Desdemona As A Weak Female Character

She is then disowned by Barbantio with no further words directed to her by him but is referenced as a liar and should be kept on watch for her conniving ways by him towards Othello. Which then begins Shakespeare’s in depth writing on Othello and Desdemona’s relationship where she is as “a child to chiding” (4.2.119-120). Not even a moment after her father leaves Othello commands Iago to tell his wife, Emilia, to tend to Desdemona as a babysitter. Irony occurs within (2.1.169-171) where Desdemona challenges Iago and stands as an independent woman for Emilia objecting to his conclusion, that women no matter how beautiful or intelligent play the same “foul pranks”. However, as Othello’s jealousy and rage arises throughout the play it seems as her character has to fight even harder to breathe under his control; symbolic for her death of suffocation. Desdemona is a gentle women living under her love’s control with no power to object even if she had opposed this type of controlling relationship. As a higher class woman she had more power and respect over other women characters such as Emilia or Bianca, but is this dominance enough to feel in control of oneself? It is believed that Shakespeare added the 2 other

Desdemona is of the higher class and is depicted as a fair, pure and respected woman who makes her own decisions. This is evident from the references made about her in the opening Act, scene 1, spoken by Iago “...an old black ram is tupping your white ewe” as well as in later scenes when she is constantly referred to as “fair Desdemona”. Her ability to make her own decisions was particularly evident within the opening Act where we learn of Desdemona’s deception to her father when she wed the man of her desire by denying her father any right to choose for her. This was Desdemona’s act of independence in her attempt to break away from male authority. Desdemona’s honesty and strong belief in morality plays on the good vs. evil concept with Iago’s character.

In Othello, Desdemona has a relentless nature which allows her to love and care unconditionally. Throughout the play, Desdemona has a determined attitude towards her beliefs and she does not believe other’s opinions. This is shown when Desdemona and Emilia were having a conversation. Emilia tells Desdemona that Othello shows jealously but Desdemona immediately disagrees with Emilia telling her to “Believe me, I had rather have lost my purse/Full of crusadoes And but my noble Moor/ Is true of mind, and made of no such baseness/As jealous creatures are, it were enough/To put him to ill thinking” (3.4.24-29). Desdemona is relentless in her love for Othello and claims Othello to be too noble to be jealous. Her relentless nature makes her love for Othello so unconditional that she cannot see the clear jealousy Othello harbours. Desdemona then shows that she is not only relentless but determined when she makes a promise with Cassio. After being harshly fired, Desdemona promises Cassio that she will convince

The audience having knowledge of this stance, adds to the dramatic climax of the play, by having Desdemona killed not only for doing something she did not do, but for doing something she is firmly against.

Although misperceptions about the other gender are dangerous causes of downfall, flawed views among one’s own gender are also great contributors to destruction. Othello and Desdemona best exemplify this notion. Desdemona presents herself as pure, compassionate, and understanding towards everyone, especially Othello. Shakespeare theorizes on how some women believe the stereotype about females is valid and must be followed, and men can exhibit the same

Her death is therefore her punishment, furthermore making Emilia a tragic victim as she has died through no fault of her own. Like Emilia, Desdemona is also a tragic victim of the men in ‘Othello’. Her murder, like Emilia’s, is through no fault of her own is a result of Othello’s jealousy and Iago’s interference. What makes Desdemona even more tragic to the audience is the fact that even in death she tries to protect her husband, telling Emilia that she has killed herself, “nobody, I myself”, this further depicts to the audience that Desdemona is a good and pure character. Her devotion to her husband makes her a tragic victim in the play as she can not be blamed for her death.

Throughout Sophocles’ Antigone and Shakespeare's Julius Caesar the use of women within the tragedies displays and enforces the omniscient patriarchal society characterized in the plays. In Antigone the main character is a headstrong and courageous teenager who is always at the forefront of the conflict, whereas In Julius Caesar, women play no significant role throughout the tragedy, though ultimately all women in both works are subjected to and ignored by the more “dominant” sex.

Desdemona is portrayed as a very inquisitive women, whom loves to explore the things and people outside of her class. She fell in love with Othello because of her curious nature and being attracted to his acts of bravado. Her intentions are sincere; however her curiosity in this act is seen as folly. She asks her cousin Lodovico about his arrival and informs him of Cassio’s dismissal. This angers Othello as she is praising another man, taking a persona of being proactive about him. For Othello this concludes that she is disobedient and has dishonored him - to put her in place, he resorts to violence:

At the beginning of the drama, Desdemona wants to marry Othello; even through her father doesn’t want her to. She makes the choice by herself in Act I, scene iii in an act of willfulness. However, in the final scene, when she is murdered, Emilia ask her, “O, who hath done this deed?” Desdemona says , “Nobody, I myself. Farewell. Commend me to my kind lord. O, farewell” (V.ii.133–134). Desdenona takes responsibility of her death because she wants to protect her husband.

Desdemona is shown as the most pure and proper of the women in Othello and is put into the center of all the drama. The men of the play manipulate her image of a naive lover to being a “ ...strumpet!” (V.ii.94). Desdemona is oblivious to what is going on around her and stays loyal to her morals but Iago’s rumours lure Othello to thinking otherwise. Desdemona’s true morals is her absolute devotion to her husband. She stayed loyal to her lover throughout the entire play and in the end it did her no good. “Nobody; I myself. Farewell! Commend me to my kind lord. O, farewell!” Desdemona on her deathbed, still defends her Lord’s actions. She does not fight back nor call for help, Desdemona begs for her life asking to “Kill me (Desdemona) tomorrow; let me live tonight!” (V.ii.97). She is not as strong-willed like the other ladies and is Shakespeare’s example of the archetype of the innocence and has the bases of a flat character. After the

As it was stated earlier, one of the features of a classical tragedy is that an innocent character suffers. However, it seems that this also appears in ‘Othello’, as Desdemona’s suffering is very prominent. In act 4, scene 3, Desdemona is talking to Emilia about all that she is worried about, and thinking about. One of the most emotional things that Desdemona talks about was her “mother had a maid called Barbary: / She was in love, and he she loved proved mad / And did forsake her” (4.3.25-27). She then has a premonition of death and requests Emilia, if she should die, to wrap her body in one of her wedding sheets, which are now on the bed, “If I do die before thee, prithee shroud me / In one of those same sheets” (4.3.23-24). Desdemona sings the “Willow Song,” and, in this indirect way, she faces the real possibility that Othello is going mad and will

Desdemona's reported sympathy and interest for Othello's tales of bravery paint a picture of an ordinary, kind young woman. When she is summoned to support Othello's story, she realises that her loyalties are divided. Her consideration for her father's anger is shown by the way she asks not to live with him. Her reasoning is that he would then not be angered by her presence.

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.

Ann-Marie MacDonald’s Goodnight Desdemona (Good morningJuliet) uses intertextuality to unveil the complete Shakespearean characters of Juliet and Desdemona to reveal the feminist narrative lurking between lines of Shakespeare’s plays. Only through the intertextual re-examination of the Shakespearean text itself via the interjection of genre and the reassigning of dialogue, within the metatheatre, is the true feminist representation of the female Shakespearian characters unveiled from behind the patriarchal preconceptions. From this understanding we may read Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet) to be true feminist reworking of Shakespeare. Therefore the metatheatre’s intertextuality reinforces and supports the traits of the feminine.

In her final moments, Desdemona chooses not to blame Othello for her death because she saw that the honor of their love was more important than honesty. After Othello was convinced that Desdemona was cheating on him, Othello had started to show his disappointment with her. He had even gone as far as hitting her (4.1 134). Despite this, Desdemona continued to stay true to Othello. Othello, though, decides to kill her. Desdemona senses a change in Othello and she has a feeling that she will die soon due to the hands of Othello. This does not stop her, though, from continuing to care for Othello. Even when Desdemona was found after Othello strangles her, she still believed that her death was not the fault of Othello. Emilia comes into the couple’s bedroom after Othello smothers Desdemona, but hears Desdemona cry out. Seeing her dying, Emilia asks who would do this. Desdemona replies that it was her fault: “Nobody – I myself. Farewell / Commend me to my kind lord. O, farewell!” (5. 2. 125-126). Not only does she try to protect Othello’s reputation by blaming herself, Desdemona tells Emilia to remind Othello about her showing that she stills respects Othello. By trying to hide the fact that Othello had murdered her, Desdemona has chosen to put the honor of their love above honesty.