Othello Character Analysis

Brendan Tuma

Mr. George

World Lit G

01 December 2010

Desdemona: The Virtuous Christian

            Desdemona embodies what it means to be a faithful, Christian woman and she remains a virtuous character throughout the play.

            Desdemona represents a perfect woman from the time period as she is obedient, gorgeous, faithful, and virtuous. She is able to remain just throughout a corrupt play and never loses sight of what is right. She is terrorized by Iago’s villainous acts, abused by her husband, and referred to as a whore in more than one fashion. She stays true to herself and her husband and her final words before death are “Nobody. I myself. Farewell. Commend me to my kind lord. O, farewell” (Shakespeare 5. 2. 152 – 153). Even though it was clearly the acts of Iago and Othello that have killed her she takes the blame. Desdemona is one for whom the reader can sympathize for as she does no wrong yet is hurt most throughout the play.

            Desdemona can be compared to a Christ like figure. She embodies Christian virtue and dies for her sins. Her only wrong is that she broke a social standard of the time period and married a moor yet that becomes her best quality. Just as Christ did, Desdemona follows what she believes in even if it leads to her untimely death.

            A modern day comparison to Desdemona is Michelle Obama. Obama and Desdemona are both the wives of important men and are both regarded very highly. They are both influential in what goes on in the land they come from and are both looked at as the first and best lady.

Works Cited

Shakespeare, William, Barbara A. Mowat, and Paul Werstine. The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice. New York: Washington Square, 1993.