Course: College English 2
Date: 12/4/12
Marital destruction out of dysfunctional marriage and Othello’s characters
William Shakespeare is（1564-1616） widely regarded as the greatest writer in the history of English literature and the most pre-eminent dramatist around the world. Among all his works, many literary critics regard Othello as the peak of his tragedies. Othello is not only a tragedy of family, but also a tragedy of love. Jealous psychology of the characters ultimately leads to the marital tragedy. Iago was jealous of Cassio and Othello, so he slandered and entrapped Cassio and Desdemona, which directly brought about the tragedy. Othello’s true love to Desdemona was utilized by Iago who had an ulterior motive. Driven by jealousy, Othello readily believed Iago, and personally killed his own wife, and eventually drew his sword to cut his own throat. Therefore, the tragedy in Othello’s marriage is largely rooted in jealous psychology. We analyze the reason effect this tragedy of marriage by following the premarital objective situation and the subjective married life. Othello and Desdemona’s marriage is doomed and dysfunctional from the beginning because of acute differences in marriage and due to Othello’s flaw of characters. We analyze the reasons which affect this tragedy of marriage by following the premarital situation then Othello’s characters in married life.
To pave the way for detailed analysis, it is necessary to know about two types of marriages at that time. Jessica Tvordi says in “In quarter and in Terms like Bride and Groom”: Reconfiguring Marriage, Friendship, and Alliance in Othello “In its treatment of marriage, Othello introduces and creates tensions between two models of marriage: the dynastic or lineal marriage and the “companionate” or affective marriage.” The traditional discourse of dynastic marriage reflects large concerns