After Brabantio learns of the secret marriage between Othello and Desdemona, he takes Othello to trial and accuses him of having bewitched his daughter. Desdemona experiences a conflict between her duties to both her father and Othello, whom she eloped without Brabantio's permission, knowing that he would oppose the marriage and demand obedience. She expresses this internal dilemma in act 1, scene 3:
I do perceive here a divided duty.
To you I am bound for life and education.
My life and education both do learn me
How to respect you. You are the lord of duty.
I am hitherto your daughter. But here’s my husband.
And so much duty as my mother showed
To you, preferring you before her father,
So much I challenge that I may profess
Due to the Moor my lord.
Desdemona is torn over having betrayed her obligation to obey Brabantio's will, yet she is now bound to Othello and must place him above her own father. Desdemona counters his accusal of witchcraft and asserts that she married Othello of her own free will and for love. After Brabantio is unable to persuade the court to strip Othello of his title, he disowns Desdemona.
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