First, a reader must understand the way gender was understood in Shakespeare’s time. “If we are going to insist in understanding the Elizabethan dramatic artifice, let us also insist in examining Othello according to the traditional values which Shakespeare has injected implicitly and explicitly into the play (Kirschbaum, 284).” This quote given by another author shows the importance of understanding the original texts. The original text, while maybe outdated, is still vital in understanding the culture and history behind the play. A student must understand the implications that Shakespeare originally intended to be understood by the audience. There are three main characters in the play. These women are Desdemona, Emilia, and Bianca. These women all show true, strong affection to the main men in their lives.…
Throughout the entirety of Shakespeare’s “Othello”, there are many scenes of conflict between the characters and Shakespeare presents these conflicts in a number of different ways. The most notable conflicts are between the main characters: Othello, Iago and Desdemona, among others like Roderigo, Cassio, Brabantio, Emilia and Bianca.…
In Othello, Shakespeare adheres to some of but ignores some of the rules set from A Discourse of Marriage and Wiving, while he creates conflicts in Othello’s marriage to Desdemona. While everything starts out great with Othello’s marriage to Desdemona, things slowly unravel when Iago, the villain of the play, begins to fill the heads of his ‘friends’ with lies. Othello is boastful of the beauty and gentleness of his wife, causing the work for Iago to be minimal. Othello allows his sweet Desdemona to be around his friends more often than he should and by doing this Iago finds it that much easier to make his plan fall in place. Othello grows very jealous as Iago fills his head with lies of his sweet Desdemona and from there everything goes spiraling downward into an awful fate.…
In "Othello", the expectations for women are one the most important theme that runs throughout the play. Even though, "Othello" is a play that revolves majorly around men, the way female characters in the play like Desdemona and Emilia behave, perceived…
One of the first relationships seen during the play Othello is that which runs between Desdemona and Brabantio of a father to his daughter. As was the attitude of the time Brabantio considered Desdemona as a procession and a prize rather then a person. This stemmed from the patriarchal society of the time. The way women are treated as possessions can clearly be seen in the way Roderigo and Iago refer to Desdemona in Act one - 'Thieves, thieves! Look to your house, your daughter and your bags! Thieves, thieves!' Act 1, Scene 1, 80-3. Brabantio loves his daughter but considerers her as a piece of property to shelter and own. From this attitude of possessing women Brabantio becomes utterly infuriated when he discovers that Desdemona has eloped with Othello and thus deceived him which was unheard of at the time. Brabantio's possessive nature of Desdemona reveals itself clearly when he stands before the Duke, 'She is abused, stolen from me and corrupted.' Act 1, Scene 3, 60. Upon leaving the Dukes chambers Brabantio says to Othello - 'If she can deceive once she can deceive again.' Act 1, Scene 3, 190, - this is the key line which plays an immense part in the final outcome of this play for it runs through…
In William Shakespeare’s drama “Othello” the vast differences in gender perception is highlighted in the characters of Othello and Desdemona. Being a moor Othello should be part of the lowest social class yet because of his position in the military his men need to show him respect while inwardly they despise him, this two faced behaviour can be seen in Iago. Desdemona on the other hand has been naturally born to high society but when she chooses to marry Othello she is ostracized and marked as a social outcast. Because of Desdemona’s gender she is abandoned by those in her own class while because he is a man Othello is given respect…
Ideas of discrimination and racism have also been reflected within the play through the characterisation of Othello. Described as having “thick lips” and a darker skin tone, the protagonist experiences a sense of isolation from society due to his evident difference in physical appearance.. By demonstrating ideas of separation in the play, the reader is poised to read it as a text that incorporates strong ideas of discrimination, both evident during Shakespeare’s time and our current society. This discriminating prejudice leads to the deterioration of Othello’s confidence, where he states ‘for I am black’and ‘unworthy of love’. Ideas of discrimination and racism becomes particularly apparent when Iago constantly addresses Othello as ‘The Moor’…
Women during the Renaissance where told that they must be obedient and submissive to men. Desdemona is obedient to her father Brabantio, as she is still his daughter and tells her father that she has not done anything to anger him. Also, she is extremely obedient and submissive to her husband Othello. Othello hits her and accuses her of cheating on him with Cassio, even then Desdemona doesn’t argue or try to deny any of it. All that she does is try to find out what she did to ager her husband. Women were not considered people, but rather property to either their husbands or to their fathers if they weren’t married. Women had no right except what was given to them through status of the men in their life. In the Renaissance this wasn’t a social…
That women were not trusted in Elizabethan times is a key element of the play. Shakespeare gives Othello an automatic mistrust in Desdemona, and because of this Othello becomes jealous easily. Shakespeare utilises these ideas of mistrust in women when he has Iago manipulate Othello. In Act 1 Scene 3, Othello entrusts Desdemona to Iago. Othello says “My wife … to thee”. There is irony here, in that he believes his wife to be false later in the play, and dramatic irony that Othello calls Iago honest, while the audience knows he is not. Shakespeare raises tension using this dramatic irony, while saying that women do not have the capacity to look after themselves; he establishes a viewpoint on women. This lays a foundation of mistrust in women…
One of the main stereotypes seen is submission. Women are still submissive to their husbands then and now. At the beginning, Desdemona appears to be a strong, free willed, independent woman. Iago calls Desdemona out on her unusual female behavior, and Othello starts to notice it as well .Desdemona’s un-lady like behavior affects her, her relationship with Othello, and Cassio. At first Othello admired the way Desdemona behaved. Othello was reading the letter from the duke telling him to return home. Lodovico ask Desdemona how Cassio has been doing. Desdemona explains how Othello and Cassio had an argument, and she hopes they can work things out because she…
Depending on cultural differences and upbringing a text will have different impacts on the audience. Like any great piece of literature, William Shakespeare’s plays deal with timeless concerns that have the ability to be adapted and presented to remain relevant for modern audiences. Shakespeare’s Othello is a Jacobean play written in a time of racist attitudes towards foreigners and sexist attitudes to women. This revenge tragedy follows the protagonist Othello, a black army general who is manipulated by his ensign Iago. For me the way that race and colour is presented in contrast to the stereotypical portrayal highlights the prejudice apparent in not only the Jacobean society but our own as well. This is portrayed through Iago’s racist depiction of Othello and the opposing imagery of black and white. The play can also be viewed as having a strong feminist theme. The two heroines are portrayed as capable and steadfast individuals. Both women are the only characters that remain justified throughout in their loyalty to their husbands.…
The image of Othello refusing to fight is very noble and almost Christ –like, showing that he is in fact a hero. While Cassio and Iago are disrespectful towards their wives and other women, Othello is very respectful and empowering when referring to his wife, Desdemona. In Act 2 scene ii, Othello refers to Desdemona with “O my fair warrior.” This is unusual as in the Elizabethan times the term “warrior” would often be used to describe men as it connotes strength whereas women were seen as weak and submissive. This shows how Othello not only loves Desdemona, but values and respects her as a woman. In Act 1 scene ii when Othello is speaking before the court and the men in the room are speaking about Desdemona, he asks for her to have a voice: “Send for the lady… and let her speak of me before her father.” The definite article “the” before lady shows her importance and empowers her, showing that Othello respects her…
In A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen and Othello by William Shakespeare women were treated as victims of their era due to male dominance. Women in the 16th, 18th and 19th centuries were considered inferior to man. They would tackle tasks such as taking care of the household and the children while men were out making the family income. Men did not believe that women were capable of thinking on the same level as them. However, the two plays mentioned give us examples of two characters that disobey the superiority of men, but have rather different outcomes because of the time period in which the plays have been written.…
Based on the situations that the three female characters of Othello endure it is clear that Shakespearean society viewed women as lesser beings who existed only to serve the men in their lives, and who were supposed to subservient, submissive, pure and above all else obedient. Obedient to their husbands, father, brothers and all men. Patriarchal rule justified women's subordination as the natural order because women were thought to be physiologically and psychologically inferior to men. Although the women in Othello are measured against these ideals and in this society. Shakespeare is not inviting the audience to accept these standards, but rather to assess them with a critical eye. This is shown through his representation of the women and…
Shakespeare enforces the idea that for a woman to be different, she is an outsider, for example in Macbeth the witches are seen to be outcasts of society. Macbeth refers to them as “imperfect speakers”, the emphasis on the word “imperfect” suggests that Macbeth believes the witches are inferior to him and what they say shouldn’t be taken seriously. Shakespeare gives the idea to the audience that there is a ‘perfect’ speaker, someone who can manipulate him that he respects and listens to. Perhaps his ‘perfect’ speaker is Lady Macbeth, despite the fact that she is a woman Macbeth recognises and acknowledges her thirst for power. Not only are the witches’ outcasts to society, they are also women, who in the Jacobean era would have been considered as the underclass and inferior to men. Women with the power to determine the fate of a higher class man would have been seen as something quite disturbing to a renaissance audience, a woman’s duty was to marry and have and take care of children not to govern the life of a man.…