Othello Feminist Analysis

Finally, near the end of the play, Emilia realizes “we must think men are not gods” (3.4.144). Although she knows her correct role in society in order to be accepted, she has come to see the lack of equality between men and women. She understands that in order to be presented to society, they must put on an act for their husbands. They do not need to think of them as gods, but must treat them as they are. She now believes that a woman being referred to as “whore” (4.3.74) is not tolerable. When something goes wrong, the men should not have the power to put the blame on the women. Emilia comes to this realization when she speaks her mind to Desdemona and says “But I do think it is their husbands’ faults / If wives do fall” (4.3.87-88). This is foreshadowing the fate of both woman’s lives in the play. They both die by “faults” of their husbands. “The ultimate irony in the play’s representation of male-female relations is the fact that two women accused by their husbands of “falling” morally, actually fall not morally but physically, before [their] eyes” (Vanita 352). In a
It is tragic that innocent people lost their lives due to lies and deception between Othello, Iago, and Cassio. The female characters of the play “were often killed because of the male characters’ need to “monumentalize” the, that is, their urge to silence the women” (Corporaal 107). The tradition perspective of women also makes the play tragic. With the women being unable to voice their opinions or stand up for themselves, the audience feels as hopeless as they are. The feeling of tragedy also accompanies the men using and killing the women as a warning to others of the suffering that occurs when you disobey or attempt to alter the traditional views of the female voice (Vanita