Desdemona, the Ideal Woman

Paper Summary:

The character of Desdemona in William Shakespeare's tragedy "Othello" reflects an ideal woman in the eyes of men. Desdemona acts in a gentle manner at all times, even though with men she uses her sexual prowess and strong will to achieve her ambitions. The paper shows that Desdemona remains both virtuous and dutiful to her husband, Othello, while slanderous comments about her chaste result in her final death. Therefore, Desdemona's sincerity and faithfulness to Othello become ill spent. Although Desdemona acquires Othello as a husband by her own devices by enabling her femininity to get what she wants, Othello ironically ends up murdering her. The paper shows that Desdemona depicts the male concept of the ideal feminine role of a woman.

From the Paper:

"In the tragedy of Othello, Desdemona uses her sexual appeal to men in order to achieve her ambitions. At the beginning of the play, Desdemona manages to seduce Othello through her gentle and passive use of words which men find attractive. When Othello relates the story of their elopement, he comments on how Desdemona professed her love for him. "She wish'd she had not heard it, yet she wish'd / That heaven had made her such a man; she thank'd me, / And bade me, if I had a friend that lov'd her, / I should but teach him how to tell my story, / And that would woo her. / Upon this hint I spake." (I,iii,162-166). Obviously, this quote shows that Desdemona's main motive includes the acquisition of Othello as her husband which she achieves through her use of gentle words, passiveness, and apparent fascination in Othello's life which the male character of Othello finds as an attractive trait in the female character Desdemona."

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