Desdemona is not unlike many women today; she is torn between her devotion to her father and her faithfulness to her husband. She shows her indecision in one of her first speeches with her father,

My noble father/ I do perceive here a divided duty./ To you I am bound for life and education;/ My life and education both do learn me/How to respect you. You are the lord of duty,/ I am hitherto your daughter/ But here’s my husband,/ And so much duty as my mother showed/ To you, preferring you before her father,/ So much I challenge that I ma

Desdemona is also contrasted with the other women in this play. Desdemona is representative of all that is pure, she is chaste and valued. This purity is contrasted with the local prostitue Bianca. Bianca is the epitome of overt sexuality as she literally selling her sexuality. Bianca uses sex and her sexuality in a public forum in order to establish herself in society. Sexuality for Desdemona, on the other hand, is of little importance to her social standing. She views sex as a private entity, which should be shared only between two people and should be done within the protected confines of ones bedroom.

The majority of the characters in Othello are marked by their power and influence in their society. Iago is close to Desdemona’s father Barbanzio and has great disdain towards Othello. Iago does everything in his power to break the new marriage of Othello and Desdemona—even going as far as to arrange a fake affair between Cassio (a recently fired gentlemen of the army) and Desdemona. Iago then attempts to get in Othello’s good graces by speaking him about the “illicit affair” between Othello’s wife and Cassio. Iago is the ultimate bad-guy and a good contrast with Desdemona for it is obvious that Iago thinks of no one else’s emotions but his own. Desdemona is a very affectionate woman who relies heavily on her emotions to get her through life. She feels for Cassio even though he is disliked by her husband. Desdemona can further be contrasted with Iago in her perpetual display of love and devotion. Iago is a character plagued with hate, every move that we see Iago make can be derived from a hatred of one person or another. He acts without caring about anything but destroying the person he’s concerned about. On the other hand is Desdemona, whose every action is marked with an undying love, despite faults and weaknesses. Desdemona also shows her emotional side in the aforementioned internal conflict between her father and Othello. She has grown up being a faithful and loving daughter to her father, giving him her allegiance at all times. Now, however, she has this new relationship and commitment to her new husband and she is torn.

Desdemona’s death is also a tribute to all that is good. She attempts to plead her case of innocence one last time to her murderous husband before accepting her death. To the bitter end she remain loy

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