Desdemona before and after falling asleep
The British Dante Gabriel Rossetti (Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 1828-1882) had excellent sensibility. By the age of 20 he had composed some creative poems and completed many translations of Italian poems. In 1861, he saw a collection of poems on the “penny shelf” of a second-hand bookstore. It was the English translation of the Persian astronomer, Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam by poet Omar Khayyam (1048-1131). After the book was published in 1859, not a single copy was sold for more than two years. But Rossetti fell in love with it immediately, and bought several copies as presents to friends. It later turned out to be the best-selling poem in history. Rossetti is also a painter, and the establishment of the British “Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood” mainly depends on his efforts.
Art historian Helen Borowitz, writing about the Pre-Raphaelites, points out that every Pre-Raphaelite painter mostly liked to paint subjects from Shakespeare’s works. Rossetti, too, had a strong interest in Shakespeare. He once painted a painting of Shakespeare’s “Othello” called “Desdemona’s Death Song” (Desdemona’s Death Song), depicting the fourth act of the play. After three scenes of Othello telling Desdemona to “quickly go to sleep”, before Desdemona goes to bed, when Iago’s wife Emilia puts on makeup for her, her conversation with Emilia and her singing “Willow Song” “Scene.
Desdemona is the daughter of the patriarch Brabantio, she loves Othello so much, as she said from the bottom of her heart, “loves him so deeply, even though he abandons me like a shoe, It will not change my loyalty to him because of this”, “His ruthlessness may destroy my life, but it will never destroy my love”. Therefore, when Emilia declared that “for the wealth of the whole world, who would not sell his virginity”, Desdemona couldn’t understand it at all, and swore: “If I were for the whole world, I would do such a thing.” It must be a terrible death.” She was very sorry for her mother’s maid Barbara, “she was in love; her relatives went mad and lost her”, and she sang a song until she died The ancient “Willow Song”. Desdemona sympathized with Barbara’s fate very much. Before going to sleep, she said that this “Willow Song” “has always haunted my mind, and my disturbed mood made me unable to restrain myself from tilting my head and imitating The look of poor Barbara sings of it.” Art historian Farhad Naini writes that
Rossetti depicts this scene from Act 4, Scene 3 of Shakespeare’s famous Othello (c. 1604). The basis of the plot is that of the Venetian Giovanni Battista Giraldi (1504–1573), commonly known as Cinthio, in the novel II Moro di Venezia. provided in . While this sort of thing usually happens, the story is but a shadow compared to the vibrant characters created by Shakespeare’s luminous language.
“Desdemona’s Song of Death” by Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Desdemona is Othello’s kind and innocent wife. She is a beautiful Venetian nobleman who, against her father’s wishes, falls in love with and marries Othello. Othello is a Moor and general in Venice, whose honorable character and status are marred by his baseless jealousy of his wife. The plot centers on Iago, the manipulative villain seeking promotion and envious of Desdemona’s love for her husband. …It was the jealous warning of the “green-eyed devil” Iago that made Desdemona fall into Iago’s plot. It seems that he had an extramarital affair with Othello’s friend Cassio, and Othello committed suicide due to depression. Desdemona’s name is equivalent to the Greek dusdaimon, meaning “ill-fated”. The lesson of this story is a testament to Voltaire’s dictum: “Those who can make you believe the absurd will make you commit the atrocity.”
…Desdemona was a hero after all. She had the courage to marry Othello against her father’s wishes, followed her husband to fight in Cyprus, and defended Cassio, which eventually led to her death. It goes to show that no matter what life may bring, face it with courage. She is upright, caring, straightforward and always loyal. There are about 160 songs in Shakespeare’s plays, usually of dramatic effect. Rossetti’s drawing captures a very important moment in the plot, when Desdemona sings the Willow Song “Singing willow, willow, willow, whose tears melt the stony heart… . . . ” Before, she lamented that her husband might abandon her. Shakespeare has a powerful ability to express the deepest human emotions in a unique way that transcends time and space. In this painting, Rossetti provides an elegant visual expression of Shakespeare’s dramatic scene.
To Desdemona’s surprise, Iago’s plot succeeded and she was suspected. So she fell asleep, lying on the bed like an angel. Later, Othello enters her room alone:
Othello and Desdemona by Antonio Muñoz de Grein (1880)
“Sorrowful Othello” by William Salter
For this one reason only, for this one reason only, my soul! O pure star, don’t make me tell you its name! Just for this reason… But I don’t want to splash her blood, and I don’t want to hurt her skin that is whiter than snow and smoother than plaster. But she has to die, otherwise she will frame more men. Let me extinguish this lamp, and then I will extinguish the flame of your life. Mellow lamp, when I blow you out, I can light you again, if I regret it; but you, most exquisite form of creation, when your flame is extinguished, I know not where there is heaven The divine fire that can ignite your original brilliance…
Spanish painter Antonio Muñoz Degraí (Antonio Muoz Degraí, 1840-1924) oil painting “Othello and Desdemona” (Otelo and Desdemona) in 1880 e Desdémona) reproduced this scene.
De Glein initially studied architecture before turning to painting. His works were first in the Eclectic style and later became Impressionism. His oil paintings have won numerous awards.
Although the above-mentioned confession of Othello is followed by “one more kiss, another kiss. May you be like this until you die”,—like an angel; and “I will kill you, and then love you again” Wait for a few sentences, which typically embodies the classic sentence of the theme of love and death, “Because I love her, so kill her”, but De Grein seems unable to bear to paint this cruel picture, and just uses Othello’s gesture—— The left hand is raised, and the right hand is tightly grasping the curtain to show that he has made up his mind, implying that the tragedy is irreversible. Representing this tragedy is the task of another painting.
Desdemona, who was falling asleep, woke up with her husband’s “last kiss”. She could not have imagined, and could not have imagined at all, what was going to happen. “Who? Othello?” “Are you going to sleep, my lord?” When the answer was to ask her to say her last prayer: “If you think of any crime in your life, which you have not done for God’s forgiveness, hurry and beseech his forgiveness”, the only thing this woman, who remained uncomplaining and loyal to her husband until the last moment of her life, was to accept the death he bestowed on her: “Then may God have mercy on Me!” “Let me say a prayer!” She even asked Emilia, an instant before her death, to “pay my respects to my gracious husband” and absolve him of murder.
Desdemona Cursed by Her Father by Delacroix
But when Othello understands the truth and realizes that he mistakenly killed his holy and loyal wife because he believed in Iago’s treachery, his regret is endless.
I am a person who is unwise and too deep in love; a person who is not prone to jealousy, but when provoked, he becomes extremely confused; The more precious pearls of all the possessions of the tribe are thrown away; and a man unaccustomed to shedding a woman’s tears, yet, when he is overcome by passion, floods his eyes like gum arabic that gushes with glue.
His endless remorse cannot be erased except “Before I killed you, I kissed you farewell; now my own life ends with a kiss.”
The oil painting “Othello’s Lamentation” (Othello’s Lamentation) in 1857 by the British portrait painter William Salter (1804-1875) showed such a scene at the end of the whole play of “Othello”.
