A marriage of convenience Essay Example

that is madly in love (or lust?) with his new bride Desdemona.

Othello's speech is necessary because Iago stirred up a personal scandal for Brabantio. After all, in those times, no father would like to hear that their daughter is the victim of a womanizer who not only is a soldier, but also a moor. Brabantio wanted to save some face by either honestly believing, or by pretending to believe that Othello had used witchcraft to woo Desdemona (979). After all, it was Brabantio who had had Othello at his home, and it would have been almost impossible for him to miss any of the interest signs as showed by Desdemona's admiration for the moor or the moor's physical attraction to Desdemona.

Othello's speech is very well articulated, fluid and logical. He explained very well how he had come to meet Desdemona and basically how their relationship blossomed into marriage. Othello first started by saying that Brabantio "loved him" and basically invited him often to his house to hear of his many adventures. It seems that the senator wanted to brush with the notoriety that Othello inspired. After all, Othello was a well recognized soldier whose great reputation preceded him and often allowed him to be "accepted" into the Venetian rank and file made up mostly of white older men. Or at least it seemed that way.

We can use an analogy in which a famous black athlete is admired for his sport feats. However, even though this athlete might be invited into everyone's home of the who is who in society, how many of these people would truly want to have their daughters taken away or married

by this man? Would they like to hear about his many stories and experiences throughout his sport career? Probably, would he be truly accepted into the ranks and file of the socialite and their families? That's debatable. After all, a black athlete is admired, but he is hardly in a color blind society that provides equality to all.

Every single part of Othello's speech clicked into the Duke and the senator's common sense. After Othello told them that he used to tell the stories of his many adventures in Brabantio's home, he also pointed out that Desdemona would be captivated by his stories (979). These stories included not only his soldier experiences, but also his experience through life a moor, and former slave who beat the odds and succeeded despite having many people who would have liked him to fail. Othello, however, prevailed and climbed to one of the top spots in the military.

Even though Othello was a moor, and older, Desdemona was captivated by him. She even told him that she would like to meet someone to romance her that would be able to tell her stories the same way as him (980). Desdemona is basically letting Othello know that she is interested in him. Even though Othello had difficulty believing that such beautiful creature could love him, which was ultimately his downfall in the play, that's exactly what happened.

He is so convincing that even the Duke says that probably even his daughter would have fallen for him. Basically the Duke is saying that he believes him. Everything in Othello's speech showed many aspects of him that might have other wise be passed over by

the reader, or by those present who didn't know him and had just made a prejudiced assumption of Othello as a person. For example, his speech shows that despite him being a brave soldier, he is also a well traveled person who also has a level of education probably not expected of some of his class. He also showed that behind the tough and feared soldier there is some one who is capable of falling in love with a woman just as anyone else. This is probably something that not many people would have expected of someone like him.

Othello even showed that he is a humble person. Before making his speech, he apologized to the Duke and the Senators by warning them that he probably won't be able to express himself as well as he would like. Instead, he delivered a flawless speech that convinced everyone that he had not used witchcraft to woo Desdemona. Ultimately, he asked to have Desdemona brought over so that she can testify that she hasn't been forced or duped into marrying the moor. This probably wasn't even necessary after Othello's powerful speech.

Othello's speech was ultimately one of the turning points in the play. He influenced his audience by presenting a very logical, well presented and educated speech that showed that he didn't have to use witchcraft to have Desdemona fall in love for him. Instead, his tales of adventure and life experiences made Desdemona fall in awe with Othello as a person. Further analyses of the speech and the wooing process would probably show that there's a mutual interest in each other between Othello and Desdemona. Othello liked the

young white daughter of a senator, and Desdemona liked the moor man full of stories and adventures. Love didn't seem to be the main characteristic of their relationship, or at least it wasn't evident in Othello's speech.