Desdemona is very much a character in Othello who is controlled by the men around her (due to patriarchal ideologies at the time when it was written). This means that the actress who plays Desdemona has to have a certain powerlessness quality in the way she looks. In my opinion this quality would be portrayed by someone who looks very feminine and possibly weak, in other words the opposite to a strong man who would be Othello.
Additionally, Desdemona is portrayed as a very attractive woman because Othello believes that Cassio would want to sleep with her.
It should also be noted that in certain scenes such as in Act 4, scene 1 Desdemona is very naive when Othello is clearly very angry and she asks 'what, is he angry?'. Her naivety is probably due to patriarchal Shakespearean setting and linked to how women never received an education like men did but either way Shakespeare presented Desdemona as not the most intelligent woman.
I think that Vanessa Hudgens fits well with Desdemona's criteria because she is feminine, attractive and looks like she could have a naive quality about her. Furthermore she is 27 years old so could easily be portrayed as younger than whoever plays the role of Othello.
The only problem with Vanessa Hudgens playing Desdemona would be that she does not have any experience acting characters previous to the 21st century so possibly the play could be set in modern day. Either way I think that Vanessa Hudgens has the looks and acting skills to be capable of playing Desdemona.
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