Desdemona in William Shakespeare's Othello

Desdemona in William Shakespeare's Othello

In Act One, Scene Three when we first hear of Desdemona through her

father Brabantio, the image of a small, shy and innocent young girl

comes to mind. When Brabantio tells the Duke of his daughter he calls

her ‘A maiden never bold; / of spirit so still and quiet’ and the only

reason she married Othello is because ‘she feared to look on’ him.

Brabantio seems sure that this is the daughter he knows so well and he

believes that she must have been ‘wrought upon’ as he does not think

it is possible that she would disobey him and marry behind his back.

We see Desdemona as an innocent victim through Brabantio’s eyes,

however the Desdemona that presents herself later on in Scene Three is

not what we expect after hearing Brabantio.

Desdemona’s entrance is bold and the words that she first speaks sound

like the words of a person who certainly knows their mind. She speaks

to her father respectfully, ‘you are lord of all my duty, I am

hitherto you daughter.’ However, she then goes on to boldly state,

‘But here’s my husband’ and it is her husband that she argues she must

now put first. This confession put forward by Desdemona shows how

independent and strongwilled she is compared to the Desdemona that we

learn of through Brabantio. It seems that either there must be two

sides to Desdemona or her father has completely underestimated her.

Shakespeare presents Desdemona in her first entrance as a mature and

rebellious woman who seems to know her own mind rather than as an

innocent victim at this point.

From hearing Othello’s description of his courtship with Desdemona and

her entrance shor...

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...O falsely, falsely murdered’

seem to portray that Desdemona has taken control and is finally

speaking her mind even though it is now too late. Her words are

selfless and though she has spoken her mind she takes on the role of

the innocent victim; she becomes a sacrifice.

Desdemona’s innocence we see so clearly at the end of the play

certainly contradicts her early assertiveness. The young woman who is

not afraid to speak her mind and disobey her father is drastically

changed into a passive victim at the end of the play. To a certain

extent it could be argued that ‘Desdemona is a sensual, mature,

rebellious woman who knows her own mind’ but only at the beginning of

the play. By the end the view that Desdemona has been manipulated

into ‘an innocent victim and the embodiment of goodness in the play’

is clear.