A Montage Of Othello And Desdemona 's Relationship

Identity is a part of everyone and it changes as they grow, but how it changes varies depending on aspects of the person’s life. In the play Othello by William Shakespeare, and Desdemona is an influential character who is married to Othello. Her identity changes as the play progresses, but the characteristics in her life change her identity. Desdemona has many factors influencing her identity, but three of them are family, gender and sexuality, and race and culture. Family includes her father’s treatment of her, and how he feels when Desdemona betrays him. Race and culture influence the way her community sees her relationship with Othello, and also how her community sees her. Finally, gender and sexuality forces her to take on gender roles in her relationship with Othello, in being the weaker sex, and also how people view her because she is a woman (they see her as property). Desdemona from Shakespeare’s play Othello, changes her identity through her family, gender and sexuality, and race and culture.

The society in which Othello takes place is a patriarchal one, where men had complete control over women. They were seen as possessions rather than being just as equally human and capable of duties performed by men. All women of the Elizabethan were to obey all men, fathers, brothers, husbands, etc. Which leads me to the most reliable and trustworthy character of Desdemona, whom goes through many trials just to satisfy her love. Shakespeare brings the thought of Desdemona into the play by Barbantio, her father, “It is too true an evil. Gone she is.\...Oh, she deceives me\ Past thought! …” (1.1.163)(1.1.168-169), whom has just found she has taken off with Othello and firstly suspects they have been hitched. Shakespeare gives reader the

The relationship between Desdemona and Othello in the play ‘Othello’ is used to express and observe the way that humans are selfish by nature. Although both Desdemona and Othello do sincerely love each other, both of them find great personal gain in their marriage, which clearly contributes to their feelings for one another. Othello, who is a black leader in an overwhelmingly white, Christian society, has come from a troubled and difficult background, being “sold to slavery” and working in the military all his life. In finding a good Christian wife in Desdemona, he finds someone to always support him in hard times, as evidenced in his summary of their romance, “she loved me for the dangers I had passed, and I loved her that she did pity them”. This quote suggests that their love is more self-serving than he lets on; Desdemona loves Othello for the adventures he has been on and the stories he tells, and Othello loves Desdemona because she listens and devotes herself to what he has to say. When Desdemona gets a chance to explain their relationship herself, she is particularly proud of the fact that she “did love the Moor to live with him; my downright violence and storms of fortunes may trumpet to the world”. We note that she mentions her ‘violence’, the way she deliberately disobeyed her father and fled his company to secretly marry a man who is not one of her father’s approved suitors. This furthers the idea that Desdemona seems to be in love with Othello because of the adventures he has been on, and the excitement and liberty of her being with such a man; she is seeking her own freedom in a misogynistic society by defying her father to marry Othello. Their relationship is

to be weak and naïve in the eyes of her father. We can tell this from

In William Shakespeare's ‘Othello,’ Othello himself is seen as the obvious outsider because of his race. However, his own wife Desdemona can be reasoned to be just as much of an outcast, even though she’s described as the perfect woman. She affected the actions and feelings of other characters by being young, innocent and easily manipulated, and by being so visually striking.

Desdemona’s entrance in the beginning of the story shows herself as a strong willed and outspoken women. According to Lewis “Desdemona display some traces of a more Cleopatra-like self-assertion. In her choosing of Othello as her husband, she exercises her own desire, subverting the female role of passivity within the patriarch, and marries him without parent consent” (L.Lewis). Lewis has a good point here which I agree with as Desdemona decides to stand up for herself by choosing Othello as her husband. She defends her marriage and is not afraid to assert in her beliefs. She is surrounded by powerful men where she is not ashamed to stand up for herself and her decisions. Desdemona shows this when she speaks to her father in Act 1, Scene 3:

In the play, The Tragedy of Othello, judging from the relationship between Desdemona and Othello, seems to say that marriage based on an innocent romantic love is bound to fail. There is a common thread of betrayal and deceit among many characters. Othello and Desdemona being the most vividly portrayed. The two appear to love one another romantically at first, but it soon after transforms into a secular love. This comes to pass because there is no foundation for a relationship. There is no trust, no communication, and no understanding.

In Shakespeare’s Othello, Othello and Desdemona’s marriage was doomed from the start. They did not start well; their marriage was controversial because of their race and Othello’s failure to follow proper etiquette while he was courting her. However these issues could have been overcome with time. The biggest problem is Othello’s attitude to Desdemona. Othello’s model 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. She becomes untouchable in Othello’s mind, and he begins to distance himself from her. Because Othello thinks of Desdemona as “Alabaster”(5.2.5) he will never consider

Othello is a soldier. A strong man. What he knows of life comes from his experiences on the battlefield. He is an honest man, who was trusting as well. He has his friends and confidants, that he holds all of his trust in; maybe too much trust. He is married to young, beautiful Dedemona. She disobeyed her father by marrying Othello, a man of another race, and another color. She has a deep and compassionate love for Othello. The story of Othello and Desdemona is not one of a story book romance. What started as a love for two people, turned out to be a marriage based on jealousy, deceit and in the end a tragic murder.

"You don't love someone because they're perfect, you love them in spite of the fact that they're not” (Picoult, 384). This quote is the definition of true love, something the two protagonists of this play sadly never had. The tragedy Othello is about a general of the Venetian army, and his beautiful wife Desdemona, whose lives are completely ruined by the deceitful, cunning, and cowardly Iago. One of Iago’s biggest accomplishments was breaking up Othello and Desdemona's relationship by getting it into Othello’s head that Desdemona was cheating on him. This really made the reader question Othello’s feelings towards Desdemona as for someone who claimed to have love Desdemona with a passion, Othello sure was quick to believe Iago’s lies and turn on Desdemona. Based on his actions towards Desdemona, Othello proved that he does not truly love Desdemona because he is insecure, lacks trust, and is a very jealous person.

Othello and Desdemona’s manifestly love-filled relationship was somewhat shielded by society’s views of the age, social position and race differences, that would evidently cause implications. In the late sixteenth century, the time in which Othello is based, it was disreputable to do anything that was thought of as abnormal, for example, marrying below your class. Othello and Desdemona’s relationship was quickly looked down upon, simply due to the fact that it was seen as

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.

In Act II Scene I he tells her, "It gives me wonder great as my content to see you here before me. O my soul's joy!" and " If it were now to die, ‘Twere now to be most happy" (Shakespeare 1168-69). Othello implies that his life was in chaos before he met Desdemona (1186). Othello, however, is also very insecure of Desdemona's love for him (Mabillard 1). He doesn't understand why she would go against her father and her society by marrying a man that is black (1). The only reason that he can come up with is that she married him for his courageous journeys (1). In Act I scene iii he explains to the Duke, "She lov'd me for the dangers I had pass'd" (Shakespeare 1157). In Act III scene ii he tries to put his doubts to rest

Looking at the play, all along Desdemona is a very feminine character. She most likely acts like a wife and daughter. So full of cares, Desdemona at a point of the play even neglected her house quarrels and goes out to spare fellings with Cassio to try to help with his situations with Othello. So faithful she was, even when she and Othello were not on the best terms, she was still trying to fixed everything even she knows that she was not cheating, which she explains, " Yes, faith, so humbled that he hath left parts of his grief with me to suffer with him. Good love call him

The tragic play Othello by William Shakespeare, discusses the relationship between Othello and Desdemona that begins as loving, but abruptly alters to a hateful relationship due to a lack of truth. Dishonesty and misunderstandings between Desdemona and Othello drive the collapse of their marriage as well as Iago’s deceitful words which force Othello to discredit Desdemona’s love. William Shakespeare portrays the fall of the relationship of Desdemona and Othello due to his ability of believing false delusions he hears about his wife and the reason for this is from his distrust for women, his jealousy and the fact that he truly lacks confidence in himself, leads him to doubt the love Desdemona has for him.