Themes and Lessons from Shakespeare's Othello
Themes and Lessons from Shakespeare's Othello
Desdemona appears to be the perfect woman and is destroyed by the supposedly perfect man, Othello. Desdemona is the depicted perfect woman; she is subservient and loyal to her husband and she is from a sheltered and refined background. Othello, her husband, is the proffered example of masculine male perfection. Othello is man of motion, a strong warrior who acts in concurrence with his convictions and honor. Shakespeare proves that Othello is fallible too, destroyed for believing hearsay over his wife. Shakespeare in this play chooses to manipulate the ideals of a society and their striving towards perfection. Othello shows through morbid humor what can result from blind faith of believing in something as abstract as perfection. Therefore, perfection is impossible and destroys itself because it is an unnatural state.
Desdemona is depicted as female perfection throughout the opening scenes of the play. This is done through showing her strong and loyal characteristics and her love to Othello. Desdemona is shown as a woman who is independent and intelligent, willing to do anything for the sake of her love. In act one this includes standing before the Duke, her father, and the male senate of her patriarchal society and demanding to be listened to.
I do perceive here a divided duty.
To [my father] I am bound for life and education…
You are the lord of duty,
I am hitherto your daughter. But here’s my husband,
And so much duty as my mother showed
To you, preferring you before her father,
So much I challenge that I may profess
Due to the Moor my lord (Othello, 1.3.180-189).
Desdemona shares a lot of her value system and ideals in this passage. She shows her loyalty and love for her father and her understanding of her duty to him as his daughter in the first four lines. Underlying, her portrayal as dutiful daughter is the diametrical evidence that she did not honor her father by running away to marry Othello in secret. She persists in her speech forcing the ideal of her needing to be more loyal to her husband than her father, mentioning her mother as a past model in relation to her father. Desdemona continues, going so far as to say, “I challenge” to her father and the patriarchs of her society demanding their concurrence...