The Character of Desdemona. A Comparison of William Shakespeare's Othello and Thomas D. Rice's Otello

Seminar paper from the year 2015 in the subject Didactics for the subject English - Literature Works grade: 23 University of Heidelberg (Anglistisches Seminar) course: The First Century of US-American Drama language: English abstract: In this paper I will compare the character of Desdemona in the play Othello by Shakespeare with that in the burlesque opera Otello by Rice. I will first analyze the figure of Desdemona in Shakespeare's play and then in Rice's opera - one after another. Next I will compare the two characters of Desdemona and will explore in which ways their qualities coin-cide or rather in what extent they differ in their personalities. Lastly I will briefly summarize the different characters of Desdemona in both Othello and Otello. William Shakespeare's Othello portrays the mixed-race love between Desdemona a white Venetian beauty and the Moor Othello Venice's general. Mislead by Iago his ensign and also the play's villain Othello develops an unfounded suspicion of his wife Desdemona and his lieu-tenant Cassio which results not only in Othello's suicide but also in the murder of his wife who as it turns out has been innocent of adultery all along. The tragedy thus represents love and good on the one hand (embodied by Desdemona) and the involved problem of jealousy and revenge (personified by Othello) - not least the issue of miscegenation - on the other hand. As many of Shakespeare's works (which usually are adaptations themselves) Othello first performed in 1606 has been the basis for numerous subsequent adaptations such as the burlesque opera by Thomas D. Rice of 1844. The opera's plot is essentially similar to that of the play by Shakespeare yet a few changes have been made. In Rice's parody Otello and Desdemona have a child and Shakespeare's handkerchief has become a common towel. Yet the most conspicuous alteration is Desdemona's resurrection after being killed at the end of the play. Apart from that it