This scene is from Act 4 Scene 3 known as the willow scene where Desdemona is getting
ready for bed fearing Othello’s anger in which she sings a willow song which reflects a
woman abandonded and left to die by her lover. Shakespeare uses this moment to
foreshadow Desdemona’s inevitable fate but also to symbolise the patriachal entrapment
of women in the 1570s. The falling action of this moment constructs central themes of the
powerlessness of women and corruption contrasted with innocence driving the audience
down a sympathetic and pitiful road for Desdemona.
This is the first time Shakespeare uses repetitive nature imagery to portray Desdemona’s
powerlessness in her words. The use of nature imagery such as ‘willow’, ‘streams’ and
‘stones’ which are particularly unresponsive and inanimate reflects Desdemona’s
suffering is not signified by men in the play as she directs her suffering into an
unresponsive world. The personification of the ‘streams’ in which they ‘murmured her
moans’ reflects quiet expression highlighting her silence and restraint in expressing her
grief. Lisa Gardine suggested, ‘Renaissance women were often seen as suffering martyrs’
reflecting the ideals Desdemona conforms to as she is silent, obedient and self sacrificial.
This is evident when she suggests she is ‘bound for life and education’ and has a ‘divided
duty’ in which she devotes her life to a domestic role in the play. This scene is significant
because it portrays nature as an empathising force towards Desdemona’s sorrow and grief
as her ‘salt tears/softened the stones’ reflecting her moral and emotional power on
changing the unresponsiveness where stones are perceived as hard and stoic. However
those in power and high in the patriachy fail to show empathy or understanding towards
Desdemona’s sorrow and grief particularly Othello. Ultimately, Shakespeare portrays
Desdemona’s power as ineffective in a society that prioritises male power and control over
womens truth.
This is the moment that Shakespeare uses foreshadowing to prepare the audience for
Desdemona’s death. Her reference to death where she claims, ‘If I do die before thee
prithee shroud me’ in the marriage sheets in which she uses domestic inanimate objects
as symbols of her future murder. The bed sheets act as a symbol which represent intimacy
and marriage but become a visual prophecy of her death representing the instability of the
marriage of Othello and Desdemona in which this causes turmoil and death instead of the
creation of a new life. This is significant as Shakespeare ensures Desdemona’s death is
foreshadowed as tragically inevitable as she mourns herself before the violence and
murder occurs.
ready for bed fearing Othello’s anger in which she sings a willow song which reflects a
woman abandonded and left to die by her lover. Shakespeare uses this moment to
foreshadow Desdemona’s inevitable fate but also to symbolise the patriachal entrapment
of women in the 1570s. The falling action of this moment constructs central themes of the
powerlessness of women and corruption contrasted with innocence driving the audience
down a sympathetic and pitiful road for Desdemona.
This is the first time Shakespeare uses repetitive nature imagery to portray Desdemona’s
powerlessness in her words. The use of nature imagery such as ‘willow’, ‘streams’ and
‘stones’ which are particularly unresponsive and inanimate reflects Desdemona’s
suffering is not signified by men in the play as she directs her suffering into an
unresponsive world. The personification of the ‘streams’ in which they ‘murmured her
moans’ reflects quiet expression highlighting her silence and restraint in expressing her
grief. Lisa Gardine suggested, ‘Renaissance women were often seen as suffering martyrs’
reflecting the ideals Desdemona conforms to as she is silent, obedient and self sacrificial.
This is evident when she suggests she is ‘bound for life and education’ and has a ‘divided
duty’ in which she devotes her life to a domestic role in the play. This scene is significant
because it portrays nature as an empathising force towards Desdemona’s sorrow and grief
as her ‘salt tears/softened the stones’ reflecting her moral and emotional power on
changing the unresponsiveness where stones are perceived as hard and stoic. However
those in power and high in the patriachy fail to show empathy or understanding towards
Desdemona’s sorrow and grief particularly Othello. Ultimately, Shakespeare portrays
Desdemona’s power as ineffective in a society that prioritises male power and control over
womens truth.
This is the moment that Shakespeare uses foreshadowing to prepare the audience for
Desdemona’s death. Her reference to death where she claims, ‘If I do die before thee
prithee shroud me’ in the marriage sheets in which she uses domestic inanimate objects
as symbols of her future murder. The bed sheets act as a symbol which represent intimacy
and marriage but become a visual prophecy of her death representing the instability of the
marriage of Othello and Desdemona in which this causes turmoil and death instead of the
creation of a new life. This is significant as Shakespeare ensures Desdemona’s death is
foreshadowed as tragically inevitable as she mourns herself before the violence and
murder occurs.
