Shakespeare, Rossini and Verdi's Different Versions of Othello

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

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

Othello insults and strikes Desdemona in public and Desdemona being horrified by these actions says that “I have not deserved this” (4.1.241). Desdemona finds Othello to be incorrect in his actions and she expresses her feelings to Othello. This proves Desdemona to be ahead of the time the play was written since unlike other women Desdemona defends herself and her beliefs strongly. Therefore, Desdemona is shown as an all-around powerful woman.

In William Shakespeare’s, “Othello,” Shakespeare astutely elaborates upon how Desdemona’s desperate sacrifices to remain submissive to Othello’s pride prove her to be an angelic, virtuous woman of society.

The contrasting characters; Desdemona and Emilia, form an interesting and important relationship in the play Othello. Desdemona is very ‘sheltered’ from the ways of the world and Emilia is very ‘down to earth’ and ‘experienced’. From this difference we see a fascinating relationship between the two of them.

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:

Othello, by William Shakespeare was a play set in Venice, Italy in the Renaissance Era. This era brought forth an array of new and exciting types of art, plays, and etcetera dealing in entertainment. We also saw the introduction of Elizabethan staging and Shakespearean language which was new to the people in Europe because he wrote for the actors and not the readers and it was complex. You often had to listen to the way the actors performed it to understand the mood and meaning of the play.

We see Desdemona as a young beautiful white female, madly in love with a powerful black man. She is strong inside but doesn't tend to show that side of her as much as she would want to. She tends to play the peace-maker in her marriage and is always trying to understand Othello. Throughout the play she struggles to prove her loyalty and respect to her husband, no matter what it takes she tries to be a

Desdemona was also a foil to the person she interacted with the most in the play; her husband, Othello. Othello and his newlywed Desdemona become opposites toward the end of the play. The main couple of the play is very different from each other which is easily seen by the audience because of how they interact with one another. Othello was filled with hate for Desdemona because he believed she had cuckolded him, and Desdemona never stopped loving him even though he accused her of things she did not do. Desdemona asks Emilia “That there be women do abuse their husbands In such gross kind?”(4.3) showing how truly innocent she is and when Emilia asks if she would cheat on Othello she is appalled at the idea. Desdemona would never cheat on the husband she works tirelessly to please. In this instance Desdemona does not only prove her innocence, but she also shows that she is virtually incorruptible making her different from her easily corruptible Othello. Iago only had to show Othello a little evidence for him to become corrupted with jealousy. It was not Othello’s fault that he was corruptible, but he was very quick to build hate for his wife, but slow to believe her pleas of innocence. The reason for this is related to the time in which the story

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,

It is here that the audience begins seeing a different identity of Othello. Who was once regarded as so valiant and courageous, was now beginning to show signs of severe insecurities dealing with matters, most importantly, such as his lack of experience in love and marriage causing shadows of doubt over his confidence in himself and his ability to be loved by and worthy of someone like Desdemona. Desdemona, although not intentionally, seems to be the reason for all the unrest in Othello. This is an instance in the play when irony shines it's smiling face upon Shakespeare's most tragic characters. Othello feels truly happy with the presence of Desdemona in his life (Act II.1, 181-187):

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

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 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.

Women, especially Desdemona but Emilia as well, are obviously targets of male violence in Othello. For some reason Shakespeare’s play often put the emphasis on the role of the female characters and their influence on the main male characters. For instance, the result of the passionate love of Romeo for Juliet, the effect of Ophelia’s insanity had on hamlet, and so on. In Othello, Shakespeare made Desdemona and the other women in the play no different; Othello’s jalousie and love made the play a tragedy. Shakespeare made Desdemona the faithful wife of Othello. She was such a kindhearted and wished to make everything work even when the situation where she lost her handkerchief she tried to fix the situation and calming Othello. However, her innocent sympathy towards Cassio made lago’s lies more credible. Overall, one can say that her naïve nature causes her to become a target for the men in the play.