Summary A* AQA English Literature Othello essay - ‘'It is Desdemona's naivety about men that brings about her downfall.' (2022)
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Course
Othello
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AQA
My A* essay from the June 2022 paper on: 'It is Desdemona's naivety about men that brings about her downfall.' In light of this view, discuss how Shakespeare presents Desdemona in this extract and elsewhere in the play.
'It is Desdemona's naivety about men that brings about her downfall.' In light
of this view, discuss how Shakespeare presents Desdemona in this extract
and elsewhere in the play.
Shakespeare's Elizabethan play, Othello, is set in patriarchal Jacobean society.
Thus, he uses Desdemona as a microcosm of women from that time who conformed
to patriarchal values and personified women's gender stereotype as being naive and
submissive. Therefore, on one hand her naivety about men can be seen as her
downfall - as she doesn't realise Othello and lago's villainy. Yet, ultimately it is
society's fault as when she is assertive against men and the patriarchy, it brings
about her downfall.
Shakespeare presents Desdemona in this extract and the play as naive to Othello's
feelings through how desperate she is for him to help Cassio. Desdemona uses
hyperbolic statements such as "[I] shall rather die than give thy cause away" which
creates dramatic irony as while the audience knows is due to her kindness, the
extent she would go to for Cassio is misconstrued by men like lago and Othello as
suspicious. Shakespeare continues this through her repetitive and incessant
questioning to Othello in triplets such as "tomorrow night, or Tuesday morn, or
Tuesday noon?". It increases the pace and tension, further amplifying Othello's
suspicion. She continues to use this technique as well as long sentences and a
monologue despite Othello being visibly frustrated by her speech - as seen by his
contrasting short sentences and cold tone, for example in "No, not tonight". Yet,
Shakespeare presents her as ignorant to this so she continues, although perhaps
due to their shared iambic pentameter here she mistakes his feelings as positive and
loving also. Thus, it can be argued that Desdemona's caringness is in fact her
hamartia as it makes her naive to how she comes across and how it is affecting
Othello.
Likewise, Shakespeare presents Desdemona as naive to men on the whole - similar
to how he presents Ophelia. This is personified through sexually promiscuous female
characters such as Emilia (who is implied to have slept with Othello and is
dissatisfied with lago) and Bianca (a courtesan) who serve as a contrast to
Desdemona's extreme naivety and innocence. For example, Desdemona's
discussion with Emilia about men clearly highlights this. On one hand, Shakespeare
has Emilia use puns about have sex outside of marriage, claiming that she would
"make her husband a cuckold to make him a monarch", and using sexual imagery
about another man's "nether lip" and "handsome[ness]" to tempt Desdemona. In
contrast, Desdemona stays loyal to Othello and does not find Emilia's scandalous
comments humorous, again using hyperbolic exclamations like "I cannot believe
there are doth women who abuse their husbands in such a gross kind" - reinforcing
how naive she is about relationships in her society. Likewise, Emilia has a negative
view about men, which feminists may argue is to the point of misandry, aligning them
with "devils" and using the metaphor that men are "stomachs" that use women then
"belch" them when they are done with them. Whereas, Shakespeare portrays
Desdemona as having a positive view of men throughout, despite being mistreated
by lago and subjected to Othello's emotional and physical abuse - which although
violence was normalised in their society, the extent of his violence would be shocking
to both a modern and contemporary audience. She stays loyal to her "lord" Othello
from this extract through to her death and is 'self denying to the extreme' (Lisa
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