This essay aims to explore the Elizabethan perception of the unnaturalness of the marriage between Othello and Desdemona in the Shakespeare play Othello

A detailed Summary of This essay aims to explore the Elizabethan perception of the unnaturalness of the marriage between Othello and Desdemona in the Shakespeare play Othello

Jas Mudher English Mrs. Southwell 27/10/00

This essay aims to explore the Elizabethan perception of the 'unnaturalness' of the marriage between Desdemona and Othello, through the eyes of William Shakespeare.

The most obvious, and conspicuous issue that would emphasise the theme of unnaturalness would be the topic of race. Othello was a black Moor, portrayed throughout the play as a 'black ram' and 'beast with two backs' or simply as 'The Moor.'

Shakespeare accentuates the quandary in Othello by making his hero an outsider, a man from a different race and from a different country, one who doesn't quite belong in the society in which he lives. Othello's sensitivity to the issue becomes clear when Iago uses it as proof that Desdemona couldn't be faithful to a man so foreign-such a match is 'unnatural' he says. Othello's self confidence, once so strong, is easily eroded by Iago's ability to convince him that he is inferior to the men of Venice.

The fact that Othello is much older than Desdemona, and of a different race would allow any member of the audience to deem the situation as 'unnatural.' Even for those who were not racist (and the Venetians in the play were) would think it more likely and thus more "natur

The nature of the marriage would also have been perceived by the Elizabethans as 'unnatural.' The marriage was in secret. Shakespeare casts suspicion on the marriage that secretly takes place at night, without parental blessing, and that evokes violence when it is discovered. Othello had no right to marry her without getting her fathers permission. Desdemona had no right to choose her own husband. Their love and marriage is based on passion and not reason, which probably caused them to behave as they did, and which is partly why Iago is able to influence Othello's mind and thoughts. This suggests that the marriage was based on lust not love. Harbage said "lust is the prime motive of the marriage" and I think that the Elizabethan audience would have been inclined to agree with Iago whose cynical view of love was "it is merely a lust of the blood and a permission of the will." In the popular mind of Shakespeare's time the "only" explanation for Desdemona's attraction to Othello, black skinned and much older, has to be (according to Harbage) the "waywardness of lust." It is exactly by this argument -much more so than by the later 'ocular' proof of the handkerchief- that Iago mainly convinces Othello of her lust; he makes him see the marriage as 'unnatural.' This completely opposes the quaint idea of the 'courtly love', which was supposedly so popular in the Tudor period. The audiences would have seen the marriage as a whirlwind romance, which was primarily based on sex and desire, rather than love and devotion for the rest of their lives.

I think that the Elizabethans would have been revolted by the idea of this old, (fo

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Approximate Word count = 1100
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English