Treatment Of Women In Othello Essay

The women in Othello are synonymous with Venetian societal standards. Only three women are characters in Othello: Desdemona, Emilia and Bianca but the roles these women play give the reader an idea of how women were portrayed, not only in Shakespeare's Othello but in society in general.

The basis of Shakespeare’s plays appears to focus mainly around the dominant male character and his conflicts, which tend to deal with a woman. There are only three women in the play Othello; Desdemona, Emilia and Bianca. The way in which these women behave and present themselves strongly reflects the ideological expectations of women within Shakespeare’s imagined Venetian society as well as the Elizabethan society in which he lived. This patriarchal Venetian society presented in the play depicts women as possessions of men who should remain submissive and meek at all times. The women are expected to unselfishly and unreservedly devote their lives to serve their fathers until they are of age to do so, their husbands. All three women love

There are a great deal of plays that end with the death of a wife, often due to rumors of cheating. While many of these plays serve to provide violence in the private, domestic sphere, Othello pushes this issue into the public eye. Although there are many opinions on whose fault the deaths may be, Vanita argues that Desdemona and Emilia are very similar in their deaths. She feels that these deaths are caused by a series of ever escalating male characters as well as those who refuse to

   Throughout the length of Shakespeare’s tragedy Othello there is a steady undercurrent of sexism. It is originating from not one, but rather various male characters in the play, who manifest prejudicial, discriminatory attitudes toward women.

At the outset of the play Iago persuades the rejected suitor of Desdemona, Roderigo, to accompany him to the home of Brabantio, Desdemona’s father, in the middle of the night. Once there the two awaken the senator with loud shouts about his daughter’s elopement with Othello. This is the initial reference to the role of women in the play – the

n Shakespeare's play Othello many issues are undertaken and explored. The three women play a vital role in this. Only one of the women in this play survives. All the women have no separate identity within the play; all three are married or associated with a male character. Bianca is the mistress of Cassio, Emilia is married to Iago and Desdemona is married with Othello. According to the time that the play was written in and the general hierarchy within Venetian society men hold all the power and women are considered to be of low intellect. Yet it is the women that speak the most sense throughout the play and it is also the women that are able to trust other characters in the play. Each woman represents a different social level, Desdemona

Throughout the play, yes, Emilia certainly has her moments of shining independence and strength, and it is important to recognize those instances in order to decipher to what extent Emilia truly vouched for fair treatment and equality. In the midst of Shakespeare’s characterization of Iago as someone who disrespects women, Iago comments on his his spit fire of a wife by saying, “Sir, would she give you so much of her lips / As of her tongue she oft bestows on me / You’ll have enough.” (II.i.100-102). Iago shares a glimpse of how emilia behaves when nobody else is around, saying that she talks without end, given Iago’s demeaning nature it can be interpreted that he

Throughout ‘Othello’, Shakespeare uses the manipulation of the protagonist, by the antagonist, Iago, to present a play controlled by men. In such a male dominated society, Shakespeare presents the women in the play as tragic victims at the hands of their husbands, in particular Desdemona and Emilia. Throughout this essay I will relate to the Aristotelian and Senecan descriptions of tragedy to come to a conclusion of how in ‘Othello’ Shakespeare presents women as tragic victims of men.

   Shakespeare’s tragic drama Othello features sexism as regular fare – initially from Brabantio and Iago, and finally from Othello. Let us in this essay explore the occurrences and severity of sexism in the drama.

In Shakespeare’s Othello, the role of women is greatly emphasized. The important characters of the play, Othello, Iago, and Cassio, each have a women that stands behind him. These women each have an obligation to remain loyal and respect their husband's wishes, especially Desdemona and Emilia.

In Othello, the play vividly portrays the tragic fall of an admirable General who is transformed into a victim through manipulation by the atrocious villain, Iago. William Shakespeare illustrates the setting of Venice in the late 16th century, displaying gender inequality as an issue where wives are viewed as possessions belonging to their husbands. However, Emilia, being one of the most loyal characters, developed qualities of an early feminist who opposes unjustified treatment towards Desdemona. Emilia is practical and realistic due to her clear knowledge of humanity within both genders, in which she further challenges the male authority in order to advocate her right to speak.

In the play ‘Othello’ written by William Shakespeare, we see not only the main male character leads. But we also see the female characters, Desdemona, Emilia, and Bianca. These three women were portrayed in ways that showed them being inferior to the other male roles as well as society during the Elizabethan Era. But Shakespeare made each of these individual ladies characteristics quite unique to one another having the traits of a feminist. Even though in the play we read how the male characters did somewhat control them and made them look weak compared to them, there were moments where Desdemona, Emilia and Bianca stood up for themselves.

Women, especially Desdemona but Emilia as well, are obviously targets of male violence in Othello. For some reason Shakespeare’s play often put the emphasis on the role of the female characters and their influence on the main male characters. For instance, the result of the passionate love of Romeo for Juliet, the effect of Ophelia’s insanity had on hamlet, and so on. In Othello, Shakespeare made Desdemona and the other women in the play no different; Othello’s jalousie and love made the play a tragedy. Shakespeare made Desdemona the faithful wife of Othello. She was such a kindhearted and wished to make everything work even when the situation where she lost her handkerchief she tried to fix the situation and calming Othello. However, her innocent sympathy towards Cassio made lago’s lies more credible. Overall, one can say that her naïve nature causes her to become a target for the men in the play.

At this point the dramatic action has culminated into the final tragedy, Othello is at his most vulnerable and Iago’s machievellian manipulations combined with Othello’s insecurity about his identity and patriarchal notions have collided into catastrophic action. Desdemona is dead. Even after the cataclysmic tragedy has occurred, there is still a disobedience of the patriarchal authority that has transformed Desdemona into a lifeless victim. Emilia stands up for Desdemona who can no longer do it herself, she courageously defies the orders of the males who are commanding her to leave and go up to bed. Emilia refuses to obey them and is not frightened even when the men begin to draw their swords, she stands her ground and dauntlessly states: “I will not.” Even though it was moderately due to Emilia’s actions that these events unfolded, she manages to redeem herself by exposing Iago for the malicious deeds he committed but dies herself, a proud woman defying the patriarchal restrictions of her society. During this scene, the “Willow Song” returns strengthening the concept of women, regardless of status being able to share the same

In William Shakespeare’s tragic play Othello there are numerous instances of obvious sexism aimed at the three women in the drama -- Desdemona, Emilia and Bianca – and aimed at womankind generally. Let us delve into this subject in this paper.