Essay about The Pride of Othello

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

Furthermore, Desdemona’s honesty is being challenged by Iago’s false accusations about her behavior in her marriage. Firstly, Iago brings up Desdemona’s truthfulness in her marriage directly to Othello when he stages the conversation he has with Cassio. In Iago’s words, “Bade him anon return and here speak with me, The which he promised. Do but enclave yourself, And mark the fleers, the gibes, and notable scorns That dwell in every region of his face” (IV.i.70-73). Iago is twisting the truth about Desdemona’s relationship with Cassio so Othello can hear it and assume the conversation is about Desdemona’s “affair” with Cassio, causing him to become psychotic out of jealousy. Secondly, Desdemona is being accused by Othello of losing the handkerchief. When Othello asks Desdemona for the handkerchief, she changes the topic of their conversation and ignores his question on its whereabouts. Othello speaks aggressively towards Desdemona because he knows she is lying about having the handkerchief. Desdemona says, “I never saw him like this before. There must be some magic in that handkerchief. I’m miserable that I lost it” (III.iv.89-91). Iago, with mastery of deception, is able to set Desdemona up

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

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

To understand the dynamics of Othello and Desdemona’s relationship, it is important to look at both of these characters in-depth. Othello is a moor who is the military commander of the Venetian military (act I, scene i, lines 52-65). He is not a citizen of Venice, but he has military leader experience. Along with this, Othello is in an interracial relationship with Desdemona. He has insecurities about being from a different country, his age compared to his wife, and his racial background. His insecurities become jealousy as Iago coerces Othello into thinking Desdemona cheated on him with Cassio. This changes Othello’s behavior from calm, level headed leader to a hot head ready to murder his wife because he believed she committed adultery. While we know that he loves Desdemona, the story of Othello does not go deep about his relationship in general terms from the

From the beginning of the play, their relationship is tested, manipulated, and derailed. Despite this, Desdemona’s love for Othello is expressed in the lines, “That I did love the Moor to live with him,/ My downright violence and storm of fortunes/ May trumpet to the world…” (I.III.247-249). In these lines, Desdemona is justifying her reasoning, love, for accompanying Othello on the trip to

There is perhaps a certain excuse for our failure to rise to Shakespeare’s meaning, and to realize how extraordinary and splendid a thing it was in a gentle Venetian girl to love Othello, and to assail fortune with such a ‘downright violence and storm’ as is expected only in a hero. It is that when first we hear of her marriage we have not yet seen the Desdemona of the later

Othello’s jealousy is towards his wife Desdemona, which he murders, and Cassio. Iago’s manipulation made it seem as if Desdemona was unfaithful; However, she was never unfaithful to Othello. Othello does not fully believe Iago until he sees the Desdemona no longer has the handkerchief, not to mention it was in Cassio’s possession. The handkerchief was the final straw that made Othello lose his reasoning and becomes headstrong towards all thoughts except his wife’s

The play Othello by William Shakespeare is a tragedy about love and jealously. It consists of a young, beautiful girl falling in love with the Moor Othello because of the interesting stories that he expressed to her. As a result of Iago interfering their relationship, the marriage became hostile and untrusting. Desdemona’s kind and caring nature never affronted her to believe Othello would become deceitful in her and so cruel. After Iago convinced Othello that Desdemona was cheating, Othello changed his attitude towards Desdemona causing him to kill her at the end of the play including himself.

Othello warns Desdemona trouble will arise when he doesn’t want her anymore. Othello and Desdemona marry for the happiness and joy but not for the difficult times and pain. As it said in the audio, both Desdemona and Othello cannot adjust to the roles of marriage.

To begin with, before their secret consummation, Othello has many traces of being self-contemptuous which impact their marriage. He has been passive in their relationship and does not move on without Desdemona’s hint.

Desdemona becomes one of the most, if not the most, important parts Othello’s life. Othello, a black soldier from the Barbary coast, knows “little of this great world… More than pertains to feats of broil and battle” (l.l. 101-102). Othello’s whole world is revolved around before he meets Desdemona. In fact, it is his savviness in battle that has brought him into the white Venetian sphere as the general of the Venetian army. Therefore, the life of a husband is foreign to him. He is a soldier who spends time with his cohorts on the battlefield and manages all of his own affairs and is confined to no one and nothing. However, “but that [Othello] loves the gentle Desdemona,” he would not give up his “unhousèd free condition” (l.l. 28-29). Othello’s relationship with Desdemona is founded on sacrifice. Othello sacrifices his lifestyle and freedom for Desdemona whom he likens to “the sea’s worth” (l. 31). This sacrifice is indicative of Othello’s love for Desdemona and his commitment to the relationship. Something about Desdemona is worth risking giving away the only life that Othello has ever known. Othello’s commitment and sacrifice to the relationship show his trust that it, and Desdemona, are worth the risk and that he trusts Desdemona to be worth giving up everything he has ever known. This lack of experience in relationships makes Othello nervous and protective. One would expect that if Othello is willing to risk so

When Othello speaks again on Lines 129-171 he continues his tale of how he and Desdemona fell in love, when Brabantio “oft invited” Othello to his house for dinner and encouraged Othello to tell Desdemona the tales of war, through this Othello is hinting that Brabantio actually helped Othello and Desdemona to fall in love, and how it in reality wouldn’t of been possible without Brabantio. Othello is much more open about his childhood in this speech telling of how his life was filled with misery from war, and how he is still insulted by soldiers below him in ranking for his race. From this you see the contrast of Desdemona’s small world at home and the largely varied life of Othello. Othello’s life seemed very exotic in “deserts idle” and dangerous in his “travailous history”. He then explains the domestic side of Desdemona and her being drawn to “house affairs”. Through doing this Othello can explain how Desdemona was drawn to his tales of danger taking her in to the exciting unknown by marrying him. This is confirmed when Othello explains how Desdemona listened to his tales with a “greedy ear” and from that has been captivated by his life at war, envying him, wishing “heaven had made her such a

Othello is a play that can be described by many as a tragedy of love. However, this is not the case because Othello did not love Desdemona. Othello was just a conceded man who wanted the pity and admiration of someone else. Throughout the play, Othello acted like a loving husband that could not live without his wife, but this is not the case because Othello merely treated Desdemona like one of his soldiers and did not love her. Treating her like a soldier, his feelings towards her changed drastically at the mere implication of betrayal.