Comment on the nature of the relationship between Desdemona and Othello?

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Jack Batty        PES English        Dr. Strangeways

Comment on the nature of the relationship between Desdemona and Othello?

 

Othello, being a tragedy, it is almost certain that Othello and Desdemona’s love for each other will be challenged, and maybe even broken and this will quite possibly lead to the death of the protagonist, Othello and perhaps many other characters, as this is a common trait of most tragedy’s. Many different things challenge Othello and Desdemona’s love, whether it is different characteristic flaws and qualities that each character possesses, outside influences from other characters, fate and the subtle workings of the text or the incompatibility between military heroism and love.

It isn’t until Act III, when Iago starts to implement his plan that Cassio is sleeping with Desdemona, that Othello and Desdemona’s love for each other starts to get profusely challenged. This is when the audience gets a greater insight into the character of Othello and learns of his strengths and weaknesses. The flaws that that the audience sees in Othello are generally not characteristics that he has always possessed, rather they are forced onto him by the machinations of Iago, we can say that Othello is a good and noble character just being played upon by the deceitful Iago. When Othello starts to believe Iago about Cassio and Desdemona, the crumbling of his character begins. Othello lacks in self knowledge because he trusts Desdemona so much, when the idea that she is unfaithful pops up and he starts to challenge, his whole world starts falling apart in front of his eyes. Othello being a military man, it can easily be assumed that when he is in a foul mood, which he certainly is at this time of the play, resorting to violence and murder will be a natural solution for him to take, he even says, “I’ll tear her all to pieces.” (III.iii.429). Another flaw that leads to the detriment of Othello and Desdemona’s love is the way that Othello has a distrustful view on people; we not only see this between him and Desdemona, but with women in general and white people as well, when Iago tells Othello that his wife has been sleeping with another man Othello wont believe it, that is until he hears or sees proof of the matter. Iago does not directly give Othello any proof, only circumstantial evidence and for Othello these few words are enough to make him distrust Desdemona, this weakness in character can possibly be linked back to the fact that Othello is a social and racial outsider in the society in which he lives, for if almost everyone around Othello doesn’t trust him then how can he trust them. The degradation of Othello’s character and the implementation of ideas from Iago into his mind leading to the development of more characteristic flaws are a major influence into the dismantling of Othello and Desdemona’s romantic relationship.

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Othello is doomed, due to the fact that he is bound to the genre of play known as a tragedy and the audience can make and educated guess based on other Shakespeare works, like Romeo and Juliet that Othello and Desdemona’s love is also doomed. In typical Shakespeare way the breaking up of Othello and Desdemona’s love is subtly hinted at throughout the play, through different means, be it ironic phrases that a character may say, symbols or other literary devices. The handkerchief is a major symbol throughout Othello and can be considered as the most major symbol in the ...

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