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Importance of women in othello
Importance of women in othello
Analysis of shakespeare’s character othello
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Othello Essay
In Shakespeare’s “Othello”, the role of women is deeply emphasized; the significant characters of the play Othello, Iago, and Casio, each have a lady that stands behind him. These women each have commitment to remain faithful and respect their husband's needs, especially Desdemona and Emilia.
Desdemona is the victim of this play; Shakespeare portrays her as the loyal wife even up to her death. Throughout the story, Desdemona appears to live for her husband. Desdemona's one goal in life is to please her husband.
Emilia represents another aspect of female strength, less logical character, which relies on her sense of instinct. She understands her role as a wife (act 4, scene 3) Emilia is talking to Desdemona about husbands. " Yet we have some revenge. Let husbands know Their wives have sense like them. They see, and smell, and have their palates both for sweet and sour, As husbands have. What is it they do When they change us for others? Is it sport? I think it is. And doth affection breed it? I think it doth. Is't fraility that thus errs? It is so too. And have not we affections, Desires for sport, and frailty, as men have?"(page 217 line 104-113). Emilia and her husband Iago have different affiliation than Desdemona and Othello. Desdemona and Othello truly love each other, while Emilia, having no common sense of hatred towards Othello, has never actually loved Iago. She educate Desdemona, she is ignorant of Iago's evil nature and is also unsuspecting of his plot against Othello.
Bianca appears to have a very insignificant role in the play, yet she as a major role in the death of Desdemona. Bianca’s relationship with Cassio, seems as though Bianca really wanted to have a relationship with him, (scene 3, act 4).
Othello is a play that asks us to examine the position of women in society. This play explores issues such as clandestine marriage, accusations of adultery, and it includes three different social classes of women. First, we have Desdemona, this is a woman from a noble family in Venice and has the least amount of freedom. Her behavior was watched very carefully. The perception of Desdemona is created by the language that other characters use to describe her. In Act 2, Scene 1, Cassio refers to Desdemona as ‘a maid/That paragons description and wild fame’; that she
In the novel Othello, written by William Shakespeare, there are a variety of ways in which women are portrayed. There are strong willed women such as Emilia, who stands up to the men, especially to her husband. If he is wrong she would openly admit that he is incorrect. There are also women who are thought to be a possession as well as extremely submissive to their husbands such as Desdemona. She is the type of woman that will obey her husband to the day she dies. Desdemona believes that her husband is always right and he will never do anything that will lead her into the wrong direction. Many of the women in this time thought the same way. They are viewed as house workers, cooks, and teachers to the children. In addition to those qualities women obtain, having no authority in marriages is also added to the list. In this novel, there is judgment against women because they are “unequal” to men. They are not allowed to do the same as men for the reason that they do not possess the same qualities as men. Men were considered to be superior to women. Women were treated as their “slaves.” In contrast, today’s time women now have power. They have the right to vote, run for office, and even work outside their homes. Women now play the part as the male and female figure in the households. They are considered independent women, not relying on a male figure. Even if they are married now, they do not listen to everything that their husbands tell them to do. It states in the Bible that a male figure is the head of the households; however women today have strayed away from that view that they had back then. They want to be the dominate figure. Times have really changed from the past to the present. W...
In the play Othello The Moor of Venice, by William Shakespeare, Emilia's speech (4.3.84-103) has been called renaissance plea to women's liberation. This is because she tells of what she has experienced with her husband Iago, and what is bound to happen to her mistress Desdemona. Comparing their both lives in her speech, it vividly explains what happens to so many women in who are in a relationship, who find themselves in the same problem. According to her speech, there are some married women who do cheat on their husbands, there are problems in marriage relationships that men are the cause of them and she warns men that women can do what men can do.
In William Shaspeare play Othello, Iago make Othello believe that Desdemona is having an affair with Cassio. He does by taking advantage of any situation to make of Othello doubt. Iago make Othello thing a lot of crazy thing on his head, Othello got so jelous leading him to kill his own wife, Desdemona, satisfying iago obseccion for revenge.
The play Othello by William Shakespeare is based on an Italian story in Giraldi Cinthio's Hecatommithi (Grolier). In Othello we encounter Iago, one of Shakespeare's most evil characters. Iago is an officer in Othello's army and is jealous of Cassio's promotion to Lieutenant. Through deception and appearance, we see unfolded many lies and clever schemes. The astonishing thing about Iago is that he seems to make up his malicious schemes as he goes along without any forethought. Noted writer Samuel Taylor Coleridge describes Iago's plan as "motive-hunting of a motiveless malignity" (Scott 413). Iago seizes every opportunity to further advance his plan to his advantage. Greed plays a major role as a motive for his various schemes and lies.
In Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Othello the Moor of Venice, there are several strong, predominate female characters. Emilia, Desdemona, and Bianca have to defend themselves from the vicious men in the play. However, despite being victimized by the domineering men, their individual strengths set them apart from their abusers.
After reading Othello by Shakespeare over about 3 times, I came to feel sorry for a man that I can easily say was gulled into tragedy by his own purity. I can see Othello as a man that could sit at the ‘Round Table” with King Arthur and rank among those wonderous knights of chivalry. At his end, he had nothing. The Duke calls Othello ‘Valiant Othello’ (1057) Othello also stands ready to face Brabantio, Iago tells him to run. Othello - ‘Not I; I must be found. My parts, my title and my perfect soul Shall manifest me rightly. (1054) As grand as his internal characteristics are, he also stumbles with his own susceptibility to become betrayed.
Throughout the play women are treated as objects to be toyed with by men. The only power women have is their sexuality, which is thought to be something that is vile and intrusive. “ ...honest exchange between the two women on the subject of sexual morality...they lightly discuss, in less than an hour, both these women will be dead... about a subject their husband won 't talk about” (Grennan 280-281). For married women to speak of sexuality casually it alludes to their inevitable death. The only time a woman is left unchecked by a man, she is killed a few moments later by her own husband. However, women begin to feel more empowered when they are able to speak freely which is why they are supposed to be kept silent. With two out of the main three women dying in the play, it is clear that woman had a lesser role than men. Even Desdemona goes on to state how she knew she was an object, but then goes on to say how even objects can have meaning. Referring to Grennan “In this world, objects also carry symbolic weight, transmitting meaning beyond their apparent significance. Here the worlds seem to offer a glimpse into the deep interior of Desdemona’s mind...” (Grennan 278). We learn that Desdemona seems to be content with being an
In the play Othello by William Shakespeare the role Desdemona plays has been greatly argued. Several critics say that Desdemona is a pawn, that she is submissive and may even be responsible for her own death. However; even if Desdemona appears to be fragile at the end of the play when Othello becomes aggressive and later when he kills her, Desdemona proves that she is much smarter, stronger, and even has a certain power over those who around her, than the women in the time period that Shakespeare wrote Othello. With further investigation of Desdemona’s character considering the role of women in the Renaissance age in England, Desdemona more than surpasses the expectation and the authority that women were allowed at that time.
Within Shakespeare’s Othello there is an analysis into the context of the female. Brabantio’s rhyming couplet “Look to her, Moor, If thou hast eyes to see/ She has deceived her father, and may thee,” demonstrates his domineering and patronising attitude, as the Elizabethan era was a patriarchal society and the role of the female was to be ‘obedient’ to their father or husband. Brabantio also endeavours into placing a seed of doubt in Othello’s mind as a result of his jealousy. Consequentially Brabantio objectifies Desdemona when he states, “Where has thou stow’d my daughter?” exemplifying how he deems her as a possession, which can be stolen like any other. Othello prolongs this objectification through asserting that he “won his daughter” portraying Desdemona as a prize to be won, and a possession to be owned and argued over by husband and father. Desdemona is depicted early on in the play as the “angel” wi...
Even on her death bed, Desdemona’s character of an inanimate object belonging to Othello is carried on. It is lead on by Emilia’s question of “who hath done this deed” (5.2.137) referring to Desdemona’s death and her reply, “Nobody. I myself. Farewell. Commend me to my kind lord. Oh, farewell!”(5.2.138-139), overall putting the responsibility of her death upon herself. Leaving the readers impression of Desdemona as one filled with sympathy and rage against her unwillingness to fight her independence as well as against the men of this time period for not realizing the importance of such a woman.
The definition of Renaissance women is fundamentally important in William Shakespeare's play Othello. One of the major causes of Othello's tragedy is his belief that Desdemona is not chaste. According to the men of the Renaissance, chastity, silence, and obedience are three attributes that define Renaissance women. Although Othello takes place during the Renaissance, the women in the play, Bianca, Desdemona and Emilia, defy traditional norms by lacking at least one of the major attributes defining women; Bianca's lack of chastity is clearly displayed when she unlawfully sleeps with Cassio; Desdemona's lack of silence is clearly displayed when she constantly urges Othello to give Cassio's position back. However, in the last two acts, Emilia displays the strongest challenge to the definition of Renaissance women as silent, chaste, and obedient, mainly to defend Desdemona.
Being unfaithful to the one that she loves is something Desdemona cannot get into her head and would never understand. While singing the ‘Willow’ song that her mother’s maid sung before her death,a very concerned Desdemona wonders about infidelity by asking, “That there be women do abuse their husbands/ In such gross kind?” (IV, iii. 115). Desdemona grew up in a good family, never being exposed to certain realities which would explain why always sees the best in people and fails to acknowledge the real world, along. Irony makes presence when Desdemona is unaware that at that same moment her dear husband believes that she has been having an affair with Cassio for a while due to the fact of Iago’s lies getting through
While they have arduous intentions, none of them ever defend themselves. Desdemona is a passive victim who lets Othello abuse her, Emilia allows herself to be abused by Iago, and Bianca lets Cassio take advantage of her. Desdemona demonstrates weakness in her love for Othello and by taking his abuse. At the beginning of the play, Desdemona feels she must accompany Othello to Cyprus in war.
Desdemona is portrayed as the highest class a female could accomplish. She is elegant, honest and loyal to her husband as any other good Elizabethan married woman would be. She is presented as the ideal woman. Desdemona symbolizes innocence and helplessness against men. Shakespeare presents Desdemona as a mature and knowledgeable woman for her age as she defends her love for Othello to her father, Brabantio. However this is seen differently in the eye's of the society. Brabantio declares her as "Against all rules of nature"(scene.. line...). This statement reveals what the society believes what is natural and what is unnatural. To the society, "natural" is when a women complies to their husbands and fathers wishes, but it's unnatural for a women to do anything else. Women are referred to as property, clearly stated when Desdemona's father angrily calls Othello a "theif" (scene...line..). Here, Brabantio addresses Desde...