Desdemona - Character Quotes

Question 1

how does Cassio initially describe D when she arrives to Venice?

Answer 1

“the grace of heaven” - flatters and objectifies her - suggest grace of god surrounds her

Question 2

How does D challenge Iago’s mysogony?

Answer 2

Emelia talks to much: responds “fie upon thee, slanderer!”
“heavy ignorance, thou praisest the worst best”- spirited nature’
- D challenges I to compliment “a deserving woman”

Question 3

D warns Emelia about I after his mysogeny

Answer 3

“Do not learn of him, Emilia,” - Desdemona’s warning is portentous.

Question 4

Act 3: Desdemona shows he loyalty to Cassio (getting his job back)

Answer 4

“You do love my lord” - good intentions clear to audience
“Before Emilia here
I give thee warrant of thy place.”
“For thy solicitor shall rather die”
- legal lexis
- makes clear she puts herself in a position of supporting Cassio that she cannot later, for honour’s sake, refute;
- if she is swearing in front of a witness - Emilia - and this will ultimately condemn her in Othello’s eyes, ironically as he will come to believe her the opposite of honourable. ‘Rather die’ is thus heavily ironic on line 29

Question 5

Interesting use of Exits that connotes suspision

Answer 5

“Enter O and I”
emilia, cassio and D talking - then Exit cassio
Iago: “Ha! I like not that”

Question 6

Desdemona good judge of character

Answer 6

“If he be not one that truly loves you … I have no judgement” - irony is she is right but he ends up believing I + audience knows this

Question 7

Sense of division between O and D following her initial request

Answer 7

“Not now, sweet Desdemona”
…
“Tomorrow dinner, then?” :
- division so soon after harmonious reunion; - share lines metrically, indicating co-operation,
- Desdemona’s listing in regular controlled verse presents her as intelligent, and skilled in argument

Question 8

Desdemona shows she has agency in relationship

Answer 8

“What you would ask me that I should deny
Or stand so mamm’ring on. What?” - D is very blunt and critical here in the use of ‘mamm’ring on’ indicating her open nature and agency at this point in the relationship. She expects him to treat her as she treats him. Nonetheless at the end of this section of the scene she states that she is an ‘obedient’ wife whatever he chooses to do. Desdemona’s nature is constrained by her social position as a wife.

Question 9

Handkerchiefs worth to Desdemona

Answer 9

“Believe me, I had rather have lost my purse
Full of crusadoes.” “As some jealous creatures are”:
- handkerchief is worth more than money
- says much in Venetian society, which values wealth.
- This line echoes Iago’s ‘who steals my purse steals trash’ and makes the point that the handkerchief is synonymous with D’s reputation;
- some acute dramatic irony from Desdemona coming after Othello’s descent into overwhelming jealousy and rage in the last scene!

Question 10

Desdemona tries to argue her hand does not suggest rebellion

Answer 10

“For ’twas that hand that gave away my heart.”
- formally phrased reply
- disagreeing with him yet remaining calm
- She turns the accusation of ‘rebels’ and ‘frank’ around to mean her honest love for him that defied social rules
- reminds us of the troth plighting ceremony before marriage

Question 11

dialogue between D and O when they initially argue about handkerchief (i don’t have it) - Indicates towards othello’s language

Answer 11

“Why do you speak so startingly and rash?”
“Is’t lost? Is’t gone?”
an example of fast paced alternating lines - stichomythia often used in arguments between two characters. The effect is a bit like a verbal fencing match. Stichomythia is often used at moments of high intensity, as here.

Question 12

Desdemona and Othello arguing about hankerchief - D talks about cassio - O about hankerchief

Answer 12

“You’ll never meet a more sufficient man”
“The handkerchief!”
“In sooth, you are to blame”
- three ref to Cassio are alternated with three requests for the handkerchief
- highlighting for Othello handkerchief represents her fidelity lack= infedelity
- Note how Desdemona is resolute in her pursuit of Cassio’s case, despite Othello’s irrational and forceful questioning,
- strength of character and showing the audience, ironically, that she is true to her word.

Question 13

D’s comment that echoes “I am not what I am”

Answer 13

My lord is not my lord

Question 14

D emphasises to Cassio she is risking much for him

Answer 14

“What I can do I will, and more I will
Than for myself I dare.”
- she is risking much for Cassio and even comments on her ‘free speech’ and how it has angered him - not subserviant at this point

Question 15

Desdemona and Emelia scene - monster related imagery

Answer 15

“some unhatched practice
Made demonstrable here in Cyprus to him”
“Heaven keep the monster from Othello’s mind!”
- unhatched practice suggests the eggs of insect, reptile –> monster-related imagery already seen
- using Heaven here associates Othello with the opposite as we know he does indeed have that monster growing in his thoughts

Question 16

Desdemona and Emelia scene - Desdemona comments on men and their tempers

Answer 16

“Men’s natures wrangle with inferior things,
Though great ones are their object.” - the trivial ‘trifles’ that cause anxiety/jealousy and distract from one’s true purpose

Question 17

Desdemona and Emelia scene - her comments on men in relation to god

Answer 17

“men are not gods”
- accepting the reality of marriage now but ‘men are not gods’ could also remind us of the fall from grace of the hero

Question 18

Desdemona and Othello scene: a little before he slaps her - what does she say about cassio

Answer 18

“I would do much
T’ atone them, for the love I bear to Cassio.”
- dramatic irony. The result of these two conversations taking place concurrently- one actually on a private topic, the other a public conversation, is striking and creates a very jarring and disjointed scene

Question 19

Desdemona and Othello scene: a little before he slaps her - asks Lodovico is he angry?

Answer 19

“What, is he angry?” - she speaks to Lodovico not to him - distancing herself?

Question 20

The slap

Answer 20

“DESDEMONA
Why, sweet Othello—
OTHELLO
Devil! [strikes her]”
“I have not deserved this”
- Desdemona’s line is interrupted by the insulting exclamation and physical violence ( note the strong religious epithet connoting sin). He is publically accusing her of some sin

Question 21

Desdemona leaves after the slap

Answer 21

“I will not stay to offend you.”
Desdemona is seen here to fulfil the expectations of her as a Venetian woman, at least in public. Doe she retreat into this role out of fear?

Question 22

4:2 Who has control in this scene?

Answer 22

• Othello
• “Upon my knee”
• using of stage action reflects Desdemona’s vulnerability and submission due to Othello’s rage

Question 23

4:2 - D’s responce to O’s accusation of adultery

Answer 23

• “No, as I am a Christian” “to preserve this vessel for my lord … Be not to be a strumpet, I am none.”
• idea of woman as a vessel - lesser or empty - vessel can be boat or bowl - to be used by men

Question 24

4:2 - what lines suggest she has fainted

Answer 24

“Oh, heaven forgive us!” - some interpreted as fainting
“Faith, half asleep.”

Question 25

4:2 - no longer with O but with Emelia now: suggests she doesn’t have husband check

Answer 25

EMILIA
Why, with my lord, madam”
EMILIA
He that is yours, sweet lady.
DESDEMONA
I have none.
- either she is confused or implying she has lost her husband now - accept it is over

Question 26

4:2 - what does she say to emelia that foreshadows her death?

Answer 26

“Prithee, tonight
Lay on my bed my wedding sheets.”
- married women were sometimes buried in their wedding sheets so this could foreshadow her death, though on the surface she means it to remind Othello of their love

Question 27

4:2 - frustrated aside from D about Othello’s anger towards her

Answer 27

“‘Tis meet I should be used so, very meet.
How have I been behaved that he might stick The small’st opinion on my greatest misuse”
- an aside from D - her inner thoughts spoken to us

Question 28

4:2 - Iago comes in and asked her whats wrong? her response: treatment from O

Answer 28

“for, in good faith, I am a child to chiding.”
- O could have been gentler as she feels the pain of a child. Her youth is emphasised, creating pathos.

Question 29

4:2 - when talking to iago - she says its her fate

Answer 29

“It is my wretched fortune.”
- her fate, predestined
Both the O and D refer to fate as shaping their lives

Question 30

4:2 asks Iago for help

Answer 30

“Good friend, go to him.”
“Here I kneel:
If e’er my will did trespass ‘gainst his love … Comfort forswear me!”
“And his unkindness may defeat my life, But never taint my love.”
- This contrasts the moral goodness of Desdemona, her innocence, with Othello’s moral corruption, as it parallels the scene where Othello kneels and pledges to get his revenge, asking heaven to witness his promise in 3:3
Here she swears her love and loyalty to Othello, despite everything. There is a strong sense of imminent catastrophe as she says’ his unkindness may defeat my life’

Question 31

4:3 E and D after O has commanded her to go to bed

Answer 31

“DESDEMONA
hath commanded me to go to bed
And bid me to dismiss you.
EMILIA
Dismiss me?
DESDEMONA
It was his bidding.”
- repeats previous, highlighting danger and his intention to kill her which the audience know
“we must not now displease him”
- highlights her obedience and desire to please - out of necessity perhaps she is fulfilling the expectations of a good Venetian noblewoman

Question 32

4:3 - important action (dramatic method) in this scene between E and D

Answer 32

“Prithee, unpin me”
- this scene has much dramatic impact created by the actions between the women of undressing Desdemona
- we may feel she is being prepared as a sacrifice!.
- The domestic setting and a place of sanctuary - one’s private bedroom where sleep should be safe.
- Shakespeare uses this to build the sense of injustice at Othello’s actions and heighten the pathos we feel for Desdemona

Question 33

4:3 - line that suggests she knows she will die

Answer 33

“If I do die before thee, prithee, shroud me
In one of these same sheets.”
- she seems to have a premonition of her own death - again linked to the role of fate.
This is linked to the story of her mother’s maid who was abandoned by her lover, and who also died. The song of willow would alert Shakespeare’s audience, as willow symbolised grief for unrequited love or the loss of a mate.
The song with its images of grief and water creates a sad mood of melancholy

Question 34

4:3 - D starts to sing

Answer 34

• her alternating between broken lines of song and instruction to E , along with her startled question create a sense of tension and fear
  e.g
  “Sing willow, willow, willow— (slanted)
  Lay by these—”
  “Let nobody blame him, his scorn I approve—” - lines match D’s earlier forgiveness of O and lines at death
  “Hark! Who is’t that knocks?”
• theme of song adultery

Question 35

4:3 start of duologue on equality between men and women - what does D ask E

Answer 35

“That there be women do abuse their husbands
In such gross kind?”
… chatter
“Beshrew me, if I would do such a wrong for the whole world” - reafirms her moral goodness here

Question 36

5:2 rise in tension - exchanges of speech - O’s first mention of killing

Answer 36

D: “talk you of killing?”
O: “Ay, I do.”
D: “Then heaven
Have mercy on me!”
- the short exchanges of speech here remind us of a religious rite like the call and response of the Christian liturgy

Question 37

5:2 Desdemona talks about her fear

Answer 37

“And yet I fear you, for you’re fatal then
When your eyes roll so.”
- fear is an aspect of tragedy - ‘pity and fear’ being part of the feeling of catharsis - the purging of strong emotions felt at the end of a tragedy. We fear for her at this point.
His ‘eyes roll[ing]’ suggests he is overwhelmed and losing control - we fear his violent potential too. She has a sense

Question 38

5:2 - paradoxical reference to death + ref to Othello’s nature

Answer 38

she refers to her sins as “they are loves I bear to you”
“That death’s unnatural that kills for loving.”
- death=killing - paradox here highlights this unnatural act - disequilibrium
“Some bloody passion shakes your very frame.”
- this is a physical manifestation of his anger/passion - the blood being the site of that, as opposed to reason ( the mind) which usually keeps the body under control. animal vs human evoked.

Question 39

5:2 she denies all accusations

Answer 39

“I never did
Offend you in my life, never loved Cassio … I never gave him token.”
- not just heaven/God or Othello as a figure of justice - but she appeals directly to him, strongly with three phrases using ‘never’

Question 40

5:2 begs to not be killed

Answer 40

“DESDEMONA
Oh, banish me, my lord, but kill me not!
OTHELLO
Down, strumpet!”
- alternative punishment seen eg in Romeo and Juliet and Midsummer Night’s Dream for breaking a rule or defying authority

“let me live tonight!”
the final four adjacency pairs use time to build tension - ‘It is too late’ is final - her death is now inevitable

Question 41

5:2 D’s final lines before death

Answer 41

“Oh, falsely, falsely murdered!”
“A guiltless death I die.”
“Nobody. I myself. Farewell.
Commend me to my kind lord. Oh, farewell!”
- states her purity again - Desdemona as the innocent victim
- she does not blame O but herself - why does Shakespeare have her protect him? Is it to reinforce her ‘goodness’ as a Jacobean woman to highlight O’s villainy?
her final words are moving, and the unexpected temporary waking of D gives her back some dignity in death, playing on the audience’s emotions