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Act 1 Scene 3 Line 130 – 170
This scene was when Othello was talking to the Duke about his marriage with Desdemona. He was standing up for his self and telling everyone that he didn’t use witchcraft to take Desdemona from Brabantio. One particular line that resists paraphrasing is when Desdemona wishes, “That heaven had made her such a man.” This resists paraphrasing because it cannot be explained in just one way. After analyzing the line, there are two approaches you can take to her cry for a man such as Othello. Firstly, we can consider Desdemona wishing she had a man like Othello. One interpretation of this quote is god making her one because Othello was not good enough for her (he was a different skin color, older than she, and her dad’s friend). On the other hand, we can also imagine Desdemona wishing she were created as a man like Othello. After re-reading this line, I am lead to believe that Desdemona wasn’t asking for a man like Othello, because she has one… Othello! It becomes clear that by marrying Othello, she is wishing she were like him, instead of having a man like him. This particular observation strengthens my previous post about Othello being Desdemona’s other half. He completes her because he is everything she wishes to be. She loves everything about him so much that she even wishes to be a man like him. This specific passage is significant to the play because it shows the reasoning behind their marriage. Desdemona is head over heels with Othello’s treacherous and courageous attributes. This is the “witchcraft” he used to win her hand in marriage.