Use of Animal Imagery in Shakespeares Othello and Ann-Marie MacDonalds Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet)

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Use of Animal Imagery in Shakespeare’s “Othello” and Ann-Marie MacDonald’s “Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet)” Shakespeare’s “Othello” and Ann-Marie MacDonald’s “Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet) both contain vivid uses of animal imagery. In Othello, the animal references serve as a projection of prejudices against race, age and gender or as a descriptive element to reveal characters true intentions. In Goodnight Desdemona, animal imagery is used descriptively to emphasize negative character traits and faults. In Goodnight Desdemona, MacDonald uses the simple animal imagery of a mouse to signify traits in Constantine’s personality. Constantine’s “mouse like” qualities prevent her from being successful and from finding the love she deserves. We see her as a little work mouse, pining away in her office, completing assignments for the man she adores, and being taken advantage of by students. She sits in her office eating “Velveeta cheese” (7) as she struggles to make sense of her thesis. She is indeed a little mouse that barely gets noticed and soon she finds that her one sided love affair is over and the job she thought was hers is no longer. Her love, Professor Claude Night, refers to her as a “titmouse” (15) as a means to further hold her down. During her re-waking in the Shakespearian dream, she compares herself to Desdemona: “Next to her I’m just a little wimp/ a rodent. Road kill. Furry tragedy / all squashed and steaming on the 401” (45). Iago also refers to Constantine as a “cunning mouse” (39) as he warns Desdemona against her. He continues on to say: “beware my lady, of the mouse who eats/ the lion’s cheese while sitting in his lap” (40). The mouse imagery becomes more meaningful by the end of the play when Constantine transforms from the shy little mouse, to a strong self-confident woman. In Shakespeare Othello, animal imagery

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