Desdomona in Othello
The Role of Desdemona in Shakespeare's Othello The character of Desdemona represents a woman of the 17th century who surpassed the norms of sexual morality set for Venetian women of that time. When Desdemona left the house of her father, Brabantio, to wed the Moor, Othello, it was the first step in redefining her role as a woman. Desdemona, instead of asking her father's permission, decided on her own to marry Othello. It seems as though Desdemona was breaking away from the strictness imposed by Brabantio. She denied her father any right in choosing or granting allowance to Othello to marry her. Instead she chose the man who she wanted to marry and felt it unnecessary that her father intervene in their relationship. This act of independence by Desdemona tore away the gender barriers of the Venetian patriarchal society and posed a threat to male authority. The other aspect of Desdemona's mutiny was the miscegenation in Desdemona and Othello's marriage. 1The choice of mate made !by Desdemona further deviated from the role in which Venetian society would cast her. The traditions of the Venetian society are discovered when Iago speaks to Brabantio and plants both the ideas of miscegeny and loss of power into Brabantio's mind. Iago c
Othello's love for Desdemona at the beginning of the play was based on this hope, faith and experience. Carolyn Ruth Swift Lenz, Gayle Greene, Carol Thomas Neely. Cassio's was also an enthusiastic admirer of Desdemona. 3She wished to be a man as brave and as noble as Othello (Holland 253). Desdemona's matriarchal sensitivities are like those of the character Frances in Irwin Shaw's "The Girls in Their Summer Dresses. It was not until Emilia was faced with the tragic death of Desdemona that she was able to express her desire to escape from the male-dominated society. By marrying Othello, Desdemona was showing that s!he was strong enough and educated enough to break the societal confines of passivity for women (Walker 2).
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