How Is Othello A Feminist

In the play Othello, written by Shakespeare, women do not get to enjoy the same freedom that women do today. The play Othello was written in the late sixteenth century. In the play Othello and Desdemona get married despite race and age. Iago is the character that tries to break up this marriage and convince Othello that she is unfaithful. Iago wants Cassio to lose his position as lieutenant. Iago frames Cassio to convince Othello that Desdemona is cheating. In the End Othello ends up killing Desdemona. Women were responsible for keeping the image of their families good, men were considered the head of the household. Women had to uphold the perfect image when in a marriage, society had its own standards for women and there were different social
Reading it as a feminist, the reader is allowed to judge the different status of women in the Elizabethan society. Elizabethan or shakespeare's society which was built upon Renaissance beliefs, say that women were meant to marry. In Othello women were seen as an act of possession for their husbands. Othello is an example of the expectations of the Elizabethan patriarchal society, which is where the male is the head of all. Throughout Othello women are treated as a possession. Desdemona, Othello’s wife is treated as a possession. Othello says to Desdemona, “Come, my dear love, the purchase made, the fruits are to ensure, that profit’s yet to come tween me and you. Good night.”(Shakespeare 66). Marriage is now said as an act of “purchase”. Now, a woman is bought by her husband and she is there to obey him and satisfy his sexual needs. Iago is a man who aspires to get revenge in Othello. Iago says to Othello, “..twist my sheets, H’ as done my office.”(Shakespeare 51) As Iago refers to his wife as his “office” he is saying that that Othello has used a possession that belongs to him. Women in Othello are being presented horrifically as possessions to their husbands because of the Elizabethan