Comparison Between Desdemona And Lady Macbeth

Many people dream of having a taste of true power. The ability to influence or even control other people’s behavior, while they look up to you as a hero. People can come into power in many ways, either by being born into it or buy force. While both Desdemona and Lady Macbeth marry influential men, their reactions differ to that trait even though they both end with realizing power corrupts. Lady Macbeth’s introduction does not give the audience the impression that she is a power-hungry, easily manipulated woman. Lady Macbeth paces around the castle, reading a letter from her beloved Macbeth with a flowy, lovey-dovey style of speech. This is a very sweet opening scene, and one that greatly contrasts the rest of her actions. Lady Macbeth shows …show more content…
Desdemona actually was corrupted by concept of power as well, but in a less obvious and evil way. Desdemona held quite a large amount of respect and love for Othello during the entire play, she realized how much of a powerful man he was, and she wanted what was best for him. This sense of caring turned out to make her less aware of what was going on around her. In Act 4, Desdemona and Emilia have a famous conservation where they talk about husbands cheating and she can’t believe anyone would do that because of her experiences with Othello. Othello’s powerful presence has Desdemona trapped in a mental state where everything looks and sounds perfect, and any mistakes that happen are all because of her. In the play, Othello is tricked by Iago into believing that Desdemona has cheated on him with a man called Cassio. Othello goes on a rampage which eventually ends with him killing her. When Emilia checks on Desdemona, she sees her on the verge of death. Emilia then asks Desdemona who could have done this to her, and Desdemona answers “Nobody! I myself, farewell!”. She refuses to blame Othello for his actions and even puts the blame on herself, maybe this is because Othello’s powerful presence intimidated her or maybe she truly loved him and believed that he was doing the right thing.
Both Lady Macbeth and Desdemona have had separate experiences with power, but sadly the concept of power twisted their minds and the minds of the people they loved. This resulted in their imminent deaths, with Lady Macbeth dying because of the guilt that power caused and Desdemona being killed because the effect that power had on Othello. No matter how sweet power seems to taste, it ended up leaving these women with a sour taste in their