act 4 scene 3 Flashcards
desdemona:
‘we must not now displease him’
very obedient of othello
women scared and trapped by men’s power
desdemona:
‘my love doth so approve him, that even his stubbornness, his cheeks, his frowns - prithee, unpin me - have grace and favour in them.’
her love for othello is incredibly pure
loves everything about him
power of iago - juxtaposition. desdemona’s love, purity and innocence.
desdemona:
‘i call’d my love false love; but what said he then? sing willow, willow, willow’
foreboding as to what happens - singing about being forsaken
last time she has a voice - shakespeare wanted to show an emotional truth
a symbol behind weeping willows is that they represent death and grief - associated with oracles predicting alexander the great as the willows brushed his crown off of his head.
people whose lovers had forsaken them wore crowns made from willow leaves and twigs. willows appeared on gravestones and cemeteries, and when it rained, their drooping branches appeared as if they were bereaved and in tears.
not only foreshadows the death of desdemona as she is singing this song but also presents othello’s abandonment towards her yet she still loves him with her whole heart and perhaps grieves for his lost affection. the name of the tree itself–weeping willows–has already spoken so much about the symbolism.
used as a painkiller
desdemona:
‘o these men, these men! dost thou in conscience think,- tell me, emilia - that there be women do abuse their husbands in such gross kind?’
true reality of what women think about men
pathos
trapped
innocent in every sense of the word, desdemona asks emilia if she believes any women ever really cheat on their husbands.
william hazlitt observed -
‘this dialogue takes place just before the last fatal scene. if othello had overheard it, it would have prevented the whole catastrophe; but then it would have spoiled the play’
