresting Venetian suitors, and Othello’s stories about the dangerous and exciting outside world and warfare provide marvelous entertainment and wonderment for her. After Brabantio, the father of Desdemona and a powerful senator, learns about the marriage of his daughter and Othello, he is outraged and accuses him of “looting” his daughter. For he sees her as property and doesn’t account for her free will and desire to marry the middle aged Othello, different in race and class. In the courtroom Othello gives a speech, “What conjuration and what mighty magic, for such proceeding I am charged withal, I won his daughter”. (Act i Scene iii) Othello denies the use of witchcraft or ma...
He claims that Othello "hast enchanted her! / she had/ run from her guardage, to the sooty bosom of such a thing as thou/(1.3.64-73). This shows that Brabrantio thought his daughter to be unacceptable of choosing a husband ... ... middle of paper ... ... n the play are tragically the ones who suffer the most.
In the opening scene, while Iago is expressing his hatred for the general Othello for his having chosen Michael Cassio for the lieutenancy, he contrives a plan to partially avenge himself (“I follow him to serve my turn upon him”), with Roderigo’s assistance, by alerting Desdemona’s father, Brabantio, to the fact of his daughter’s elopement with Othello: “Call up her father, / Rouse him: make after him, poison his delight [. . .] .” Implied in this move is the fact of a father’s assumed control over the daughter’s choice of a marriage partner. Iago’s warning to the senator follows closely: “'Zounds, sir, you're robb'd; for shame, put on your gown; / Your heart is burst, you have lost half your soul.” This statement also implies that the father has authority over the daughter. Brabantio’s admonition to Roderigo implicitly expresses the same message:
To begin, race is the first and clearest of differences between Othello and other major characters. However race is also the least seen issue in the play. Racism is, as stated by Martin Okin “confined to Iago, Roderigo, and Brabantio” (Orkin, “Othello: and the”). Emilia herself has her moments of racism, going from using Moor as a describer of Othello to using it as an insult. Brabantio shows this racism when he discovers that Othello has wed his daughter stating:
The actions of Barbantio initiate the interest in the race issue in Act 1 Scene 1 more so than Iago's foul abuses because the type of hidden racism is actually present in modern society. Barbantio disapproves of his daughter ever marrying Roderigo who has not got a good reputation with him but after listening to Iago tell him that his daughter is seeing a moor he wishes Roderigo,
Despite the negative foregrounding of Othello’s character by Iago, our first impressions of Othello in Act 1 are of a noble and well-spoken man, his nobility is conveyed through his speech ‘most potent grave and reverend signiors’(1.3.76) to his future father-in-law Brabantio of Othello’s love for his daughter Desdemona in Act 1 Scene 3. This is a very different character to what we expect from Iago’s preparation for the introduction of Othello. Where we are expecting an angry and possibly violent character, we instead are met with something completely surprising, a quiet and calm man who dismisses Roderigo’s insult and even avoids the prospect of a conflict.
Due to her father’s nobility, Desdemona’s high social standings translate to her angelic character which the Venetian culture pressures her to fulfill. Because of high expectations placed on Desdemona, Brabantio disbelieves Desdemona’s elopement with Othello, where he concludes “is there not charms/By which the property of youth and maidhood/May be abused?” (I.i.193-95). Utilizing the magic motif, William Shakespeare conveys Brabantio 's skepticism in his daughter’s deliberate abandonment, by logically reasoning supernatural forces must be at fault. By disregarding Desdemona’s desires for leaving, Brabantio assumes his daughter possesses virtuous qualities, making her incapable of defying him. Brabantio considers only one possibility for Desdemona’s elopement with the Moor: Magic. Compared to Desdemona’s father, Othello’s lieutenant, Michael Cassio also views her as possessing cherubic qualities. When Desdemona enters a room Cassio demands “hail to thee, lady, and the
Othello’s speech to Brabantio and the Duke in Act 1, Scene 3 is of major importance in describing Othello’s personality. This long speech, found in lines 149 to 196, shows Othello for the first time as a person with depth and less as a soldier. This speech is important to the book as a whole because it is a testimony to the strength of the love between Othello and Desdemona, which will later play a major role in the plot. It is also one of the first times that we see Othello trying to influence his audience with his words. The speech given by Othello is intended to convince Brabantio that Desdemona is with him willfully, and not by “spells and medicines bought of montebanks” (line 74).