Seen by Othello’s intuition about Desdemona cheating, it can be concluded that Criterion A7 applies to Othello. The criteria states that the patient “has recurrent suspicions, without justification, regarding fidelity of spouse or sexual partner” (American Psychiatric Association, 649). Right after Iago told him to watch Desdemona carefully, he tells Desdemona,
This hand of yours requires
A sequester from liberty, fasting and prayer,
Much castigation, exercise devout;
For here’s a young and sweating devil here
That commonly rebels.” (Shakespeare, 3.4.45-49)
In this scene, Othello is insinuating that Desdemona should ignore her temptations. Because of Desdemona’s love for him and determination to get Cassio employed again, she overlooks this comment. Throughout their conversation, Othello is saying that she would be more tempted to cheat because she is young. Othello is not hiding his suspicion that he thinks Desdemona is cheating on him. Another event that takes place is when Othello finally confronts her. After he accuses her, Desdemona responds that she is his “true and loyal wife” (4.2.41). Othello then proceeds to condemn her by retaliating,
Come, swear it. Damn thyself,
Lest, being like one of heaven, the devils themselves
Should fear to seize thee. Therefore be double damned. Swear thou art honest. (4.2.42-46)
Throughout the entire play, this is the first time Othello directly confronts Desdemona. Because Othello was so confident in the thought of her being unfaithful, he never actually talked to her about the issue. His suspicion turned into hostility, which caused him to never listen to her. His detachment correlates with the description of individuals who have paranoid personality disorder, as stated by WebMD, which states affected people “are generally cold and distant in their relationships with others, and might become controlling and jealous.” This hostility also caused Othello to make other irrational decisions toward Desdemona, such as verbal and physical abuse, and ultimately leading to her death.
Some may argue Othello has histrionic personality disorder based on his suggestibility and misjudgement of how close he is with Desdemona (American Psychiatric Association, 667). However in order to
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,
Othello’s anger prevents him from having a healthy marriage, i.e. one with open communication. When Iago implies that Desdemona had sex with Cassio, Othello gets filled with rage. He says, “First to be hanged, and then to confess—I tremble at it. Nature would not invest herself in such shadowing passion without some instruction. It is not words that shake me thus” (IV. i. 40-43). Othello
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:
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
This quote by Iago puts into Othello's mind that Desdemona may be cheating on him with Cassio. Othello then begins to question whether he was right to marry or not and although without proof, he believes in Iago's words. This is shown in his statement, “why did I marry? This honest creature doubtless sees and knows more, much more, than he unfolds”(Shakespeare 1324), indicates that he quickly turns to doubting his love Desdemona and takes Iago as being credible and true. It also causes him to become jealous and angered with only a simple touch of trickery by Iago. This marks his first sign to a down hill plunge in moral.
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.
Othello is an easy target in this drama, because Iago already knows that he is a very insecure person. With that stated, it will be easy for Iago to use Othello’s jealousy to trick him into thinking that Desdemona is an unfaithful wife. Iago will manipulate the way Othello sees things in order to convince him that what he sees is innocent acts between Desdemona and Casillo. Iago’s starts to plant the idea in Othello’s head of an affair after Othello sees Casillo rush leaving Desdemona in a manner that looked as though he is guilty (1223). Alone with Othello, Iago begins to make Othello feel threatened by Casillo and Desdemona’s apparent relationship by bringing up the fact that Casillo served as Desdemona’s and Othello’s go-between during the time of their courtship. The conversation ends with Iago asking Othello to watch carefully of Desdemona and Casillo, and Iago exits giving Othello time to question the accusation of Iago (1225-1228).
Starting off, Othello allows Iago to tamper with his mind and does nothing to stop it. Othello puts all of his trust in him, but Iago is just hiding behind a mask and only wishes to torment Othello. Othello is not aware of his surroundings and the people there, making him vulnerable. If he paid more attention to Desdemona and not Iago than he would not have thought to kill his loyal wife. Othello jumps to conclusions too quickly
Betrayal is first seen with Desdemona when she marries Othello without her father's knowledge or consent. Ironically, Brabantio warns Othello, when he says, "She has deceiv'd her father, and may thee,". He is suggesting that she has therefore shown a potential for disloyalty. Immediately
This quote explains the shift in Othello’s personality. Othello is fueled by the jealousy of Desdemona and enraged that she would do such a thing to disrespect him. His pride was shattered and his feelings were hurt.
Othello is not hurt because of a failing love, but because of how it makes him look and hurts his pride. This is when things get ugly. Othello puts more trust in Iago than in his own wife. This is due, in part, to Iago's manipulative skills, but mostly to Othello's lack of communication skills, especially with his wife. But Desdemona does not do anything to mediate the situation and lets the condition escalate, and her self-blaming attitude only perpetuates Othello's misgiven notion that she has been falsely accused . After Othello strikes her in front of the whole dinner party, and orders her around like a peasant,
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
In Shakespeare's Othello, Othello's pride prevents him from finding the truth, eventually leading to his demise. Initially, Othello and Desdemona are deeply in love, despite her father's disapproval of their marriage. However, when Othello promotes Cassio instead of Iago to Lieutenant, Iago has his revenge by convincing Othello that Desdemona cheats on him with Cassio, destroying the marriage between Othello and Desdemona. Othello grows to meet his downfall when his trusted friend Iago causes him to think that his wife Desdemona is unfaithful.
The society in which Othello takes place is a patriarchal one, where men had complete control over women. They were seen as possessions rather than being just as equally human and capable of duties performed by men. All women of the Elizabethan were to obey all men, fathers, brothers, husbands, etc. Which leads me to the most reliable and trustworthy character of Desdemona, whom goes through many trials just to satisfy her love. Shakespeare brings the thought of Desdemona into the play by Barbantio, her father, “It is too true an evil. Gone she is.\...Oh, she deceives me\ Past thought! …” (1.1.163)(1.1.168-169), whom has just found she has taken off with Othello and firstly suspects they have been hitched. Shakespeare gives reader the
Othello Syndrome is sort of a delusional pathological jealousy, marked by doubting a loyal partner of unfaithfulness. The syndrome was named by the English psychiatrist John Todd. Observing, controlling, and violence can happen in the relationship, and it requires psychiatric treatment. The illness is named after Shakespeare’s Othello, who murdered his wife Desdemona because he believed she cheated on him. As in the Shakespearean play, the modern-day patient with Othello syndrome demonstrates with the capacity for violence towards his spouse/partner or himself because of the presumed cheatings. As in the play, the syndrome can be very menacing and it can result in separation of marriage, murder and even