What's up with Desdemona?

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Listening and reading Othello this past week made me notice many different symbols throughout the piece, but it also made me ponder about how love blinds the eye of all evil...


   The song "Willow," was a pretty eye catching part of the play- not only was it a little creepy, but it also just made me confused. The song was a strong symbol in the play for the acceptance of infidelity, and it was about a women who was betrayed by her lover. This showed the audience that Desdemona felt alone by the fact that Othello wouldn't believe her, but why is she so quick to accept this fact? I mean before she dies, Emilia asks her who tried to kill her and Desdemona responds with, "Nobody, I myself. Farewell"


    Why would someone try to protect the person that killed them!? I suppose it must be because she still loved him, but how did she not see that he never actually loved her back? This, I think, has part to do with the setting of this play, the late sixteenth century. Women of this time did not live life for themselves, but instead for the betterment of their families- more particularly, their husbands. Women were not allowed to go to college and only few held jobs, and this made them fully devoted to their household. When someone's whole life revolves around one single thing, people tend to see the good parts of it as they really have no other choice, and this is why I feel that Desdemona just fell victim to her times and society's peering eyes. She went against her father and married a man she loved just for his stories, never fully being able to realize that he never really loved her.

Now this doesn't mean that people now days don't fall for people who aren't what they imagine them to be, so I guess I don't really know why Desdemona said she killed herself. Maybe that's just what love is.

Till next time,
Melodi Yilmaz💕




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