Desdemona Complex Character

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Recommended: Character development of Desdemona in the play Othello

William Shakespeare is known as a master playwright, creating characters such as Romeo and Juliet to Hamlet and Ophelia, but Shakespeare’s Desdemona is usually viewed as one-dimensional. Shakespeare’s Othello is riddled with complex characters, of which Desdemona most definitely falls in the category. Desdemona is viewed as virginal and naive, but in truth is manipulative. It is also unknown if she truly loves Othello, as her love stems from pity. The most convincing reason Desdemona is a complex character is her growth through the play. Desdemona is a complex character, contrary to popular belief, Shakespeare demonstrates her complexity through her character growth, her search for power ,and the ambiguity of her love for Othello.
Before Desdemona’s …show more content…

Desdemona’s apparent love for Othello is born out of pity, drawing question to whether or not she truly loves Othello. Desdemona fell in love with Othello through his stories, which she would listen to with a “greedy ear”. “Greedy” does not have a good connotation, evoking a feeling of distraught and untrust of the person being described with this word. Othello recognizes that Desdemona pities his stories saying, “My story being done, / She gave me for my pains a world of sighs. / She swore, in faith, ‘twas strange, ‘twas passing strange, / ‘Twas pitiful, ‘twas wondrous pitiful” (I iii 182-186). Desdemona finds the stories of his life pitiful and that is the reason she enjoyed listening to his stories and the reason she fell in love with him. Othello accepts that Desdemona loves him because she pities him, but the reason he loves her is because she pities him, “She loved me for the dangers I had pass’d, / And I loved her that she did pity them” (I iii 188-189). Their relationship is one based on Desdemona’s pity for Othello, they do not have a true love, which goes against the virginal idea of her. Iago sees the true …show more content…

Iago knows that when Desdemona grows tired of Othello she will find someone new to pity and love, this person just happens to be Cassio. Desdemona acknowledges that she pities Cassio, “That he hath left part of his grief with me, / To suffer with him. Good love, call him back” (III iii 58-59) and it is know that she continually confuses pity and love, what is to say that she does not move on from Othello to Cassio.Iago also realizes the oddity that is her love for Othello, “If she had been blessed, she would never / have loved the Moor. Blessed pudding! Didst thou / not see her paddle with the palm of his hand? didst / not mark that? (II i 274-277), Iago is seeing her “paddle with the palm of his hand”, which is a flirty gesture, and reinforcing that she may actually be cheating on

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