Othello and the heroine, DesdemonaIn the tragedy Othello by William Shakespeare we see a truly exceptional woman in the person of Desdemona, the general's wife. She, as Cassio says, is an "example" of virtue, unlike the other female characters in the play. H. S. Wilson in his book of literary criticism, On the Design of Shakespearean Tragedy, discusses Desdemona's entry into the Moor's life: But Othello had Desdemona not been known for a long time; in any case he knew little about women; his military life had left him little time to cultivate their society or study them, before he met Desdemona; and there was a bitter modesty in the man, who thought it quite possible that, for all his greatness and his romantic past, a young girl like Desdemona might regard him as but a passing fancy. (64)In Act 1 Scene 1, Iago persuades Desdemona's rejected suitor, Roderigo, to accompany him to the home of Brabantio, Desdemona's father, in the middle of the night. Once there the two wake him with loud cries about his daughter's escape with Othello. In response to Iago's vulgar descriptions of Desdemona's involvement with the general, Brabantio gets out of bed and, with Roderigo's help, assembles a search party to go find Desdemona and bring her home. Once Brabantio has located Othello, the father files a public complaint in order to have Desdemona returned: In prison, until the appropriate time of the law and the course of the direct session. Called to respond. (1.2) The proceedings that take place before the Duke of Venice cause the father to permanently lose his daughter, mainly due to Desdemona's fluent presentation of her point of view in the city council chamber. This results in Brabantio's virtual disowning and not allowing her to live in his house while Othello's campaign against the Turks in Cyprus is underway. It would therefore seem that Desdemona lived her life with a father who was interested above all in herself and less in his daughter. Entrusted to the care of the ancient and her Emilia, Desdemona arrives at the port of Cyprus. Blanche Coles in Shakespeare's Four Giants interprets the four very significant words of farewell to Desdemona that the protagonist utters upon landing in Cyprus: Othello's four words, “O joy of my soul”, tell us that this beautiful Venetian girl it brought great joy, happiness, bliss to the depths of his soul.