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Women in Othello
Women in Othello
Hamlet thesis on ophelia and role of women
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Shakespeare displays a world of obedience and loyalty through the women in his play, Othello. Shakespeare strongly expresses Desdemona and Emilia’s characters as women in the Elizabethan era throughout the play, as they both have entirely different views on marriage. Shakespeare also characterizes both females with contradicting personalities.Desdemona and Emilia are disguised as vulnerable against their husbands and therefore concludes that women fail to please.
Shakespeare establishes Desdemona and Emilia to have complications in their relationship because of their contrasting views on marriage. Shakespeare introduces Emilia as an outspoken character. She shows this when Iago was insulting her and she does not accept his comments. Emilia
In equation with the Elizabethan era, Shakespeare offers us a male dominated society in his renowned tragedy, Othello. Consequently, this definitely persuades a negative attitude and demeanor towards the women of the times. The female characters in the play: Desdemona, Emilia, and Bianca; play relevant roles in contributing to one’s understanding of this exhausted Elizabethan view. In contrast to the larger portion of the play, Emilia, spouse to the scandalous Iago, takes an opinionated stand for Desdemona in relation to her wholesome gone sour relationship with the Moor of Venice, Othello. I recognize Emilia’s “Betrayal lecture” as a justified outlook in accordance with today’s period and events surrounding Desdemona’s and Othello’s fatal misunderstanding.
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 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.
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.
Shakespeare at Othello, used only three female characters in his play, Desdemona, Emilia, and Bianca. Along with the play, Bianca’s boyfriend, Cassio, did not respect her enough to marry her, so he did not get jealous or treat her badly. Opposing to Othello and Iago, they respected Emelia and Desdemona enough to marry them, so jealousy pushed them to treat their wives badly. But on both cases Desdemona, Bianca, and Emelia still share the fact that they are victims and tools for those whom they loved the most.
In William Shakespeare’s tragic play Othello there are numerous instances of obvious sexism aimed at the three women in the drama -- Desdemona, Emilia and Bianca – and aimed at womankind generally. Let us delve into this subject in this paper.
In Shakespeare's drama, Othello, there are many different relationships among the main characters. The way that Shakespeare portrays these relationships sets the stage for the pain and deceit that unfolds within the play. Relations between the men of the play, Othello, Roderigo, Iago, and Cassio, undoubtedly form the main theme. Furthermore, each of the men, except Roderigo, also has woman that stands behind and cares for him. But the manor in which these women are treated is why the story ends on such a tragic note. After a careful analysis of the women, Desdemona, Emilia, and Bianca, one can see that much of the tragedy could have been avoided if only the men would have given them a chance to speak their own opinions. Regrettably no such thing happens until it is to late. The men clearly show a disrespect for women. Emilia is quite right when speaking of the men, she says "They are all but stomachs, and we all but food; they eat us hungrily, and when they are full the belch us (3.4.100-102).
During this time period, the men would work to support their family. Additionally, the woman would stay at home and care for her husband and children. This society thought of women as weaker than men. They were often treated as possessions of their husbands, “This concurs with Othello 's own insight when he describes murderous jealousy as innate in the husband-wife relationship which posits the wife as the exclusive possession of the husband and is thus at odds with the human condition wherein one can never know another person 's inmost thoughts and desires” (Vanita 342).The language Shakespeare uses in the play supports that men seemed freer than women. When Brabantio speaks of his daughter he describes her as obedient. Likewise, Desdemona obeyed Othello’s orders and stated she is indeed obedient to him. When Othello was convinced Desdemona was cheating on him he proceeded to murder
The Tragedy of Othello, written by William Shakespeare, is a play about a Moor of Venice and his downfall by deception and love. The themes of two-facedness, narcissism, and honor are all prominent in this play; the theme overarching these, however, is loyalty. Similar to a satirist, Shakespeare shows that the true nature of a person’s loyalty is not always as it appears. Othello’s loyalty to his own honor exposes his false loyalty to his wife. Iago, the antagonist, is deceptive in portraying himself as honest and committed to those he supposedly loves, but at the same time he plans their downfall. Honor, narcissism, and deception are each concepts Shakespeare uses to convey the ambiguity of loyalty in people.
...of Elizabethan England and put women in their place. Men view women as possessions, who are to remain obedient and submissive all the time. The only power over men women have is their sexuality, which is seen as evil and is to be resisted my men. Men are free to call women whores and accuse them of lewd acts with no substantial evidence. However there is a suggestion that women are starting to question the male authority society has set, this is evident when Desdemona is conversing with Emilia: 'Nay, we must think men are not gods" (III.4.144). This suggests that Desdemona had viewed men as god like in the past, but perhaps her experiences with Othello have changed her mind. The language and actions of the three women in Othello, while they seem to follow the expectations and standards of society, also seems to take a big step towards a more egalitarian society.
During the Shakespearean time women were treated as inferiors. The three women in Othello, Desdemona, Emilia, and Bianca encountered many degrading and unfortunate situations. They were to be obedient. The women had to comply with the commands, orders, and the instructions of the men. Women were made to believe that they had no rights. The men would publicly humiliate the three women. It was difficult for the women to stand up for themselves due to that time in society. In Shakespeare’s play Othello, he portrayed the three women to be viewed as obedient, loyal, and submissive to their husbands.
The play Othello is presented as a male-dominated society where women are only recognized as property; objects to own and to bear children. Women in the Elizabethan society and in Shakespeare society were not seen as equal to men and were expected to be loyal to their husbands, be respectful, and to not go against their husbands judgements or actions. Shakespeare presents Desdemona, Emilia , and Bianca as women in the Elizabethan time where they were judged based on their class, mortality, and intelligence. Shakespeare makes his female characters act the way they would be expected to act in an Elizabethan society. The role of these women in Othello is crucial because they show how women were treated and how unhealthy their relationships between men really were in both Elizabethan and Shakespeare's society.
Both marriages portray the role of woman. Both Emilia and Desdemona are under the control of their husbands. They were almost forbidden to speak up. Shakespeare is trying to show that that notion of "love", is not all that it is intended to be. Up until the end of her life, Desdemona defended her husband [act 4 scene 2] "I hope my noble lord esteems me honest.""O, heaven forgive us!". It seems as in all of Shakespeare plays, love always end in a tragedy. This proves to be true in Othello.
Desdemona and Emilia are two of the main characters in William Shakespeare’s Othello. While one of them is the overly virtuous wife of the play’s protagonist and tragic hero, the other one is wife to one of the most clever and maquiavelic everlasting villains.
The women of Othello have different characteristics, yet all share one common bond. Desdemona is submissive, but loyal and true to the men in her life. Emilia thinks quite low of her husband and is a strong, smart, assertive woman. Bianca knows her place in society and was unfortunate to succumb to a life of prostitution. However, all these women share the same knowledge, which brings them together as females. They all live under a harsh patriarchal society that does not allow them to think and act freely and naturally as men do, even though unlike the men, they know they are of equal human qualities.