DESDEMONA’S

DIAMOND
O nce upon a time a young lady wanted
freedom, so she found a man who knew a
life of adventure. So she married him as a
way out of her suffocating world, but he
only brought her sorrow and a ball and
chain for an engagement ring.
 Thesis

Women have been denied their
rights throughout the ages and
Desdemona’s desperate cry for
freedom is another example of
the lack of respect that women
receive.
The Lustrous Defining Symbol of a
Woman’s Position in Society
Othello
The husband, the lover, the companion

Brabantio
Iago The father
The bully the caregiver
the manipulator the supporter
 Father-
Daughter
Relations
hip
 Dad’s Little Girl
 P: Children who receive strong discipline grow up
with moral values, very strict parents and no
independence.
 E: “God be with you. I have done./Please it your
grace, on to the state affairs./I had rather to
adopt a child than get it.—” (1.3.191-193)
 P: “Unfortunately, the practice of child abuse has
been passed down from generation to
generation through the Puritan ethic that
purports ‘to spare the rod is to spoil the
child’”(Watkins 323)
 I: Desdemona grows up as her dad’s little
servant and has done nothing but serve he
father honestly. Although when she decides to
follow her heart she is immediately disowned
by her pompous father.
Husband
and
Wife
 The Husband
 P: Those that enter marriage realizing it is a partnership and
not a dictatorship have a more lasting relationship then
those who run a marriage like a dictatorship.
 E: “Naked in bed, Iago, and not mean harm!/ It is hypocrisy
against the devil./ They that mean virtuously, and yet do
so,/ Th devil their virtue tempts, and they tempt heaven.”
(4.1.5-8)
 P: “…trust in trust-involving relationships and forms of
cooperation, are the ones that we have good reason to
welcome, from a moral point of view. Not loyalty to loyalty,
but trust in sustaining trust, trust in it in full knowledge of
its risks as well as its benefits, and trustworthiness to
sustain trust, these may well be the supreme virtues for
one like us…”(Baier 137)
 I: Desdemona does nothing to cause Othello lose his trust in
her, but because of her beauty he does not believe that
she can be a honest woman and a devoted wife. Othello is
seen yelling at his wife without letting her defend herself
or her dignity. He even compares her said actions to devils
play, saying that only a fool would lay in a bed with a
naked woman without taking advantage of her. At no pint
does Othello ever consider Desdemona’s stand up morals.
 The
Bully
 The Bully
 P: Women of position are less likely to receive the respect
they deserve because of their gender than a male.
 E:”Come on, come on. You are pictures out of door, bells in
your parlors wild-cats in your kitchens, saints in your
injuries, devils being offended, players in your
housewifery, and housewives in your beds.” (2.1.119-
122)
 P: “….Prior to democratization, women focused primarily
on social rights to improve their economic well-being.”
(Fallon 525) “Indigenous women, however, have
frequently found themselves marginalized by women’s
movements and indigenous movements alike,
particularly when they make demands for rights as
indigenous women—not just as members of one group
of the other.” (Richards 199)
 I: Desdemona tries to fit in with her new environment and
knowledgably argue for women’s rights in front of Iago.
In turn Iago is rude and disrespectful to his general’s
new bride. She is never given the chance to prove
herself as a strong individual.
 The ring on Desdemona’s
finger is symbolic of the ball and
chain that drags her away from her
goal and eventually leads to her
demise. She is looking for
and freedom but instead she is
undermined by her femininity.
 Work Cited
1.http://
www.jstor.org.ezproxy.bpl.org/stable
2.Othello by: William Shakespeare