And the play makes Othello quite as conscious as any one else of his diversity of race, though it is to other causes that he assigns his want of grace and culture. His personality flaws ultimately lead him to killing his wife, making it an important factor in the play. When the Prince of Morocco chooses the  Othello: Essay Topics Formerly honored as a friend and as a great soldier, and gladly admitted to Brabantio's house, Othello discovers that he is now considered an enemy, and execrated as the husband of Brabantio's daughter. She makes it clear that she loves Othello and is loyal to him: Desdemona doesn’t understand why he’s acting so strangely and Othello starts to talk to Iago about her death. It plays a central role in shaping the plot of the drama and the behaviour of the characters. So preposterous does it appear to him that he must suppose Othello has charmed her with drugs and magic.  Othello: Plot Summary The relationship between Iago and Emilia is a superb example of power in gender roles as they were prescribed by the Renascence society. Othello and Desdemona's Relationship . When charged before the Senate with the abduction of Desdemona, Othello's defence consists of a frank and free admission that he had taken Brabantio's daughter, and an apologetic account of his "whole course of love." his courage: In some recent criticism there has been an attempt to glorify the purity and beauty of the love of Othello and Desdemona, and to place it among the most spiritual of the loves of Shakespeare. Moreover, the agony and ignominy of being considered a cuckold are not small either. It is true, of course, that as in the case of Juliet the passion of Sycorax, in The Tempest, was born in Algeria (I. ii. This is bound to give rise to an inferiority complex in the protagonist. It is not so much the wilful disrespect to her father that He graduated with a Hons. 179–180]) and her terse fury after Othello strikes her (“I have not deserved this” [IV.i. Shakespeare is not targeting racism in his drama but the poison hidden in it grows highlighted in his work.  Shakespeare's Sources for Othello First Black actor to play Othello, Iago is played by a white actor. Shakespeare Online. fanciful criticism that makes a new Shakespeare, and yet thinks it is interpreting the old. Arguments that see Desdemona as stereotypically weak and submissive ignore the conviction and authority of her first speech (“My noble father, / I do perceive here a divided duty” [I.iii. maintain that he made the problem of Othello at least in part a problem of race. Elizabethan, and dramatists before Shakespeare had always presumed that to be the case. And the play makes Othello quite as conscious as any one else of his diversity of race, though it is to other causes that he assigns his want of grace and culture. She was strong but only in her unflinching ability to support her husband. “Even now, now, very now, an old black ramIs tupping your white ewe. On the other hand, Desdemona is shown to be a weak female, as she is full of doubts and fears, as she does not stand up to Othello when it really matters. (I. iii. Even when Othello smothers her to death I'd wager she was still wondering where she went wrong. FOOTNOTE 2: Shakespeare Commentaries: Tragedies, p. 95, St. Louis, U. S. In this way, Iago makes him feel cuckolded. This is where his complexion and African descent may look like a  natural advantage but off the field it is a disadvantage. Jealousy consumes the mind of Othello, and is it is emphasised in the play, it is a catalyst for the killing of Desdemona. Lectures on Othello: Play Construction and the Suffering and Murder of Desdemona that she freely and lovingly takes Othello for her husband, and intimates that she is willing to take all the consequences of that act. In the play “Othello,” by William Shakespeare, the main protagonist can be very much interpreted as a victim who has been treated differently in comparison to the Venetians due to his race. For all the claims of military straightforwardness of some other characters, Desdemona is the most direct and honest speaker in the play. He cannot conceive how his daughter, a fair maid of Venice, could consent to marry a man of Othello's color and nationality, unless in some way out of her senses. in English literature from BRABU and an MBA from the Asia-Pacific Institute of Management, New Delhi. A., 1807. Othello’s colour also makes readers sympathise with him. In this way, Desdemona's relationship with Othello speaks to the play's concerns with 16th century attitudes about sex, gender, and race... which we discuss in more detail in our "Themes" section. Abhijeet has been blogging on educational topics and business research since 2016. perilous ecstasy of the idealizing brain without secure root in the heart. Despite this Othello does respect and honour Iago and does refer to him as ‘honest Iago’. Iago calls Othello a Black Ram before Brabantio. It is likely, however, that Othello had feared this, and so took Desdemona in marriage without asking her father, evidently satisfied that as a black man he could not obtain Brabantio's  Othello as Tragic Hero FOOTNOTE 1: Shakspere His Mind and Art, p. 232, 13th edition, 1906. othello truly loves desdemona but jealousy is a great enemy of man's wisdom, it makes man unable to differentiate between right and wrong, that is also happened with Othello and he ruined in the long run. The relationship between the married couple allows us to understand Shakespeare’s commentary on human nature, particularly how humans are inherently selfish, prone to falling victim to jealousy, and …  The Problem of Time in Othello, Iago's Motives: The Relationship Between Othello and Iago. Desdemona is a lady of spirit and intelligence. Moreover, Othello’s frustration at his race is one of his primary weaknesses. In both cases there is evidence of his callousness and dullness of mind. Desdemona, unlike her husband, is not insecure, ... At the close of the play all of these key relationships have been irrevocably destroyed and love loses out to hatred and jealousy. When he gets to know about the elopement of Desdemona and Othello, he runs to inform Brabantio. While, there are no major signs of racial hatred against Othello, except the few slangs that Iago uses for him, still he is an outsider because of his colour. Desdemona had eloped with Othello, instead of sticking to the stereotypical marriage arranged by a woman's father. While evil characters such as Iago refer to him simply and disparagingly as “the Moor" those who actually know him refer to him instead as “the valiant Moor" making his race part of who he is—a respected and revered man who is, quite circumstantially a Moor. Critics recently have focused attention on the roles of race and gender in Shakespeare's Othello, examining how the play interrogates social norms and disagreeing over whether those norms ultimately are subverted or upheld. But it is Some of the critics before Professor Bradley have more truly seen the character of the love of Othello and But, between Othello and Desdemona, on the other hand, a most distressing conflict arose that Iago begins plotting against Othello, the eponymous hero, and turns him against his wife, Desdemona, daughter of the senator of Venice, Brabantio, by telling him of her supposed infidelity with his lieutenant, Cassio.  Stage History of Othello Arise, arise!Awake the snorting citizens with the bell,Or else the devil will make a grandsire of you”.  Iago's Motives: The Relationship Between Othello and Iago Othello views his own racial identity as undesirable, and it is this lack of confidence in himself that allows Iago to persuade him that Desdemona is cheating on him. Desdemona began Othello as an elusive, desirable woman who we found to have already challenged gender roles. Desdemona is a more plausible, well-rounded figure than much criticism has given her credit for. Right at the outset of the drama Iago makes racist quotes against the Moor. Othello’s race in this way turns him into a target and before he can understand the vicious plan, he has ended his relationship with Desdemona and her life. The Moor is courageous and smart in the battlefield but after all his race and colour make him feel like being ostracised. Desdemona and Othello are secretly married before the play begins. Up to this point Othello and find homework help for other Othello questions at eNotes From a feminist perspective poor Desdemona was pretty much a doormat. Desdemona and Othello’s relationship is strained by the end of Act 3. discuss othello's relationship to desdimona. His race and colour are his vulnerability and Othello is not able to survive when Iago strikes there. On the one hand, Desdemona is a strong female character, she defies her father in marrying Othello, argues with Iago about the role of women and by lying to Othello about the handkerchief. The significance of Desdemona's relationship with Othello is that she marries him dispite knowing her father would not approve. become his accuser before the Senate. Desdemona. It is due to his colour (race) that Othello is considered an outsider. Iago’s wicked plan is successful and he is able to convince Othello that he is physically not as charming as Desdemona. 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." This deficiency, it is now important to notice, the play implies is due to his racial character, and comes from the fact that he is a Moor. Othello belongs to the out group and once he has been isolated, he is weak and defenceless. However, it is for his courage and status as a general that he is considered influential. Her speeches are not as lengthy as those of the men, but with Desdemona, every word counts. Othello’s complexion is the cause he is ostracised and becomes a  victim of Iago’s manipulation. Othello believes she is in love with Cassio and when she lies about her handkerchief he thinks it’s evidence against her. Shakespeare no doubt shared this feeling, for in the two plays where no doubts on the matter He is seen as brave, aggressive and ferocious on the battlefield. FOOTNOTE 4: Ibid., p. 290. Professor Bradley speaks of Desdemona's choice of Othello as rising "too Only Desdemona and Cassio do not seem bothered by the Moor’s colour of skin. "2 Her love, indeed, seems to be a kind of romantic fascination, a love of the sensuous imagination, what Professor Herford properly calls "a Iago’s racist mind and his hatred for the Moor are clear in his dialogues. 475). When Othello leaves "the tented fields" for the streets and homes of a refined city he utterly goes to pieces, and whatever sense of honor he may So, even if its role is limited, race is of importance. On this assumption, however, the many references to his color and race throughout the play cannot well be explained. Race and racial differences can kill. Othello’s skin colour is also one of the reasons that Iago hates him so much. In all these cases the maidens found their true life with the men of their own choice, and the dramatist gives his verdict in making their love happy and successful, and in bringing out of their marriage a larger The half- civilized Othello is but ill adapted for life in civilized and cultured Venice. Once the suspicion is in, all the trust is Othello’s and Desdemona’s relationship is lost. Posthumus. The Moor is courageous and smart in the battlefield but after all his race and colour make him feel like being ostracised. "4 Apparently it needs to be said over again that no conflict arose between Romeo and Juliet, but that all their trouble was with a world arrayed against them. It is apparent that Othello's African birth does not establish his race or color.4 Nor can Othello's royal … Iago may be an important role as he persuades Othello into an erratic thunderous state, as well as persuading him to kill Desdemona. Throughout the drama, Iago’s behaviour subtly hints that he considers Othello inferior because of his colour.  How to Pronounce the Names in Othello VIII., p. 290. regarded with the same distaste as that of Othello and Desdemona. If Goethe's suggestions for the re-casting of Hamlet in order to express better the meaning have not helped but hindered the understanding of Shakespeare's drama, we should golden casket, only to find "a carrion death" awaiting him, Portia remarks: It has not generally been observed that Shakespeare makes more of this racial difference than did Cinthio, the Italian original. While in many ways stereotypically pure and meek, Desdemona is also determined and self-possessed.  Othello: Q & A Boston R.G. proved entirely irreconcilable. 236]). Desdemona is a pretty static character through the play. In that time, interracial relationships and marriage wasn’t allowed. The exposition of these two elements of the play is set forth by the dramatist with his usual clearness, and at considerable length, but has nevertheless escaped the notice of the critics, or has been discounted as a factor in the interpretation. Once you stop minding your weaknesses, your opponents will benefit from them. Iago’s plot is a cruel play of ostracism and racial discrimination. From the very outset one is immediately made aware of Shakespeare’s intent for this play. He cries out in his desperation: Two deeds upon the part of Othello have now brought him into active collision with other persons, and the two are related to each other. A respectable Moor in the community of whites is not bearable for everyone. But to Shakespeare, who always reads deeper than others, it is on the surface a matter of color, but at bottom a matter of racial divergence that amounts to an incompatibility of character. Because of his obligations to Cassio in the matter of his love-making with Desdemona he has appointed him to an important position over lago, thus making an enemy of his faithful officer. as a true and natural love like that of Romeo and Juliet can do. His dialogues are filled with racist jargon. In keeping with this, when Othello is questioned about how his relationship with Desdemona began, the difference between him and the surrounding noblemen is more rhetorical than racial: Othello declares that, for his testimony, he will a ‘round unvarnish’d tale deliver’ (1.3.90). high time to learn that whatever Shakespeare put deliberately into his dramas is to be considered in the interpretation. But there are many differences, and these must be given consideration. In Shakespeare's day the discovery of new lands and new peoples must She says she understands fully what she is doing, recognizes Othello as a Moor, but that she accepts him as he is, or, as her words imply, she finds compensation for his color in the quality of his mind, in his honors, and in The play tells the story of the demise of Desdemona and Othello's relationship due to mistrust on the part of Othello and lies told by Iago, a man who wants to ruin their marriage. The proper understanding of the relations of Othello and Desdemona is equally important with the question of the relations of lago and Othello. does he truely loe her? Unfortunately, after Iagos manipulation, Othellos love turned to despair, pain, and anger. Some critics endeavor to make out that nothing whatever of the happenings of the play are in any way connected with the fact that Othello is a Shakespeare undoubtedly approves such choice when it means a larger and fuller life. Othello claims not to be jealous; though it is obvious from his manner that this is untrue. matter of a difference of color, which in itself is external though not unimportant. Instead of bearing a comparison, the loves of He pleads that he is "little blest with the soft phrase of peace," for he has spent all his life in "feats of broils, and battle." This shows Othello trusts Iago and believes he is honest, thus Iago’s lying is working, and he begins to pull the wool over Othello’s eyes.In the beginning of the play Othello’s relationship with Desdemona is a very loving and happy one. 260-26i), but is never called black or a Moor. She is equally capable of defending her marriage, jesting bawdily with Iago, and responding with dignity to … Othellos love for Desdemona at the beginning of the play was based on this hope, faith and experience. Iago successfully brings out the monster from inside Othello. Iago keeps fingering his wound to take him away from his beloved wife Desdemona. Society’s view of Othello’s relationship with his wife, Desdemona… romance is not the highest form of the service which imagination renders to love. Othello’s wish not to “scar that whiter skin of hers than snow” (Act V, Scene ii. Two of his most vivid flaws include his jealousy and his reason versus passion. They allege he is nothing but a man, though he happens to be a black man. There are in these and other instances, however, many differences from the case of Othello and Desdemona. Badger, 1916. The lovely Jewess, Jessica, ran away from the miserly Shylock to marry the Christian, Lorenzo, and at the same time accepted the religion of her husband. In the course of his apology, his "round unvarnished tale" becomes eloquent with a barbaric sincerity and splendor that almost enlists the sympathy of the Senate. Although Iago aptly demonstrates all that is evil through his malevolent manipulation of others, he is not the only practitioner of deception in the play. Shakespeare’s play ‘Othello’, set in early Venice, focuses on the key relationship between titular character Othello and his wife Desdemona, to comment on the human condition through the text. He grows more and more frustrated about his skin colour as Iago keeps churning his dissatisfaction to make his feel inferior to his wife and Cassio. Race is not at the core of Shakespeare’s Othello but affects everything in the drama. The incompatibility of military heroism and love is evident throughout the course of the play. Shakespeare has not selected the protagonist to be a man of color without a strong reason. This shows that Desdemona does not feel any remorse or concern knowing that she probably will be frowned upon and degraded by the Venetian society due to her relationship with Othello. Under some conditions it is possible that their love might have outlived their lives and overcome its handicaps, yet it is to miss the art of this drama not to see that the dramatist is here showing its unnaturalness by placing it in the conditions that test it to the uttermost and that reveal its weakness and III. In this way, race plays a small but still significant role in Shakespeare’s play. Return to The Relationship Between Othello and Iago. Like Othello, Desdemona undergoes a dramatic transformation over the course of the play. good to all. An unsuspected weakness, or deficiency, in his character is thus laid bare, upon which the whole tragedy will later be seen to turn. To Cinthio it is almost entirely a The cool words of Othello prevent a clash between the two: The Moor now finds that his old friend, the Signior Brabantio, formerly his admirer, has unexpectedly Desdemona is the representation of continuity of values and an innocent, flawless Venetian woman, however Othello is portrayed as a cultural and racial outsider in Venice. Moor’s skin colour is deeply related to his identity.  Iago Character Introduction The bond between Othello and Desdemona falls weaker and Iago uses it to further weaken Othello and drive him mad at Desdemona. In the play Othello there are many people who play a role in the death of Desdemona. Moor. However, the tragedy also arises from his colour since Iago makes him believe that Desdemona does not love him as deeply as he believes. In the same spirit Imogen refused the coarse and villainous Cloten, to join hands and hearts with the virtuous For romance disguises certain facts, or sees them, as it were, through a luminous mist."1. Boston R.G. It is at this point that the second of the great problems of the play emerges. However, he himself fails to escape his fate for having done injustice to two poor lovers. He likes to blog and share his knowledge and research in business management, marketing, literature and other areas with his readers. It shows that Shakespeare has used the element of racism in the drama intentionally. had been able to carry successfully his exalted responsibility in his adopted state, but in these matters he makes a complete break-down. Desdemona is played by a small actress, emphasizing Othello's ultimate physical power over her. This view takes for granted that the dramatist heaps up idle words having no significance, and refuses to believe that there was a meaning in all he wrote. for the hand of Portia, and presented him as unsuccessful. Iago injects this racist poison in an otherwise strong relationship and kills the two lovers as he had planned. Desdemona may have the choice of many suitable matches, but she chooses Othello, even despite his racial difference. 20 Aug. 2009. love transformed Desdemona from a meek and blushing maiden into a strong and self-reliant woman. The story of "the battle, sieges, fortune" he had passed is almost as potent with the senators as it had been with Desdemona, who, he says. “Because we come todo you service and you think we are ruffians, you’llhave your daughter covered with a Barbary horse,you’ll have your nephews neigh to you, you’ll havecoursers for cousins and jennets for germans”. When the matter is brought before the Senate, Brabantio's objections to Othello all have to do with his difference of race and color. Brabantio and his troop serve to bring out the private side of Othello's character, hither-to unsuspected. After Iago led Othello to believe that Desdemona and Cassio were having an affair, Othello then considered Desdemona to be a lewd minx (Oth. When Desdemona is brought into court to speak for herself in the matter of the marriage, she declares In a fit of jealous rage, Othello smothers Desdemona to death. Essay on Desdemona Character Analysis in Othello by Shakespeare - The female protagonist in the tragic play “Othello”, Desdemona is truly one rare character who astonishes the readers as much with her outer beauty as with her inner grace. Snider has noticed that the qualities in Othello that attract Desdemona are "his bravery against external danger," that is, physical rather than mental or moral qualities, and that "no feats of mind, or skill, or cunning are recorded. world has never approved. It can scarcely be maintained that the marriage of Othello and Desdemona was a complete spiritual union, for there were too many diverse elements that at the time seemed incompatible and in the end Desdemona was pretty much a doormat and ignominy of being considered a cuckold not... What they say, is an entirely indifferent matter in the interpretation pain, and anger Ram... Almost every way a contrast Institute of Management, New Delhi in this way, race, and be! 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