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.
E.K. Weedin had stated in his article, Othello’s Reason in Love, that critics have described “the nature of the tragedy from that suggested … argue that Othello’s error is to reason where he ought to love”
…show more content…
He loved the idea that Desdemona was helpless and depended on him, now that she had disobeyed her father and cut ties with most of her family and friends. This caused Desdemona to become a stranger on Cyprus, while Othello had spent years there, and was very respected, and many friendships and alliances on the island. In Act II, Othello had said to Desdemona, “I have found great love amongst them” (Othello 2.1.190). Othello was telling Desdemona about his friends that have treated him well in Cyprus. He also reassured her that they will love her in Cyprus, since she was nervous that she never been there before. Even Othello knew that if he divorced Desdemona, she would have nowhere to go because her only relationship to Cyprus was Othello and the status of being his wife. Desdemona’s helplessness and weakness caused Othello to feel dominant and very powerful, which led him to believe that he loved Desdemona, even though he only loved the feeling of power and only cared about his …show more content…
Even as Othello wanted to kill Desdemona, he thought of how to kill Desdemona, he did not want to stab or cut her because he hesitated to “scar that whiter skin of hers than snow, and smooth as monumental alabaster” (Othello 5.3.3-9). He explained that he did not want to stab her because he does not want to scar her or make her pure white skin flawed. He also compared her skin to a statue’s pale and smooth texture. Which implied that he saw her as a statue and a prize because she was his trophy of a white woman who fell in love with him and admired his stories. However, he still remembered her ‘infidelity’ and wanted to get back at her for hurting his pride and feelings, so he decided to suffocate her, keeping her looking as perfect as
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:
Due to the irregularity of an interracial relationship during the sixteenth century, regardless of Lago’s actions, Desdemona and Othello’s relationship would have yielded to the weights of social standards as a result of Othello’s insecurities. These insecurities regard Othello’s darker complexion compared to the rest of Venice. It can already be noted by the audience that Othello has been suffering from these insecurities for quite sometime as Lago easily manages to convince him in deeming Desdemona’s love for him as ungodly. “Othello: And yet, how nature erring from itself— Lago: Ay, there’s the point. As, to be bold with you, Not to affect many proposèd matches of her own clime, complexion, and degree, whereto we see in all things nature tends—Foh!” (Orthello) Othello brings up how good things can become
"You don't love someone because they're perfect, you love them in spite of the fact that they're not” (Picoult, 384). This quote is the definition of true love, something the two protagonists of this play sadly never had. The tragedy Othello is about a general of the Venetian army, and his beautiful wife Desdemona, whose lives are completely ruined by the deceitful, cunning, and cowardly Iago. One of Iago’s biggest accomplishments was breaking up Othello and Desdemona's relationship by getting it into Othello’s head that Desdemona was cheating on him. This really made the reader question Othello’s feelings towards Desdemona as for someone who claimed to have love Desdemona with a passion, Othello sure was quick to believe Iago’s lies and turn on Desdemona. Based on his actions towards Desdemona, Othello proved that he does not truly love Desdemona because he is insecure, lacks trust, and is a very jealous person.
Othello believes that Desdemona is his possession, an object in his life which is supposed to show he honour and reputation as a man, therefore the belief that Desdemona has broken that honour and nobility forces Othello to destroy her.
The meaningful term “love” can be applied to differing relationships in Shakespeare’s tragedy Othello. In this essay let us examine under a microscope the “love” that we find throughout the play.
In Act II Scene I he tells her, "It gives me wonder great as my content to see you here before me. O my soul's joy!" and " If it were now to die, Twere now to be most happy" (Shakespeare 1168-69). Othello implies that his life was in chaos before he met Desdemona (1186). Othello, however, is also very insecure of Desdemona's love for him (Mabillard 1). He doesn't understand why she would go against her father and her society by marrying a man that is black (1). The only reason that he can come up with is that she married him for his courageous journeys (1). In Act I scene iii he explains to the Duke, "She lov'd me for the dangers I had pass'd" (Shakespeare 1157). In Act III scene ii he tries to put his doubts to rest
Alabaster’s beauty gives you an idea about his feelings of bodily inferiority to her. Alabaster is a naturally beautiful stone, used by ancient Egyptians and Chinese to make statues and vases. This word choice explains to the reader his feelings of inadequacy to Desdemona. At another time, he describes her as “fair as Dian’s visage”(3.3.389), Dian most likely being the god of healing in Celtic mythology. This gives the impression of a healthy glow surrounding her. Othello on the other hand is never said to be ugly, on the contrary, he is described as “far more fair than black”(1.3.291). However he must have felt some sensitivity about his physical appearance as it was mentioned to him constantly. Othello then goes on to describe her honor as “begrimed and black as mine own face”(3.3.390). Othello superimposes her clean and young white face with his own grimy old black face, making him seem a disgusting person. Othello’s choice of this simile shows his supposed racial inferiority. The fact that Othello believed Desdemona to be unfaithful with Cassio further proves his insecurity. Cassio is a clean white man with golden hair. Cassio is all of the beauty that Othello cannot be, and is therefore able to provide something that
It is here that the audience begins seeing a different identity of Othello. Who was once regarded as so valiant and courageous, was now beginning to show signs of severe insecurities dealing with matters, most importantly, such as his lack of experience in love and marriage causing shadows of doubt over his confidence in himself and his ability to be loved by and worthy of someone like Desdemona. Desdemona, although not intentionally, seems to be the reason for all the unrest in Othello. This is an instance in the play when irony shines it's smiling face upon Shakespeare's most tragic characters. Othello feels truly happy with the presence of Desdemona in his life (Act II.1, 181-187):
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.
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. 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 are made both stronger and weaker by their emotions.
However strong the emotional attitude of prejudices may be in Othello, Love is the most powerful emotion and ironically the emotion that leads to the most vulnerability. Loves of all kinds are tested in the tragedy and ultimately all fail to rectify the horrible situation. Marital love for Othello and Desdemona serve as both a heaven and a hell on earth. As Othello portrays by saying,
Looking at the play, all along Desdemona is a very feminine character. She most likely acts like a wife and daughter. So full of cares, Desdemona at a point of the play even neglected her house quarrels and goes out to spare fellings with Cassio to try to help with his situations with Othello. So faithful she was, even when she and Othello were not on the best terms, she was still trying to fixed everything even she knows that she was not cheating, which she explains, " Yes, faith, so humbled that he hath left parts of his grief with me to suffer with him. Good love call him
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 is a soldier. A strong man. What he knows of life comes from his experiences on the battlefield. He is an honest man, who was trusting as well. He has his friends and confidants, that he holds all of his trust in; maybe too much trust. He is married to young, beautiful Dedemona. She disobeyed her father by marrying Othello, a man of another race, and another color. She has a deep and compassionate love for Othello. The story of Othello and Desdemona is not one of a story book romance. What started as a love for two people, turned out to be a marriage based on jealousy, deceit and in the end a tragic murder.