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Desdemona - Coggle Diagram
Desdemona
innocence / passivity
"A guiltless death I die."
Her final declaration asserts moral purity. The audience knows she is innocent, making her death profoundly tragic.
- link to genre conventions, where undeserved suffering is common
My noble Moor / Is true of mind."
- she is still convinced that othello is loving and what he is doing is justified, she just doesnt know what she has done
- Hher unwavering trust contrasts painfully with his violence, displaying how women were supposed to remain passive and not question their husbands actions
"I will go learn the office of a housewife."
- Her compliance reflects patriarchal expectations. Her obedience makes her increasingly pitiable and the audience sympathises with her as she was once more active.
- links back to iago saying 'He's done my office'
- early modern wives were expected to be submissive
'Commend me to my kind lord’
- Desdemona is claiming responsibility for her own death, despite being innocent
- ' my kind lord' shows that she still has respect for him despite his cruelty.
- ' commend me' imperative shows she is still estabilishing some control over the situation. she perhaps has genuine love for othello, as any normal person would have spoken out against this if they had nothing to lose.
"I prithee call him back."
- desdemonas kindness is being misinterpreted as romantic love for cassio. reflects how iago aims to turn her 'virtue into pitch'
HE STRIKES HER!!!
- othello humiliates desdemona in public; he no longer has any respect for her, juxtaposing his character at the very beginning - an eloquent, respectful and loving husband.
- iago has successfully infiltrated his mentality and has corrupted him successfully. othello is no longer an independent character, rather, he is largely controlled by iago. iago's plans are successful.
- desdemona as a victim of othello. not only is she a victim of Iago's plans but a victim of othello misogyny.
- despite this, she remains loyal to him, showing how she needs to remain passive to even have a chance of surviving
- she cant speak out too much against him, as is the patriarchal dictum towards not speaking out against their father (VAUGHAN)
"Lay on my bed my wedding sheets.
- following intense verbal abuse from Othello, who believes her to be unfaithful, desdemona clings to the hope that reminding him of their marriage vows will fix their relationship.
- wedding sheets are symbolic of her innocence, but also the unconsumated and genuine nature of their marriage
"Sing willow, willow, willow"
"O falsely, falsely murdered!"
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critical theory
LISA JARDINEp
argues that Desdemona is "too-knowing" and "too-independent" early in the play. Her her subsequent death, is a lesson in what happens when a woman disobeys the male patriarchy.
KAREN NEWMAN
argues that Desdemona’s decision to marry a black man is heroic rather than demonic, and she initially acts as a strong, proactive partner.
MARILYN FRENCH
argue that while she is initially active, she becomes a "stereotype of female passivity" later in the play. she says she "accepts her culture's dictum that she must be obedient to males," becoming "self-denying in the extreme".
VAUGHAN
‘In choosing a foreigner she has violated the Venetian norm of arranged endogamous marriages... [but] she still honours the patriarchal dictum that, once married, the wife owes her husband the same respect and duty she had shown her father’ (exact quote)
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