How does a woman’s love for her husband affect her loyalty to him? In Othello, it is quite obvious that Emilia and Desdemona have unique relationships with their husbands. Regardless of how each couple loves, they face the same major issues throughout the play: loyalty. Desdemona and Emilia love their husbands differently, and their love affects the loyalty between each of them. Desdemona loves Othello dearly, which is reflected in how loyal she is to him. There are two situations in particular that Desdemona demonstrates this. First, when discussing women that cheat with Emilia, Desdemona claimed,”Beshrew me, if I would do such a wrong / For the whole world” (4.3.73-74). She would not cheat on Othello for the entire world. Another instance where she shows how loyal she is to Othello is at the end of the play. Othello stabbed her, and …show more content…
Emilia’s views on cheating differ extremely from Desdemona’s. As Emilia and Desdemona talked about women that cheat, Emilia revealed that she would not do such a deed in the daylight. She then added, “I might do’t as well i’ th’ dark” (4.3.63). Emilia, unlike Desdemona, believed she could bear to cheat on Iago, as long as it was in the dark where she could easily hide her sin. Desdemona seemed surprised and asked Emilia if she could really do that for the entire world. Emilia told her, “ The world’s a huge thing. It is a great price for a small vice” (4.3.65). Also, when Emilia had the opportunity to expose her husband’s evils or stay loyal to him, she chose to tell the truth, unlike Desdemona. Even though he threatened her, she screamed, “Let Heaven and men and devils, let them all, / All, all cry shame against me, yet I’ll speak” (5.2.234-235). Emilia decided to bravely expose the terrible thing her husband had done, rather then take responsibility because of her loyalty, like
However strong Othello's and Desdemona's marriage seems, it begins to deteriorate as a result of Othello's self-pride. At first, Iago convinces Othello that Desdemona is unfaithful. Iago suggests to Othello that Desdemona slept with Cassio. Iago uses a handkerchief given by Othello to Desdemona that he got Emilia to get for him as his proof against
The basis of Shakespeare’s plays appears to focus mainly around the dominant male character and his conflicts, which tend to deal with a woman. There are only three women in the play Othello; Desdemona, Emilia and Bianca. The way in which these women behave and present themselves strongly reflects the ideological expectations of women within Shakespeare’s imagined Venetian society as well as the Elizabethan society in which he lived. This patriarchal Venetian society presented in the play depicts women as possessions of men who should remain submissive and meek at all times. The women are expected to unselfishly and unreservedly devote their lives to serve their fathers until they are of age to do so, their husbands. All three women love
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
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
In the given passage, we see that Desdemona takes a very honest, romantic and loyal stance towards Othello, (this is also true of her relationship with him), where as Emilia speaks more ‘sense’... more ‘realistically’. Desdemona is melancholy but hopeful, and her defenses of true love against Emilia’s more cynical view of the world
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:
In Shakespeare’s Othello, the role of women is greatly emphasized. The important characters of the play, Othello, Iago, and Cassio, each have a women that stands behind him. These women each have an obligation to remain loyal and respect their husband's wishes, especially Desdemona and Emilia.
She begins the play as a independent and thoughtful person, but she must struggle against all odds to make Othello believe that she is not too independent. Desdemona is a symbol of innocence and helplessness. However in the beginning of the play, she seems to be mature and quite insightful of events around her. Iago often tells Othello that she is unfaithful. It seems that she refuses to accept what Iago is doing. She has a tendency to be sympathetic towards other people's situations, like Cassio. This also further inspired Othello's jealousy when Iago pointed out that Cassio and Desdemona were speaking in private. She often pays attention to other people’s thoughts, yet remains distrustful if they differ from her own. She has a loyalty to her husband in all aspects of life,
However strong the emotional attitude of prejudices may be in Othello, Love is the most powerful emotion and ironically the emotion that leads to the most vulnerability. Loves of all kinds are tested in the tragedy and ultimately all fail to rectify the horrible situation. Marital love for Othello and Desdemona serve as both a heaven and a hell on earth. As Othello portrays by saying,
After sharing the news of the key wedding in words calculated to alarm him, the treacherous and vindictive character quickly departs, effort Roderigo to substantiate the story. Feigning friendly relationship and concern, character then meets with fictitious character and tells him of Brabantio's reaction. Brabantio, Othello, and Desdemona seem before the Duke of metropolis. though Brabantio accuses fictitious character of seducing his female offspring by necromancy, fictitious character explains that he won Desdemona by telling her his adventures, and Desdemona, known as to testify, convinces the senators that she has freely gone with fictitious character and married him for love. The Duke appoints fictitious character as general of the defense
n Shakespeare's play Othello many issues are undertaken and explored. The three women play a vital role in this. Only one of the women in this play survives. All the women have no separate identity within the play; all three are married or associated with a male character. Bianca is the mistress of Cassio, Emilia is married to Iago and Desdemona is married with Othello. According to the time that the play was written in and the general hierarchy within Venetian society men hold all the power and women are considered to be of low intellect. Yet it is the women that speak the most sense throughout the play and it is also the women that are able to trust other characters in the play. Each woman represents a different social level, Desdemona
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.
While Desdemona often expresses her love of Othello and her dedication to “His honors and his valiant parts,” it is obvious that Othello does not truly love Desdemona (1.3.288). The first reason that shows that Othello does not indeed love Desdemona is that he does not completely trust her. After Iago tells Othello that he believes Cassio and Desdemona are in love, Othello immediately decides that this must be the truth, and vows to “tear her all to pieces” (3.3.490). This quote displays the fact that Othello’s trust for Desdemona is as fragile as eggshells are in an earthquake. Several times throughout the book, his own unsupported ideas completely overrule anything Desdemona could say.
The story of Desdemona is interesting in that the play implies that her nature was one of honesty, goodness, and kindness. Moreover, even on her deathbed where most would tell the name of the individual who killed them, she says “Nobody; I myself” (Shakespeare, 2014, 5.2.128). Subsequently, the significance of this declaration derives from the previous statement by Emilia, “Oh, who hath done this deed?” (Shakespeare, 2014, 5.2.127), when she asks who had harmed Desdemona. So, the likely meaning of this phrase is that Desdemona loved Othello so greatly that even though he killed her, she could not bring herself to blame him for her death.
When Desdemona and Othello got married they loved each other. Othello's love for Desdemona did not begin to fade until he started believing every lie Iago whispered in his ear. Towards the end of the play Iago's lies corrupted Othello's trust completely. Which led Othello to kill Desdemona which obviously shows Othello no longer loved his sweet Desdemona.