Othello and Desdemona's pure/true/strong love Flashcards
I love the gentle Desdemona
Othello 1.2 - demonstrates the tender and loving care and affection that Othello feels for her
Send for the lady to the Sagittary,/And let her speak of me before her father
Othello 1.3 - demonstrates the trust and love felt between them, as he wants to have Desdemona’s voice listened to in order to confirm their love; this gives power to Desdemona and subverts typical societal expectations of women to be subservient and out of the public eye
I did thrive in this fair lady’s love/And she in mine
Othello 1.3 - the chiastic structure emphasises the equality in the love that they share, as if this love is a meeting of equals, which would have been unusual in patriarchal Renaissance society
This to hear/Would Desdemona seriously incline
Othello 1.3 - indicates that Desdemona actively wanted to listen to Othello’s story, and as such took an active role in their unfolding love story (subverts expectations of Renaissance women)
She’d come again, and with a greedy ear/Devour up my discourse
Othello 1.3 - Desdemona holds agency in her love for Othello; alternatively, it could be argued that this is a transactional love as she wants the excitement of the stories in exchange for love
she wished/That heaven had made her such a man
Othello 1.3 - this flirtation demonstrates the attraction she feels towards him, and the religious imagery highlights the strength of this attraction
She thanked me/And bade me, if I had a friend that loved her,/I should but teacher him how to tell my story/And that would woo her
Othello 1.3 - implies that she encouraged his affections for her as she wants him to love her, demonstrating the agency she has in their relationship
She loved me for the dangers I had passed/And I loved her that she did pity them
Othello 1.3 - the chiastic structure of the line highlights the balanced nature of their love as Desdemona loves him for his past and the difficulty of his past, and how he tells those stories, whereas he loves her for her sympathy and empathy (demonstrates that she aligns to societal expectations of women to care for men)
this tale would win my daughter too
Duke 1.3 - truly love, not coersion
I do perceive her a divided duty
Desdemona 1.3 - Desdemona has defied one patriarchal figure and transgressed societal expectations of submissive women in marrying Othello in order to submit herself and be subservient to another, her husband Othello
so much duty as my mother showed/To you, preferring you before her father,/So much I challenge that I may profess/Due to the Moor my lord
Desdemona 1.3 - demonstrates that Desdemona wishes to put Othello above her father, appealing to his care for societal expectations of a devoted wife
That I did love the Moor to live with him/My downright violence and scorn of fortunes/May trumpet to the world
Desdemona 1.3 - demonstrates the strength of her love for Othello, and how she wishes for their love to be known as she will ignore her status, wealth and power to be with him, and she wants her actions (marrying him without her father’s knowledge or permission) to speak of her love for Othello
My heart’s subdued/Even to the very quality of my lord
Desdemona 1.3 - implies that Desdemona adheres to societal expectations of subservient women/wives as she is subservient to Othello
to his honours and his valiant parts/Did I my soul and fortunes consecrate
Desdemona 1.3 - the religious language emphasises the strength and sacred nature of their love (and marriage), and demonstrates that she recognises his honour and respectability and loves him for that as she truly cares for him
if I be left behind,/A moth of peace, and he go to war,/The rights for which I love him are bereft me
Desdemona 1.3 - indicates that Desdemona feels like a moth in the dark without Othello (he is her light - could be slight foreshadowing of her death as moths in flame die); subverts the image of fragile women as she doesn’t want to be a fragile ‘moth’ but follow him into the dangers of war (strength of love), the religious language once again emphasises the strength of their love
Let me go with him
Desdemona 1.3 - whilst this challenges patriarchal powers and structures of authority, this also demonstrates that she needs permission from men in positions of power and the need for her to be obedient and submissive to Othello
Let her have your voice
Othello 1.3 - demonstrates the equality in their relationship as he wishes for her requests and opinions to be respected
My life upon her faith
Othello 1.3 - demonstrates the strength of his love for and faith in Desdemona, yet as he ties his life to her faithfulness, Shakespeare uses proleptic irony as once he believes that she has been unfaithful, they will both die
