Analysis of Othello and Desdemona's Marriage

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and her beauty. However we also - through Cassio’s remarks - become conscious of another attribute to her. He refers to her as ‘divine’ and though this could be interpreted as a hyperbole however in his greeting Cassio also refers to her as ‘the grace of heaven’. With this concept of ‘grace’ shakespeare could be referring to the Christian concept of the supernatural assistance given by God for the purification of the human being. This gives Desdemona’s personality an angelic quality and a heavenly light that shows her to be free of all evil and this is reinforced when Othello talks of and to Desdemona, he uses words with religious connotations such as ‘pilgrimage’ when recounting his journey of wooing Desdemona.

Othello is noble as when he is urged to hide from the outraged father of Desdemona, he refuses to run away, saying to Iago ‘I must be found’, as he feels secure in the rightness of his position. In his speech, there is a sense of both danger and beauty – entirely appropriate to the speaker – in his references to ‘bright swords’ and ‘dew’. We are immediately aware that the Othello is an impressive character and a powerful speaker.

Othello does not speak like the rest of the characters. When describing his own language, he says ‘rude am I in my speech’. Othello identifies himself with the roughness of the battlefield, in contrast to the gentleness or sophistication of civilized Venice, when he says his ‘speech’ is ‘rude’ and he’s not been ‘bless’d with the soft phrase of peace’. However, his dialogue that follows this statement and view of himself contradict it. Through the use of powerfully articulate language and literary devices, Shakespeare creates a character that is very much removed from the beastialic descriptions - such as ‘barbary horse’ and ‘old black ram’ - that other characters apply to him as well as the society of the time would apply to a black man. We can perceive that Othello is highly intelligent as he uses his words masterfully with language that is fascinating and seduces his listeners into empathising with his feelings and his past. His speech is further elevated through Shakespeare’s use of blank verse and rhyme when he is describing his ‘whole course of love’ showing that each word Othello speaks is dignified; precise and controlled. Through the characterisation of Othello, Shakespeare breaks the expectations that the Elizabethan audience would have of a ‘Moor’ such as Othello and thus shows the marriage between ‘fair’ Desdemona and Othello would go against social expectations.

The marriage between Othello and desdemona could be perceived as a perfect match. Shakespeare has created two very distinct characters who have broken the social norms and society’s expectations of them and thus they are one another’s equals.

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