Women in Othello are very profound. They are very dependent on their men. During the 16th Century, women were traditional and accustomed to being submissive to their men/husband. Desdemona secretly married Othello a “Moor” (a black man). She is devoted to her husband, and respects and obeys his wishes. Even though Othello can be cruel to Desdemona, his wife Desdemona responds to her husband in a way that she gets her point across, and still respects Othello. Women during the 16th century were not highly honored by men. During that time women in Othello were very dependent on men.
Desdemona father has learned that she has married Othello. Her father Senator Brabinto is very furious.
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They are but stomach, and we all but food; they eat us hungerly; and when they are full they belch us” (act III scene4 v 99-102)
Emilia is stating that when men bellies are full and they had enough to eat they move on to the next meal.
Bianca, a very fair looking woman, and is only mentioned in small detail. She is considered to be a prostitute. Cassio, Bianca’s lover has left a handkerchief behind from their previous night together and now she is very jealous.
“ Bianca’s active, open-eyed enduring affection is similar to that of the other woman. She neither romanticize love nor degrade sex"(act III scene4
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She mocks him just as he laughs behind her back. Though she is believed to be a prostitute, she is no whore. She has morals just as
Emilia. All Bianca mats is to be loved and respected without the feeling of unworthiness.
Women were empowered by their men. They had been betrayed by them. Cassio betrayed Bianca, Desdemona’s husband Othello showed jealousy, and rage, Emilia’s husband Iago was very violent and dishonest. These women along with others have been and became very dependent upon the men.
All of the women, in spite of their affection, good sense, and energy fail to transform or to be reconciled with the men. Each woman consumed to their own feelings about each other, because the men have misconceived the women. Men were not loyal to their women, but yet and still the women loved their men.
“The handkerchief them presentd martial chasity- sexuality transformed by loving fidelity. Its function to chasten and control mens love and desire.” (Othello Pg 98)
Women in the Renaissance Period appeared to look very royal. Their clothing were as a queen, long sleeves, lace, high collar dresses, and hair curled up. It was as if you were looking at
Shakespeare shapes the tension between Othello and other characters by a moor as an army general of high power, and was generally accepted as a man in society. However, as Othello and Desdemona are secretly married, the view of Othello instantly changes due to interracial marriage being seen as immoral. Shown in act 1 scene 3 Othello stands before the court, and is accused of stealing the daughter of Brabantio, as there is a generalization that Desdemona could never marry a moor, unless it was against her will. Othello says “her father loved me, oft invited me, Still questioned me the story of my life From year to year – the battles, sieges, fortunes That I have passed.” The marriage of Othello and Desdemona has changed Brabantio’s view on the ‘moor’, as he was acceptin...
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.
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.
In Act 1. Desdemona admits that she fell in love with Othello's eloquence and harrowing adventures; 'I saw Othello's visage in his mind'. This outlines his sense of nobility in language,which empahsis how much of an experienced warrior ans revered noble man he is. Moreover Desdemona reveals Othello's nobility of love, 'She loved me for the dangers I had passed/ I loved her that she did pity them'. She succeeds in unveiling a side in Othello's nature which show him as a loving, respectful husband. He is clearly trustful of Desdemona and is not by any means jealous of him, as he allows her to travel to Cyprus with Iago,' To his conveyance I assign my wife'.
This passage is a soliloquy or speech from Othello to Desdemona’s father. He is telling how she has become his wife. Othello plea’s with Desdemona’s father for his blessing and to be a family. Othello states that her father has treated him well for many years and should honor his daughter for loving such a man. Othello and Desdemona is a love made in heaven. They are willing to fight alongside each other in battles and love one another in happy times.
Although Desdemona is a prideful woman, Othello falls in love with her and loves her jealously. Desdemona, daughter of a Venetian senator, lives in her father’s household. Her father, Brabantio,
The basis of Shakespeare’s plays appears to focus mainly around the dominant male character and his conflicts, which tend to deal with a woman. There are only three women in the play Othello; Desdemona, Emilia and Bianca. The way in which these women behave and present themselves strongly reflects the ideological expectations of women within Shakespeare’s imagined Venetian society as well as the Elizabethan society in which he lived. This patriarchal Venetian society presented in the play depicts women as possessions of men who should remain submissive and meek at all times. The women are expected to unselfishly and unreservedly devote their lives to serve their fathers until they are of age to do so, their husbands. All three women love their respective partners; however, all three are also rejected by them because they each devote more to their men than their men are capable of returning. Desdemona and Emilia display genuine emotions toward each other that are not reflected in any of the male to male associations.
Her effort in making Othello feel loved was just not working out how she wanted it to be. As Iago started to manipulate Othello by persuading him that Desdemona was the bad person, Desdemona was blamed and made to feel victimized for an act she didn’t commit. She somehow said the right things at the wrong time without realizing what effect it had on her husband. Desdemona always told Othello to hire Cassio back into his position, which had only made Othello more angry. When Othello called his wife a whore, she allowed her husband to call her names if it made him happy. She didn’t express her true emotions when she was talking to her husband. Whatever made her husband happy was what she was going to
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
Women were viewed merely as possessions. After the Duke allows Desdemona to accompany Othello to Cyprus, Othello says 'To my conveyance I assign my wife' (I.3.283), this statement implies that Desdemona and a possession to be transported and guarded. The first Senators phrase 'use Desdemona well' (I.3.288) may suggest he hopes Othello will look after Desdemona, but is more likely to support the the expectations Venetian women had in the 1600s. They were meant to be wives and to obey their husbands. Furthermore the act of marriage was described as a purchase, as seen in Act II when Othello says to Desdemona 'The purchase made, the fruits are to ensue' (II.3.8-9), A woman is purchased by her husband and in turn is expected to fulfill his desires as payment for the privilege of being married to him.
All through history, the role of women and their place in the general public has tremendously changed. William Shakespeare’s Othello was established during a time period where the role of women and their collective value were downgraded in the Venetian and Elizabethan era. During the Venetian era women were dominated by their sexual orientation. The Venetian era had a patriarchal society. In a patriarchal society, the father is the head of the household and men have authority over women and children. During the Elizabethan era the conduct toward women was vicious. Women were considered second class citizens. Males only consider women as possession, who is obligated to remain submissive and meek. Additionally, women are expected to be quiet, obedient to male figures, and chaste. Women were either considered a good wife or a whore. There are only three women in Othello; Desdemona, Emilia, and Bianca. Desdemona is the passive wife of Othello who has a quite idealistic take on life and marriage. Emilia is the cynical, perceptive women who seem to have a bitter take on her marriage to Iago. Bianca is portrayed as the whore of the play, and she has relations with Cassio. Although, each woman varies in roles and personality, they all had a common trait; they lived in a patriarchal society and suffered together. Each of them live in a society where it was ideal to think women were psychologically and physiologically inferior to men, however in reality each of them knew their role in 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.
In Othello’s day and age women were seen as a man’s property. They were assigned a man to marry and that’s how it was. Levenson states “A marriage which met parental opposition inevitably led to disaster” (Levenson 851). Although, in this play Desdemona and Othello got married without Desdemona’s father’s approval and this sparks quite a problem. Not only is Othello a colored man, he didn’t get Desdemona’s father’s approval before they got hitched. Even though Othello was a general he still was ridiculed because of his skin color. Desdemona’s father saw her as his property, she was his daughter, and he did not like the idea of a man stealing her from him. This all ties into the fact that women were not even listened to.
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.