Desdemona (Othello)
| Desdemona | |
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_by_Frederic_Leighton.jpg)
Desdemona by Frederic Leighton
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| Creator | William Shakespeare |
| Play | Othello |
| Date | c. 1601–1604 |
| Source | "Un Capitano Moro" by Cinthio (1565) |
| Family | |
| Associates | Emilia, attendant and confidante |
| Role |
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| Quote | Sing willow, willow, willow (4.3) |
| Portrayed by | |
Desdemona is a character in William Shakespeare's play Othello (c. 1601–1604). Shakespeare's Desdemona is a Venetian beauty who enrages and disappoints her father, a Venetian senator, when she elopes with Othello, a man several years her senior. When her husband is deployed to Cyprus in the service of the Republic of Venice, Desdemona accompanies him. There, her husband is manipulated by his ensign Iago into believing she is an adulteress, and, in the last act, she is murdered by her estranged spouse.
The role has attracted notable actresses through the centuries and has the distinction of being the role performed by Margaret Hughes, the first actress to appear on an English public stage.
Othello has its source in the 1565 tale, "Un Capitano Moro" in Gli Hecatommithi by Giovanni Battista Giraldi Cinthio. While no English translation of Cinthio was available in print during Shakespeare's lifetime, it is possible that Shakespeare knew both the Italian original, Gabriel Chappuy's 1584 French translation, and an English translation in manuscript. Cinthio's tale may have been based on an actual incident occurring in Venice about 1508.
The only named character in Cinthio's story is "Disdemona". The name derives from Greek δυσ + δαίμων, which means "ill-fated, unfortunate", i.e. the antonym of Eudaimonia. Léone Teyssandier notes that it may indeed be how Othello views his wife, calling her an "ill-starred wench".
The other characters are identified only as the Moor, the ensign, the ensign's wife, and the squadron leader. In the original, the ensign lusts after Disdemona and is spurred to revenge when she rejects him. Unlike Shakespeare's Othello, the Moor in Cinthio's story never repents the murder of his wife. Both he and the ensign escape immediate prosecution but are killed much later. Cinthio also drew a moral (which he placed in the mouth of the lady) that European women are unwise to marry the temperamental males of other nations.
While Shakespeare followed Cinthio's tale very closely in composing Othello, he deviated significantly in some details. He invented Desdemona's father, Brabantio, and her dissolute Venetian admirer, Roderigo. He invented the entire first act in which Iago arouses Brabantio's prejudices against Othello, and Desdemona defends her choice of husband before the King.
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