a word from our sponsors
See the new shakespeare.com. This feature, while it still provides useful information, is no longer maintained.
Replies | Post Reply | Shakespeare Queries From Genuinely Interested Students 4.2.97: Top | Help
I totally agree with Desdemona being the tragic heroine. As I
studied the play, I thought she might even have been more
deserving of being the tragic hero than Othello. But anyway,
I think she is because: she is very admirable-- adventurous
(although this may not have been admirable when the play was
written), charismatic, noble, loyal, and a very "good" person,
and she tragically is killed by the one she loves the most. I
believe her tragic flaw was that she was overtrusting and
couldn't do anything to save herself from Othello and it cost her
her life. You could define Emilia in similar ways. She trusts
Iago by giving him the handkerchief and it costs her friend's
life.
I remember one thing Desdemona did that directly caused part of
Othello's mistrusting her, and that was in III.iv.35-45 or around
there where Othello believes you can read character through
physical character. Desdemona had a warm, moist palm indicating
sexual desire. At the beginning of the play, she was a
perfect woman because she was not sexual, not desiring, therefore
she would not be subject to cuckolding Othello. His impression
of her changes when he reads her lust for him as indicating she
could be lustful toward any man.Posted by Tristan on April 15, 1997 at 20:25:03
In Reply to "Desdemona" posted by Josh Dies on April 15, 1997 at 07:52:31
Replies | Post Reply | Shakespeare Queries From Genuinely Interested Students 4.2.97: Top | Help