The Willow Song from Othello, Analysis in Malayalam.

Описание: The Willow Song from Othello.

The Willow Song", appears in Act 4, Scene 3 of Othello. Desdemona is preparing for bed, afraid that Othello is wrongly angry with her for being unfaithful. She sings "The Willow Song", a mournful folk ballad, in which a lady laments her lost love. Desdemona only has time to sing two verses .

The earliest record of "The Willow Song" is in a book of lute music from 1583. There were eight verses, and it was originally about a man who dies because of his love’s cruelty and betrayal. Shakespeare changes the victim in the song from a man to a woman, making it more relevant to Desdemona.


Analysis of the Willow Song :

Preparing for bed, Desdemona tells Emilia about a song she knows called “Willow.” Othello has just ordered Desdemona to bed, and to please and appease him, she has obeyed. She asked Emilia to make up the bed with her wedding sheets. Desdemona seems to believe that Othello intends to come to the bedchamber to reconcile with her, but readers know his true intentions are to murder her there, in the bed that symbolizes the marital promise of fidelity he believes she broke.

“Willow”—a song symbolizing a forsaken woman’s sorrow and impending death—out of her mind. Just like Barbary, Desdemona will die soon after the song’s words fall from her lips.

After Othello sends her to bed, Desdemona sings the song “Willow,” a song that tells of a sorrowful woman who loves her man so much that she accepts his hatred of her, and even asks others to forgive him for his hostile treatment of her. Despite Desdemona repeatedly insisting that Othello is too good a man to feel jealousy, her subconscious seems to know otherwise. While singing the mournful ballad, Desdemona is startled by a knocking at the door—an omen, for, in fact, her death will soon be coming through that door. The song’s lyrics mention the color green, linking the woman’s sorrow with jealousy, the “green-eyed monster” that has infected Othello’s mind.

While dressing for bed, Desdemona continues to sing more lines from “Willow,” a song of lost love and profound heartache. The situation in the song mirrors Desdemona’s situation: like the speaker of the song, she understands that her husband no longer loves her, and she is heartbroken. Both the man in the song and Othello cruelly turn on their wives, first accusing them of not being true and then sending them away. Even though Desdemona’s words and actions suggest optimism that Othello’s anger with her will fade, (Because Othello considers her tears as crocodile tears. Even though she loved him very much. That's why such an optimistic situation approached the drama). But Desdemona singing “Willow” reveals that she knows that Othello’s love for her is dead.

Stabbed by Iago for revealing the truth regarding Desdemona’s handkerchief, Emilia uses her last breath to express both her love for Desdemona. Moments before her death, Emilia displays great courage by ignoring Iago’s repeated demands to remain silent, and in doing so, she ensures that everyone in the room knows the truth about Iago’s treacherous lies and Desdemona’s unfaltering loyalty.

The Willow Song symbolizes a woman fatally betrayed by her husband. Here Desdemona is a representative of purity and goodness. She cannot believe that wives can be unfaithful to their husbands. Desdemona serves as an innocent martyr of love. She has indeed become a sacrifice in the altar of love.

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