8/10/2019 200 Words on Othello

1/1

200 words on Othello, Iago, Desdemona (Act 3 Scene 3)

Othello is has been converted completelyall about taking revenge on Cassio and Desdemona.

O, blood, blood, blood!, lewd minx!

Iago playing the part of the honest, well-meaning friend prickd tot by foolish honesty and

love

Desdemona is being characterised by Othello as unfaithful, soiled, begrimed

2 things due MondayCharacters + ACT 1

Write a paragraph of 8-10 lines on Othello, Desdemona + Iago (1 on each). Focus on topic sentences,

quotes that represent point, analysis of quote, structuring of ideas.

Desdemona is totally clueless about whats going on but Othello thinks that shes someone shes

not, as a result of Iagos intervention.

Desdemona is the epitome of the ideal Venetian white woman, exemplified when Cassio describes

her as virtuous and a most fresh and delicate creature

The true heroine is Emiliamaybe not. NO NEVERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

Her name, that was as fresh As Dians visage is now begrimed and black As m ine own face.

internalising negativity (societal values)

Desdemona is the wife of Othello, who at first loves her unquestioningly, but later begins to despise

her as he feels increasingly insecure and doubtful of her faithfulness as he takes Iagos manipulative

advice. She is one of the few characters in the play who is completely blameless and is simply avictim of circumstance. Throughout the play, she is repeatedly characterised by Cassio as divine,

virtuous and a most fresh and delicate creature, embodying how women were valued for their

physicality in the patriarchal society of Shakespeares time. Furthermore, in this male-dominated

society, men often thought of women as their possessions, with women owing duty to both their

fathers and their husbands, exemplified in how Desdemona owes a divided duty to both her father

and her husband. While it is plain to see that Desdemona is loyal and faithful to him, Othello himself

begins to question whether this is true, with Iago working him up into a jealousy so strong that

judgement cannot cureas he plans in his soliloquy. His change in attitude toward Desdemona, now

that he suspects that she has been unfaithful to him with Cassio, is illustrated when he compares her

face, that was as fresh as Dians visage to being no begrimed and black as mine own face, the

comparison of similes effectively demonstrating her decline in value. Additionally, this shows

Othellos internalisation of the negativity associated with being black, a racial prejudice prevalent

in the Jacobean Era when black was the colour of degeneracy and damnation, according to Elliot-

Butler Evans (1997).

black is the colour of degeneracy and damnation

However, as Iago begins to plant seeds of doubt and jealousy in Othellos mind,