The Beautiful Character of Desdemona in Shakespeare's Othello

Othello and the Beautiful Character of Desdemona

The good character of Desdemona in William Shakespeare’s tragic drama Othello meets a wretched end because of the sinister treachery of an ancient. In this essay let us analyze the beautiful character of Desdemona.

Valerie Wayne in “Historical Differences: Misogyny and Othello” comments on the proper manner of interpreting Desdemona’s body as referred to by an irate Othello:

Desdemona’s body before her supposed adultery is here likened to a paper-book, one of the books of blank paper that Renaissance students used for practice in writing, translation and copying. Othello imagines she has written ‘whore’ there through committing adulterous deeds. But Desdemona does no writing in this play and hence no ‘committing’ in word or deed. The activities of writing are always associated there with men; it is women’s speech that Iago worries about. (169)

The beautiful heroine Desdemona falls prey to the supremely cunning ancient. Francis Ferguson in “Two Worldviews Echo Each Other” describes how Desdemona is entrapped by the evil Iago:

During Act IV Desdemona also acts the very part which Iago had devised for her. She insists yet again (Act IV, scene 1) that Othello pardon Cassio, which is “fire and brimstone” for Othello. Thus she blindly forces the Moor to see Iago’s nightmare in her (Act IV, scene 2), “a cistern for foul toads,” as Othello cries,

there where I have garnered up my heart,

Where either I must live, or bear no life,

The fountain from which my current runs,

Or else dries up. (136)

In Act 1 Scene1, Iago persuades the rejected suitor of Desdemona, Roderigo, to accompany him to the home of Bra...

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...itt, Angela. “Women in Shakespeare’s Tragedies.” Readings on The Tragedies. Ed. Clarice Swisher. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1996. Reprint from Shakespeare’s Women. N.p.: n.p., 1981.

Shakespeare, William. Othello. In The Electric Shakespeare. Princeton University. 1996. http://www.eiu.edu/~multilit/studyabroad/othello/othello_all.html No line nos.

Wayne, Valerie. “Historical Differences: Misogyny and Othello.” The Matter of Difference: Materialist Feminist Criticism of Shakespeare. Ed Valerie Wayne. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1991.

Wright, Louis B. and Virginia A. LaMar. “The Engaging Qualities of Othello.” Readings on The Tragedies. Ed. Clarice Swisher. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1996. Reprint from Introduction to The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice by William Shakespeare. N. p.: Simon and Schuster, Inc., 1957.