The universality of William Shakespeare’s Othello lies in its ability to break free of the confines of its central plot about psychopathy among the ruling class to become a much broader examination of jealousy and the inclination to believe the absolute worst about those you love the absolute most. So rich is the tapestry of characters Shakespeare creates for this tale of how the green-eyed monster has the power to radiate outward from its source and affect those within its orbit that the play offers opportunities for deep and complex analysis of a wealth of character. The title character is the very model for investigating how pride and nobility colors one’s worldview while Iago has historically been the academic power boy for demonstrating the corruptibility of positive values like righteousness and a demand for integrity. Often overlooked in discussions of how character affects plot in Othello is the deceptively intricate complexity of Desdemona who demonstrations of a rebellious streak belie her reputation as honest and innocent victim of the collision between the two more obviously byzantine personalities of Othello and Iago.
Another element offering a rich resource of material for a paper on Othello is its theme about the conflict between what appears to be so and what actually is so and Othello’s young wife actually steps up to take center stage within this theme when “the previously obedient Desdemona frankly proclaims her desire for Othello before the Venetian senate, her father Brabantio is so astonished that he can only believe her to be bewitched” (Traub, 2001). The suggestion that Desdemona is bewitched will eventually spread to an Othello clearly bothered by a bewildering view toward his wife which is not far removed from the view Brabantio expresses toward his daughter. The darkening shadow upon Desdemona as some sort of supernatural catalyst behind the murderous events of the play is best symbolized by the paradoxical innocence of a handkerchief. Othello petitions for “some visible proof of the adultery…supplied partly in the form of a purloined handkerchief” (Neill, 2006). In reality, that purloined handkerchief fails to meet the standard of evidence for proof and so instead becomes for Othello a sort of charm symbolizing how the love which bonded them has become the agent which breaks that bond. In a larger sense, the handkerchief becomes a symbol of the way in which Desdemona’s role in the play has overtones of postmodernism in that her role is constantly being defined for the audience through how other characters view her.
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Desdemona should be lauded for maintaining many of the positive traits of personality that are inevitably corrupted within the men passing through the orbit of Iago’s manipulation of Othello, but Desdemona is also placed in opposition to all the men around her as a personification of a rebellious and romantic spirit whose devotion to her husband is exhibited by an almost inexplicable willingness to stick by him despite his increasingly erratic behavior. By the tragedy’s climax the rectitude of both Iago and Othello have collapsed while Desdemona’s reputation remains intact. The lack of any permanent stain upon her honor amidst all the carnage surrounding her raises significant questions about such a discrepancy. One useful insight into this issue can be extrapolated from two keen observations about Desdemona. The first informs us that when “Othello says he threw away a `pearl,’ we recall that Brabantio, in acceding to Desdemona’s departure, called her a `jewel’; when Desdemona says she would rather have lost her purse than the handkerchief, we recall that Iago, who has stolen the handkerchief, has spoken of stealing of purse” (Heilman, 1967). The second useful observation posits that “through the whole of the dialogue appropriated to Desdemona there is not one general observation. Words are with her the vehicle of sentiment, and never of reflection” (Jameson, 1889). Taking all this evidence together, it becomes clear that Desdemona’s reputation remains intact because without anyone left alive to describe her, the audience has no way of knowing who she really was.
Desdemona ultimately is reduced (or perhaps elevated) to a sort of postmodern Shakespearean along the lines of Julius Caesar. The only difference is that Caesar doesn’t last long enough to be given time to define himself, but aside from the role of both Casesar and Desdemona are defined for the audience not by themselves but by others. The play’s setting on an island is a symbol of its theme of the disconnect between what is and is not real as its isolation from the “real world” of the mainland is realized most strongly in the character of Desdemona. Her placement within that theme is one of almost overbearing irony. The irony stems from the fact that the movement toward the tragic climax that pits Iago against Othello and Othello against his wife is stimulated by the character of Desdemona. Her role essentially boils down to the thing without which everything would have turned out differently. In this light, Desdemona becomes arguably the single most vital and significant character in the play. The irony being, of course, that she also exists as the character about which the audience really ever knows the least.
- Heilman, R., 1967. Wit and Witchcraft: An Approach to Othello. In: L. Dean, ed. Shakespeare: Modern Essays in Criticism. Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 331.
- Jameson, M., 1889. Characteristics of Women: Moral, Poetical and Historical. Last London Edition ed. London: Houghton, Mifflin and Company.
- Neill, M., ed., 2006. The Oxford Shakespeare Othello. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Traub, V., 2001. Gender and Sexuality in Shakespeare. In: M. De Grazia & S. Wells, eds. The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 131-132.
