Othello -Essay
OTHELLO ESSAY
Shakespeare’s domestic tragedy Othello continues to engage audiences through its exploration of race and gender power plays- universal concerns that transcend time and place. Othello is a warning for those who attempt to usurp the Elizabethan chain of being power structure. Those people, who attempt to contravene the divinely constructed social order, are punished for their anomalous actions. Through extracting the perennial power relations of the play, a Marxist and Feminist paradigm can be adopted.
Gender Powerplay
The representation and relationships of women in Venetian society in terms of gender relations and equality are explored throughout the play. The character of Iago, adopts the sexist and discriminatory attitudes towards women that was common in the patriarchal society of Venice. Iago was someone who thought women were infinitely exploitable, dispensable objects and driven by sexual desire only- “That she may make, unmake, do what she list /even as her appetite shall play the god.”(Act 3 Scene 3). As Iago soliloquises, the repetition of “make” emphasises the view of the relentless nature to which women approach relationships that was adopted by the patriarchal society. The view that women were characterised in such a derogatory and disparaging fashion, articulates the discriminative societal views that were upheld in Venetian society. Similarly, Iago’s characterisation of women is representative of the dominant societal view that women were inferior and nonsensical beings. Interestingly, Emilia contrasts Iago’s belief concerning the sexual desire of women by expressing her belief that men use women to satisfy their own sexual desire- “They are all but stomachs, and we all but food; / they eat us hungrily, and then when they are full/ they belch us.” (Act 3 Scene 4). With the use of a metaphor to express the exploitation of women, combined with figurative language, Emilia illustrates the gender tensions and views of women existing
Shakespeare’s domestic tragedy Othello continues to engage audiences through its exploration of race and gender power plays- universal concerns that transcend time and place. Othello is a warning for those who attempt to usurp the Elizabethan chain of being power structure. Those people, who attempt to contravene the divinely constructed social order, are punished for their anomalous actions. Through extracting the perennial power relations of the play, a Marxist and Feminist paradigm can be adopted.
Gender Powerplay
The representation and relationships of women in Venetian society in terms of gender relations and equality are explored throughout the play. The character of Iago, adopts the sexist and discriminatory attitudes towards women that was common in the patriarchal society of Venice. Iago was someone who thought women were infinitely exploitable, dispensable objects and driven by sexual desire only- “That she may make, unmake, do what she list /even as her appetite shall play the god.”(Act 3 Scene 3). As Iago soliloquises, the repetition of “make” emphasises the view of the relentless nature to which women approach relationships that was adopted by the patriarchal society. The view that women were characterised in such a derogatory and disparaging fashion, articulates the discriminative societal views that were upheld in Venetian society. Similarly, Iago’s characterisation of women is representative of the dominant societal view that women were inferior and nonsensical beings. Interestingly, Emilia contrasts Iago’s belief concerning the sexual desire of women by expressing her belief that men use women to satisfy their own sexual desire- “They are all but stomachs, and we all but food; / they eat us hungrily, and then when they are full/ they belch us.” (Act 3 Scene 4). With the use of a metaphor to express the exploitation of women, combined with figurative language, Emilia illustrates the gender tensions and views of women existing