Iago's Femininity In Othello

Juxtaposing an elevation of Emilia with a punch line diminishing females, Shakespeare explores Iago’s ability to appease those around him to accept his sexism without quarrel. Iago references Emilia’s tongue twice, once negatively, once positively, suggesting Iago changes his public personality with fluidity, but returns to his unconscious belief in female inferiority. Directing the negative mention toward a man and the positive toward Emilia, Iago succeeds at maintaining his masculinity among his peers by reinforcing traditional gender roles, but pacifies Emelia by complimenting her. Shakespeare builds Iago’s joke with phrases such as “She that could think” and “She that in wisdom,” representing a break from traditional thought of women as purely domestic workers without a male’s mental capacity.

However, the punctuation of the joke, “...chronicle small beer,” reduces females to triviality as the ideal women - one that embodied all of the admirable traits outlined by Iago - still could not overcome her femininity. In presenting his view as a joke, Iago provokes only mild reproach from Desdemona, yet abides by Freud’s claim that jokes satisfy one’s unconscious.