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Does Othello Love Desdemona

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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

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