Othello (Vol. 68) - S. N. Garner (essay date 1976)

S. N. Garner (essay date 1976)

SOURCE: Garner, S. N. “Shakespeare's Desdemona.” Shakespeare Studies 9 (1976): 233-52.

[In the following essay, Garner stresses the importance and complexity of Desdemona's role in Othello, and asserts that Shakespeare endowed her with a full range of human emotions.]

I

As Desdemona prepares to go to bed with Othello in Act IV, scene iii of Shakespeare's Othello, the following conversation occurs between her and Emilia:

EMILIA.
Shall I go fetch your nightgown?

DESDEMONA.
No, unpin me here.

This Lodovico is a proper man.

EMILIA.
A very handsome man.

DESDEMONA.
He speaks well.

EMILIA.
I know a lady in Venice would have walked barefoot to Palestine for a touch of his nether lip.

(ll. 36-42)1

Surely this is startling dialogue...

[The entire page is 8767 words long]

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