In a story by Salman Rushdie (The New Yorker, July 2001), a character makes sthe following remarks about Othello:
"Othello doesn't love Desdemona....He says he does, but it can't be true. If he loves her, the murder makes no sense. For me, Desdemona is Othello's trophy wife, his most valuable and status-giving possession, the physical proof of his risen standing in a white-man's world. You see? He loves that about her, but not her. Desdemona's death is an "honor killing." She didn't have to be guilty; the accusation was enough. The attack on her virtue was incompatible with Othello's honor. She's not even a person to him. She's his Oscar-Barbie statuette. His doll."
Do you think this is a valuable commentary on the character? Why or why not? Support your thoughts with evidence from the text. The text is our best support for dealing with controversial topics like this.
Answer by Friday, April 16, 2010. Remember to sign your name so I know who earned credit for your post.
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I do not think this commentary is valuable. There is no real proof that Othello does not truly love Desdemona. Several times he proves his love for her. I think the main reason he killed her was because of his strong jealousy for her. He was so wrapped up in it that he didn’t want any other man to have a chance to be with her. It is a messed up thought but it makes more sense than the fact that he didn’t truly love her. Iago did an excellent job of manipulating Othello’s insecurities and using them to the fullest. Obviously, people today would just have divorced or something along those lines but I think if this would have been done it would not have secured Othello’s insecurity of jealous because obviously Desdemona could still be with another man. He wanted her to be his and only his through and through, even to the point of death.
ReplyDelete-Nathan Knodel
Through the story of Othello, he shows his love for Desdimona by his actions,words, and affection. I believe this statment of Desdimona being a so called "trophy wife" is false. I do not think that Othello would show so much affection and love for Desdimona before and especially after her death. The upset that Othello goes through after he kills his wife shows that there was something strong between them. Not just a prized item to show off for popularity. Though some may doubt that Othellos love for her was true because of his vicious murder, I believe it was. Because even when she was on her death bed, she continued to be commited to Othello even though he killed her, and Othello overcame his rage after killing her and realized how much he loved her.
ReplyDeletesydney-
Othello and his "love" for Desdemona
ReplyDeleteOthello seems to love Desdemona but when it comes down to it he doesn't. When she loses the handkerchief and seems upset about it he should try to help her find it instead of freaking out. He doesn't seem to care about getting it back he just cares about why she lost it. If he really loves her he would have believed her when she said it was lost. He doesn't trust Desdemona and that is not a good sign. When he believes Iago over his own wife you know he has been waiting for his doubts to be shown since the beginning. Othello should place Desdemona over everyone and what she says should be what he believes but at the first sign of doubt he doesn't trust her again and will eventually kill her. She loves him because she still trusts and loves him even after he killes her but he doesn't think that. He is willing to let anything anyone else say change his mind.
Erin
This description of Othello's love for Desdemona is not accurate at all. Othello loved Desdemona so much, that he felt he had to kill her so that she wouldn't go on to betray other men. In Othello's eyes, Desdemona committed the only sin he couldn't forgive - being unfaithful to him in wedlock. When he saw Cassio with the handkerchief that he had given her, he took that as proof of her infidelity. At this point, he decided he loved her so much he HAD to kill her. He saw her as she was when he married her - an innocent woman who loved him more than anything. His jealousy got the best of him, though, when Iago told him that she was loving Cassio. Othello compared himself to Cassio, and found himself lesser, and therefore believed Desdemona would cheat on him with Cassio. Since they had been wed, he felt so betrayed that he didn't want her to be able to cheat on him (or anyone else) in the future, and felt the only way to successfully keep her to him was to kill her.
ReplyDeleteI'm not saying Othello was right, but in his mind he was completely justified, and never thought of Desdemonda as a trophy wife.
I completely disagree with this commentary. Othello and Desdemona were completely in love. If they weren't in love they wouldn't have ran off and eloped in secrecy. That takes a lot of passion and courage. Othello also has a great amount of remorse after killing Desdemona, showing his love and affection for her. Also Othello has to talk himself up to killing Desdemona and tell himself that it is absolutely necessary. This shows that they are fully in love.
ReplyDeleteNo, this is bad commentary of Othello. Why would he kill himself if Desdemona is just an "Oscar-Barbie statuette!" And it's obviously not that big of a "white mans world" because Othello's a high ranked leader. After Emilia tells Othello the truth he even starts to cry, and they sound to be true in the recording atleast. Since it's just a book, it was written 700 years ago, we have no way to find the truth! However, in my opinion this is a false thought about Othello, and they were both still in love until the end.
ReplyDelete(Nate)
Review of Review
ReplyDeleteThis review was very accurate in my opinion. One reason I think this review was very accurate was b because throughout the story Othello bragged about Desdemona. In a relationship you don’t brag about your significant other unless they did something really good or something worth talking about. Othello just bragged about her looks and personality. Like the writer said it was an honor killing. If Othello truly loved Desdemona he would have asked her about it instead of just believing Iago. Just like in high school relationships and I can tell you first hand that people are going to talk and lie because they don’t have what you have. The old saying misery loves company still sticks in my head when I think of high school relationships and Othello because in both gossip ruins relationships. In high school if someone says something to someone it’s spread like wildfire and if someone really loves someone they will ask about the rumor and talk to their boyfriend/girlfriend. Othello didn’t do this so obviously he doesn’t love Desdemona enough to talk to her.
Austin Stephey
Although I think that the person had a very interesting opinion about Othello, I definitely disagree with him. I believe that someone could actually be able to murder someone that they love through extenuating circumstances. It is peculiar, though. Iago, a master in the art of chicanery, was able to successfully bring down Othello. He was still in love with Desdemona, and true love can never be lost. On page 82, Othello is talking to Desdemona while she is asleep. He says, "Be thus when thou art dead, and I will kill thee,/ And love thee after: one more, and this the last:/ So sweet was ne'er so fatal. I must weep,/ But they are cruel tears: this sorrow's heavenly;/ it strikes where it doth love." He says outright that he still loves her, but because of Iago, he believes that he must kill her. He does not want to let her have the chance to cheat on another man. Later on, he says that she needs to pray so she will not go to hell after he kills her. Obviously, he loves her enough not to let her go to hell. Also, he decides to smother her instead of strangling her because he doesn't want to mess up her skin. This is another example of the love he feels for Desdemona. To say that Othello doesn't love Desdemona is not being able to comprehend the text at all.
ReplyDelete~Devyn Font
I think that is a very valid point. At the beginning of the story Othello explains how he and Desdemona fell in love. Othello told stories of his valorous adventures and battles which eventually won Desdemona. Othello said,"and I loved her that she did pity on them". I think a relationship should be built upon experiences together and not sharing stories of a person's past. To me they did not meet on a emotional level Desdemona was impressed by Othello's stories and Othello loved to tell them to her, this is not a good foundation for a relationship. Their foundation is very weak and obvously had trouble surviving as little of things as a rumor.
ReplyDelete-Kody Heitz
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ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteWhen anyone who has read Othello before reads this quote by Salman they would immediately question what Salman is saying and think that he is crazy. I on the other hand do not think that Salman is completely wrong. I disagree on the thought that Othello used Desdemona as a trophy wife but I do not think that the love between Desdemona and Othello was TRUE love. I do believe that Desdemona was truly IN LOVE with Othello but I do not think Othello was truly in love with Desdemona. True love is trust, compassion, empathy, forgiveness, and a determination to do what is best for your beloved. Othello's love for Desdemona was full of passion and lust, but Othello could not trust her, he was not determined to find the real truth, He did not feel compassion for her, and the fact that Othello murders Desdemona is the paragon of the fact that he does not have her best interest in mind. His lack of trust in her becomes obvious in Act 3 scene 3 when he chooses to believe Iago right off the spot without doing any other research or asking around. His lack of compassion for Desdemona is evident in Act 3 scene 4 when he yells at, criticizes, and abuses Desdemona for information about the handkerchief when she is clearly upset about the fact she lost it. Also when Iago tells Othello about how Desdemona is flirting with Cassio Othello says “This fellow Iago is of exceeding honesty.” I can't believe that Othello would just assume Iago was right and would call his own wife and dearest Love a "Haggard.” We as readers get our proof about how this is not true love from Othello's side when he arrogantly interrogates Desdemona over the handkerchief with his tone of voice so accusing and full of disdain: “Is't lost?" Is't gone?" "Speak, ist out of the way?” and after these accusations and Othello's hate Desdemona can only wearily respond apologize and after this Othello in his jealousy calls her a "strumpet/whore" and then murders her for a sin that he at least could have gotten the REAL truth about. Othello's relationship with Desdemona was full of passion and lust, for sure; but true love?.....................................no way.
ReplyDeleteCrystal Hedgehog
this accusation about Othello's love to Desdemona is not true. Othello did love Desdemona from the very beggining and even though their love started with just a story, but still they loved each other and Othello even married Desdemona. The murder does really make sense because othello is black, he's been a slave before, and Desdemona is a very beautiful lady, Cassio is a handsome man so what Iago's telling to othello about cassio and Desemona have a thing, their is no way othello wont be jealous. He did muder Desdemona but it is because of love.
ReplyDelete(sharief the foriegn kid :))
Before I start my blog, I'd like to ask who Crystal Hedgehog is? That's really random. But anyway.....
ReplyDeleteI totally disagree with the commentary. Shakespeare's characters are always what they say they are. What I mean by this is that even though someone like Iago who is a villanous jerk, the reader will always know who they are. This commentary is not valuable at all. Othello may have been taken over by the "Green Eyed Monster" but he still loved Desdemona. If you really payed attention to the book, you'd be able to see Othello's love, even though he killed her. I know this because Othello speaks of how that even though he killed her, he did it for her own good (even though she didn't even do anything to begin with.) Overall, I believe Othello really does love Desdemona, and the guy who wrote that commentary needs to pay more attention to detail.
-Miranda :)
I disagree with this opinion. Yes, I do believe that Othello valued Desdemona's beauty and influence, but would he kill over these things? I think Othello truly loved Desdemona. Love and jealousy are both very powerful emotions and, in this particular story, go hand in hand. Every positive emotion has a negative emotion matching its intensity (love vs. hate, happy vs. sad, etc.). You can't have one emotion without somehow experiencing the other. If you don't love something, you can't be jealous or heartbroken when it is gone. Othello's jealousy was just the opposite, powerful emotion he felt when his love was rejected. This quote from Othello himself sums it all up: "Then must you speak/of one that loved not wisely but too well". His wholesome yet unwise love was his jealousy. His jealousy was just his love grieving over Desdemona's "unfaithfulness". If Othello had not truly loved Desdemona, he would not have been consumed by jealousy this overwhelming.
ReplyDeleteLinzey Rice
I understand why this could be a plausible argument. I fully agree with it. Othello really doesn't love Desdemona because of the fact he kills her. Hello, that's a big, bright, flashing flag. If you truly loved someone, how in the world could you find the strength to kill him or her? It just doesn't make any sense. Yes, we all get carried away with emotion sometimes, but we all have to learn to control our actions that come along with the emotion. If Othello truly loved Desdemona, don't you think he would have trusted her in the first place? Wouldn't he have went to her first and actually listened instead of "Oh, my handkerchief, my hadnkerchief! You lost my handerchief. Now you must die."? I mean seriously, it seems he is more in love with that handkerchief than he is Desdemona. It really annoys me. She is like so perfect and faithful to him and he turns around and kills her because he can't control himself with his fake thoughts and precious handkerchief. This guy needs to see a shrink to get his brain intact. He went running away with his emotion of jelousy and left his brain behind.
ReplyDeleteI think whoever wrote that is right about Othello, I truly think Othello doesn’t love Desdemona; he only loves the fact that she loves his stories and is his own personal tool. Everyone can tell if he says jump she’ll ask how high. She is completely in love with him but he isn’t all there he wouldn’t of strangled her or stood back and watched Iago and Cassio talk he would have been up in Cassio’s face asking questions himself, at least I know I would be. Desdemona should have never done her father wrong by going on with that cruel and ignorant man. He doesn’t love her he loves the fact a lot of men would love to have her but they can’t because he has already done his dirty little deed. He allowed people to get inside his head, ignoring what Desdemona was saying and chose to do what he wanted well what he was told to do he suffocated her without letting anyone tell him she was very true to him. He believed a villain and him killing himself should teach people that some people are actually true in a relationship and to never trust what others may say.
ReplyDelete~Maria Valle~
In my opinion, the remarks made by the author of this blog is incorrect. Othello does make several opinions based on Desdemona's looks, saying that she is beautiful, but he does not say anything along the lines of Desdemona being his "trophy wife." Othello talks about Desdemona being very innocent and trusting, and several other personality characteristics that people who only look at the beauty of someone would not think about. The reason I just gave proves that Othello is capable of seeing more than physical appearances in Desdemona, and in fact, loves her for more than her looks.
ReplyDeletethe last comment is by zach, by the way. :)
ReplyDeleteI do not believe Othello truely loved his wife. If he really loved her, then he would have not killed her. He had several chances to save her from himself, but he never did.
ReplyDeleteJosh Hill