She's Come Undone: Did Desdemona's Determination Dictate Her Death? Sheridan Gayer

Shakespeare is often recognized for a contributing to the canon in a way that causes the adage "there is nothing new under the sun" to ring true. His talent for developing old literary and mythic plots and themes in order to address contemporary British issues such as monarchy, religion, war, race, and the role of women in society is most often termed by literary critics 'marvelous' and 'magnificent'. To the feminist critic, it is quite interesting to examine the treatment of women by writers of Elizabethan England, precisely because they are composing their works within a particularly unique historical context, the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.

Although female Elizabethan and Jacobean characters were not necessarily allegories to Elizabeth's reign, the impact of 'Mother' England's "iconic persona upon her subjects" is likely to be evident to some degree in contemporary courtly writers' work. Shakespeare especially was "not averse to creating strong women dramatic characters" as is reflected in the independent nature of Desdemona in her determination to become Othello's bride.

In Shakespeare's work, whenever something in the natural world is in disorder so...