Shakespeares Othello - Othello and the Heroine, Desdemona :: Othello essays

Othello and the Heroine, Desdemona In William Shakespeares tragic play Othello we see a rattling exceptional woman in the person of Desdemona, wife of the general. She, as Cassio says, is a paragon of virtues, unlike the other female characters in the drama. H. S. Wilson in his hold in of literary criticism, On the Design of Shakespearean Tragedy, discusses Desdemonas entry into the Moors life But Othello had not known Desdemona long he had miniscule knowledge of women in any case his military life had left scant time for cultivating their society or studying them, before he met Desdemona and in that respect was a bitter modesty in the man, who thought it quite possible that, for all his greatness and his romantic past, a young girl like Desdemona skill hold him but a passing fancy. (64) In Act 1 Scene1, Iago persuades the rejected suitor of Desdemona, Roderigo, to accompany him to the home of Brabantio, Desdemonas father, in the middle of the night. at one time there th e two awaken him with loud shouts about his daughters elopement with Othello. In response to Iagos vulgar descriptions of Desdemonas involvement with the general, Brabantio arises from bed and, with Roderigos help, gathers a search party to go and find Desdemona and bring her home. Once that Brabantio has located Othello, the father presses charges publicly in order to have Desdemona returned To prison, till buy the farm time Of law and course of direct session Call thee to answer. (1.2) The proceedings which take place before the Duke of Venice cause the father to permanently lose his daughter, mostly due to Desdemonas own fluent presentation of her point of view in the city council chamber. This results in Brabantios virtual disowning of her and not allowing her to subsist in his house while Othellos campaign against the Turks in Cyprus is in progress. Thus it would seem that Desdemona has been living her life with a father who is primarily evoke in self and less in daug hter. Entrusted to the ancients care and that of his Emilia, Desdemona arrives at the seaport of Cyprus. Blanche Coles in Shakespeares Four Giants interprets the protagonists very meaningful four-word greeting to Desdemona which he utters upon disembarking in Cyprus Othellos four words, O, my souls joy, tell us that this beautiful Venetian girl has brought great joy, felicity, blessedness to the very depths of his soul.