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Desdemona (Names and name-calling (Names and descriptions of her as her…
Desdemona
Names and name-calling
Names and descriptions of her as her reputation is at stake and the heart of the play, according to people like Lisa Jardine. At the time of production, questioning a woman's virtue was a stronger insult of it could be her downfall and disgrace her husband's name.
The names given to her are either in the highest, divine-like praise or lowest form of insult, her being 'double-damned' (Act 4, Sc 1)-there is no middle way, like the 'Madonna/whore' paradox
Desdemona is not the only one who suffers from this- suffering at hands of men in a common way? Would the original audience expect much more from that?
The end
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'By Heaven you do me wrong'- is this a cry for women against the behaviour of men? But would Shakespeare be that concerned with a social group that he was not part of?
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Different views on her
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Historic reading by Lisa Jardine: 'It doesn't matter that a woman is called a whore it matters when and where she is'. 'Desdemona two remaining scenes focus on her new supposedly culpable (deserving blame) sexuality, culminating in her suffocation on her bed in a state of undress- a whore's death for all her innocence'