Gender Stereotypes in Othello

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Stereotypes are commonly held generalized beliefs that most or all individuals sharing a given trait also should or do share other attributes assumed to be associated with aspects such as race, religion, and physical attribute. While stereotypes can erroneously shape people’s views of others, they can also influence the stereotyped individuals’ behavior as people often attempt to conform to these flawed images, especially in regards to gender stereotypes. Shakespeare’s great play Othello uses its main characters to embody the characteristics of the stereotypical females and males according to society’s liking. The stereotypical woman is loyal and faithful to her husband, while the male stereotype possesses strength, control, and dominance. This use of stereotypes enables many misperceptions to develop and build until ultimately everyone experiences downfall and destruction. Shakespeare includes the effects of gender roles and identities and the consequences of violating those roles. Through the depiction of both women and men in Othello, Shakespeare criticizes society and the gender stereotypes it creates that erode one’s humanity and individuality.

Men and women are victims of society’s influence as they succumb to stereotypes that shape their perceptions of their individual roles in society and those of others. The flawed views that men possess of women and women possess of men result in the idealization and degradation of both genders. Their expectations of one another are formed around societal stereotypes, encouraging behavior that is often extreme. Shakespeare reveals all of these truths through the characters and the narrow-mindedness that they possess as a result of immense exposure to gender roles and stereotypes. Othel...

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...on with a standard role created and given by society.

Works Cited

McClinton-Temple, Jennifer. "Gender." Encyclopedia of Themes in

Literature. Vol. I. New York: Facts On File, 2011. 40-42. Print.

Neely, Carol Thomas. "Women and Men in Othello." William Shakespeare's Othello. Ed.

Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1987. 79-104. Rpt. in Shakespearean Criticism. Ed. Lynn M. Zott. Vol. 68. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Literature Resource Center. Web. 2 Mar. 2012.

Scott, Mark W. "Desdemona." Shakespeare for Students: Critical Interpretations of As You like

It, Hamlet, Julius Caesar, Macbeth, The Merchant of Venice, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Othello, and Romeo and Juliet. Detroit: Gale Research, 1992. 448-55. Print.

Shakespeare, William, Tucker Brooke, and Lawrence Mason. The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor

of Venice,. New Haven: Yale UP, 1947. Print.

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