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Greek tragedies: Desdemona and Cassandra parallels
An example of a comparison of Shakespeare's Othello to the tale of Cassandra in Greek Mythology
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Greek tragedies: Desdemona and Cassandra parallelsShakespeare takes heavy inspiration from Greek tragedy (often
seen as the height of the tragic genre). An example of this is with
the character of Desdemona, who can be compared to Cassandra in
Greek mythology.
Cassandra, in Greek mythology, was a tragic figure. She was the
daughter of Priam, the last king of Troy, and his wife Hecuba. In
Homer's Iliad, she is the most beautiful of Priam's daughters but
not a prophetess.In the tragedy Agamemnon, Cassandra appears to
suggest the God to become his mortal lover but then breaks her
promise, causing his wrath. Thus, Apollo left her the gift of
prophecy but cursed her so that no one could or would believe her.
This is similar to Desdemona as she has a prophecy of her own
death through the ‘song of willow’ scene. Emilia herself doesn’t
believe in her premonition, as she only remains neutral in the
conversation. This is shown when she says ‘tis neither here nor
there’, which possibly suggests that Emilia favours Iago as a result
of the roles that women must have in Venetian society.
The Cassandra complex/ metaphor is frequently used in psychology
and politics and is used to refer to a person who believes they can
predict the future but is powerless to change it.
The name Cassandra name means ‘she who shines over men’ so the
name is seen as a very empowering, but also tragic one since at the
time, women had to be submissive to their male patriarchs. This
can connect to Desdemona’s character as she can be seen as a
woman who tries to defy the patriarchy when eloping with Othello
against her father’s wishes, as well as talking to Emilia in Act 4
Scene 3 about the flaws regarding how women are treated in
Venice compared to men.
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