Halo effect

The paintings in the back of the book, and the ones in the front, each has a different interpretation on Desdemona and her personality. My favorite one is the one where it appears that Desdemona has a halo, and is lying on the bed as Othello kills her. This view of her as an innocent and docile girl. I tended to view her as a strong-willed woman, who by the necessity of the culture, lived a quieter life than she might have wanted. You see how passionate she is a couple of times through the book. When she stands up to her father and marries Othello, shows she has the backbone to follow her heart. Plus the fact that she insists on following her husband into a war zone, shows that she won't back down. The fact of the day, however, is that a woman must stand behind her husband as a docile creature, only there to be seen and not heard. Desdemona, being a well-bread Venetian lady, acknowledges this cultural identity of women, and lives in a manner that follows this. I think, though, that to depict her as an angel goes too far, and would be seen by Desdemona herself as an insult. I think that she would want to be seen as an strong woman, who knew her place in the world, but still attempted to make her mark on her husbands life.