In Shakespeare’s play, Othello, the storyline demonstrates male-dominance over the female characters, therefore marginalizing the role of feminism in the play. There are three female characters who play an important role in the Othello, each of whom showed true love and affection towards their men and yet were rejected and became a symbol of suspicion in the tragedy. The story line of Othello contains many problematic complications, all leading towards the ending tragedy, but one of the main conceptions supported throughout the play revolves around the female characters who become victims in the men dominant society. Othello's tragedy in the play happens as a result of men's misunderstandings of women and women's inability to protect themselves …show more content…
Roderigo for example, who was desperately in love with Desdemona throughout the play and thus committed many foolish acts in hope of gaining her love. He was presented as a man who lacks masculinity and other attributes that the other men such as in the play demonstrated. Due to Roderigo’s foolish character, he became Iago’s puppet who unknowingly helped Iago accomplish his evil plan throughout the play. This is seen in Act 5 as Iago refers to him in the following lines, “I have rubb'd this young quat almost to the sense. quat meaning boil or spot. And also as a source of income. Of gold and jewels that I bobb'd from him, As gifts to Desdemona” (Act 5, Scene 1). Othello’s change in character, from being a warrior to becoming effeminate after marrying Desdemona, also supports the idea that the men of Othello who provoked feminine qualities were suppressed in the society. In the land of Cyprus, Othello became an insecure man due to his differences amongst others and was over run by many unknown emotions which lead him to kill his wife,
The feminist lens provide modern society with the most compelling view of literature because men don’t trust women, men think women are cheaters and whores, and women don 't have a voice. First and foremost, men don’t trust women. Illustrates how the feminist perspective is the best lens to new modern literature in his play “Othello”, when shakespeare articulates through brabantio in Act 1, as he speaks to duke that “She has been fooled, stolen from me, and corrupted by spells and medicines bought from cheating salesmen. She is not mentally impaired, blind or
With an emphasis on domestic constraints and an establishment of unity, Shakespeare’s Othello demonstrates the critical roles of husbands and wives within a broken marriage. Not only do men and women share coordinating desires and emotions, but women also experience an entirely separate position of forced submissivity that shapes the framework of oppressed feminist ideologies. All of Shakespeare’s marital implications through Emilia draw to these feminist principles; the beaming light of sisterhood that he creates exhibits the charge women must take to build their internal and external
In conclusion, the genders in Shakespeare’s play, Othello, misperceive each other due to generalizations created by their strongly implemented values and often times this can lead to fatalities. The sharp distinctions between men and women are strongly influenced by their values and beliefs, and as a result the men underestimate the women and the women overestimate the men. Iago underestimated his wife and Desdemona overestimated her husband, which not only led to the deaths of their loved ones, but the deaths of themselves as well. Strictly enforced morals create narrow mindsets that hinder the ability for humans to understand and connect with one
Nadia In the play Othello, by William Shakespeare, the title character is a valiant hero who is in love with his beautiful bride, Desdemona. The play’s villain, Iago, destroys this love by feeding Othello vicious lies about Desdemona, causing Othello to slowly go mad. By the end of the play, Othello, in a fit of jealous rage, murders his wife. This significant change in Othello’s character is not sudden; rather, it is a gradual transformation that takes place after a series of events that occur throughout the play.
While Desdemona is a remarkably strong character, Emilia also displays independence unmatched by any other female in Othello, and there are multiple details of Shakespeare and his time that may have prompted such a portrayal. In Elizabethan England, many women worked behind the scenes of productions, like Shakespeare’s, as uncredited authors and editors (Crowley). Due to their anonymity, nobody can be sure that women were involved in Shakespeare’s plays nor Othello in particular, but there is a genuine possibility that female writers did have leverage. This may have had to do with how Emilia was portrayed as resilient from the time of Desdemona’s death all the way until her own, standing up for herself regardless of the ridicule it caused her (Iyasere). In fact, it even killed her in the end.
In William Shakespeare’s Othello the two main characters are Iago and Othello. The entire story centers around Iago 's plan to achieve revenge on Othello for not promoting him to lieutenant. Throughout the story Iago tries to convince Othello that his wife Desdemona has cheated on him with his lieutenant Cassio. Iago’s plan is successfully and easily executed. Othello is tricked into believing that desdemona has been unfaithful and in the end he kills her.
In Shakespeare’s play Othello, the male characters perceive woman as property of their own who have to be submissive and they treat them as adulterous. The male characters in Othello perceive women characters as promiscuous and adulterous. Iago being the character who strongly shows his perception that woman are promiscuous by concluding that his wife has deceive him with Othello and Cassio. Moreover, Iago creates and immoral image of Desdemona persuading Othello of this lie, ultimately, Othello convinces himself that Desdemona is a promiscuous.
Shakespeare's Othello is set during the Renaissance period and therefore the roles of the women in Othello are supposedly bounded by the period when women are considered to be of low intellect. In Othello, most male characters assume that women are inherently promiscuous, which explains why all three women characters in the play are accused of sexual infidelity. Yet Shakespeare develops the women to speak the most sense throughout the play and able to trust other characters in the play. To the men in Othello, female sexuality is a threatening force more than it is an attractive one.
1. Consider one of the male-female relationships in Othello (Othello and Desdemona; Iago and Emilia; and Cassio and Bianca). Do they love or hate one another, or, is it both? How are the women treated in each relationship? Explain.
In Shakespeare’s Othello and in Susan Glaspell’s Trifles women play an important role in the development of the plot. Shakespeare and Glaspell develop these women differently to enhance their message. In Othello, Emilia, Desdemona, and Bianca are all treated very poorly by their male counterparts.
Othello’s life transforms the second he steps into Cyprus. Iago’s motives are devastating as he plan’s to take Othello’s position, regardless of the cost. Iago plants the seed of deceit and unfaithfulness when he hints of an affair involving Othello’s love, Desdemona and Cassio. An overwhelming feeling of jealously takes a hold in Othello’s life. Othello is no longer the well spoken, and respected army general that everyone knew him to be, but instead a short tempered man with little respect for
In his play “Othello,” Shakespeare is very compassionate towards the women of his era. He treats Desdemona with special sympathy. She is the victim of two crossed male aspirations — the devilry of villain Iago and the jealousy of her husband. The main cause of Desdemona’s tragedy is the total absence of women’s personal liberty. The lack of self-development without restrictions of society and family constricts the mind.
Each of the women in Othello represent the different tiers of the social structure at that time. Desdemona represents the upper class because her father is a senator and very wealthy. She was automatically born into the lavish lifestyle. She wears the finest clothes and eats the finest food. She has a handmaiden that helps her get dressed and follows her everywhere.
The play 'Othello' took place during the late 16th century in the Venetian period. The women during this time were perceived as sexual objects, or possessions, where men view their bodies instead of analyzing their personalities. It is also believed that women were meek and humble towards their superiors (men), becoming submissive towards their commands. This sort of societal attitude can be seen with Desdemona's father, Brabantio, who disproves of her marriage with Othello. In 'Act I Scene I' he claims that his daughter is dead to him, as she is a "treason of the blood," when he realizes that she has run off to be married.
William Shakespeare is a writer who, in a considerable lot of his plays, composes ladies who are critical in propelling the plot. These ladies move toward becoming impetuses for the devastation that takes after, that being the obliteration of the heroes, as well as their own passings. Lady Macbeth from Macbeth and Desdemona from Othello are both female characters who assume this part. The two ladies assume comparative parts despite the fact that their identities are greatly unique. Desdemona turns into a relatively cliché lady once she weds Othello.