Comparing Emilia And Desdemona In Shakespeare's Othello

Othello trusts Iago and now Iago is trying to take his wife from him for someone else. Furthermore, “He takes her by the palm...sir in.” (pg. 71). Iago watches Cassio and Emilia because he thinks they had an affair he watches them carefully so he can figure out how to convince Othello that Desdemona and Cassio are having an affair. Another example involves the plan to help Othello kill Desdemona. “Do it not with poison. Strangle her in her bed, even the bed she hath contaminated” (pg. 185). Othello believes that Iago is most honest, thus he believed killing his wife Desdemona was the right thing to do. Iago brainwashed Othello into believing the wrong thing was the right thing. The characterization of Iago is created by the use of dramatic irony. The audience knew how devious Iago is, but the characters fell for his mischievous acts.

Shakespeare's point in Othello the Moor is that each individual has a destiny and fate is central in the lives of his characters.  Othello, a great warrior, is the lead character and the target for attack from a disgruntled soldier, Iago.  Iago plots with the aide of his wife, Emilia, to plant subtle notions of jealously in the case of Othello's expedient marriage to Desdemona.  Othello loves Desdemona and the same is true for Othello, but Iago successfully destroys the trust between the couple with a scheme in which Othello is unable to control his jealousy.  There are several other characters that Iago uses to set his plan into motion such as Roderigo, Bianca and Cassio.  Cassio is not so much a willing participant in the scheme of the play as he is a scapegoat (or object of irrational hostility; Webster's Dictionary, 652) to pin the entire plot on.  It is known that Emilia's character becomes crucial to the plot, as she is the most essential character to her husband's crusade to destroy Othello and Desdemona.

Shakespeare’s play Othello is based on tragedy of Othello’s jealousy, which ironically leads Othello to kill Desdemona, his beloved (wife). Evil Iago is above all Shakespeare’s villains. Iago is a person with evil emotions, and as a result he deceives everybody, he also is exceptionally influential character who has taken in everyone, above all his own wife Emilia. His public face of bravery and honesty conceals a satanic delight in manipulation and destruction, and he will stop at nothing. Iago’s opinion on women is that he detests women in all kinds and shapes, and finds faults even when they have little or no faults.

Emilia contributes greatly to the dramatic action of the play. In the rising action she unwittingly gives her husband the very object that will seal Desdemona’s fate. The handkerchief she hands to Iago becomes the material evidence that convinces Othello of Desdemona’s guilt. There are a couple of opportunities where Emilia is in a position to alter the tragic outcome. In Act III, scene iv Desdemona asks Emilia if she know where she lost her handkerchief. Emilia states, “ I know not, madam.” (III.iv.23). Again, later in the scene Emilia misses another opportunity to foil Iago’s plan. Emilia sees how upset Othello gets about Desdemona not being able to produce the handkerchief yet she does not come forth. Instead, she blames it on men and marriage; “ Tis not a year or two shows us a man. They are all but stomachs, and we all but food…” (III.iv.103-104). She does not see the connection between the jealous husband and the handkerchief. This dramatic device of having the character being naïve to information about which the audience is aware builds tension. The audience knows of Iago’s plan to use the handkerchief

The contrasting characters; Desdemona and Emilia, form an interesting and important relationship in the play Othello. Desdemona is very ‘sheltered’ from the ways of the world and Emilia is very ‘down to earth’ and ‘experienced’. From this difference we see a fascinating relationship between the two of them.

In the play Othello, although Emilia is a minor character, she signifies plenty of importance. Emilia is crucial to Iago’s plan to wreck Othello’s life. Without Emilia, Iago could have never gotten a hold of Desdemona’s handkerchief. The handkerchief was used as a tool of persuasion by Iago to create the illusion that Desdemona was having an affair with Cassio(Tiles). Without seeing the handkerchief, Othello would have never believed such harsh accusations of his wife having the affair. Emilia in essence is the key player in Iago’s plan. Unfortunately, she does not realize what he has done until it is too late. Overall, Emilia’s situation in Othello is comparable to Jocasta’s in the play Oedipus the King.

In “Othello” Iago and Emilia aren’t together in many scenes but when they are, you can tell they don’t communicate well. It starts off with Iago’s two-faced personality, he asked Emilia to steal Desdemona’s handkerchief with no reasoning behind it. Emilia, on the day Desdemona dropped her handkerchief, says “I am glad I have found this napkin” (III, iii, 334). She continues to go on to say “my wayward hath a hundred times wooed me to steal it” (III, iii, 336-337). Without Iago even saying why he needed it, Emilia went and got what was asked of her just because he was her husband. Iago got the handkerchief to make it look like Desdemona was cheating on Othello with

In addition, Emilia is unwittingly responsible for Desdemona’s death because she is remains silent. The two women often talk about their husbands to one another; in spite of it Emilia doesn’t talk about Iago’s behavior toward her. Unlike Desdemona who declares, “Alas the day! I never gave him cause,” she suggests that Othello behavior toward her is unexplainable because she has not been unfaithful to him (3.4.157). Desdemona also reinforces Emilia to give her a reason as to why Othello is behaving this way; instead Emilia illustrates silence when she says:

In the last act, Emilia is capable of speaking out Iago’s bloody guilt in front of gentlemen bravely. For instance, she is unafraid of resisting Iago by saying “’Tis proper I obey him, but not now… I will ne’er go home”(V, ii, 195). Emilia’s anger is perfectly delineated through her speech. To some extent, Emilia is equivalent with the status men since she firmly claims that she "will not charm [her] tongue", and that [she] is bound to speak” (5.2.183-184). When Iago demands Emilia to go home, she expresses her emotions being long suppressed. In spite of the traditional view that restricts wives to be reticence and passive, Emilia becomes an outspoken individual as she breaks the rule of obeying the husband in order to act on her behalf. At last when Iago brutally stabs Emilia to death, her self-sacrifice is heroic as she lived to protect her mistress. Furthermore, Emilia is in fact the only character in the play that is excluded from Iago’s malicious plan because of his neglect. Emilia’s disobedient acts ultimately constitute Iago’s downfall and significantly display the ideas that women can be as strong as men, thus, her braveness and belief fits the ideology of

Iago often refers to Othello as the "Moor" and when Emilia realises how Othello has treated his wife, she calls him "the blacker devil". As Iago's plan unfolds, Othello's suspicions and jealousy come to the fore. Iago's blasphemous expressions gradually infiltrate Othello's vocabulary as Othello becomes more and more convinced that Desdemona is being unfaithful. Initially he claims that while the marriage is expected to bring him some physical satisfaction, he and his wife value their mental attraction just as highly. However, as he becomes ensnared in Iago's trap, Othello reveals a more detailed acknowledgement of Desdemona's sexual appeal. As he discusses her death with Iago, he says he will not argue with Desdemona"lest her body and beauty unprovide my mind again".

Emilia is the wife of Iago and Desdemona’s maidservant. Emilia, much like Desdemona, does not have much power but once again her presence has an effect. Her role in the play, apart from being Desdemona’s maid, is to fetch

In addition, Emilia proves her underrated intelligence by standing up for what she believes is right. Desdemona, Othello's wife, and Emilia's relationship grows because of her great loyalty towards her. At the end of the play Emilia stands up for Desdemona because Othello kills her. She explains Desdemona's true love for him and would never do anything to hurt him, which proves Desdemona's innocence. Not only does Emilia stand up for Desdemona, but she also voices her opinion to Othello. Emilia shows no fear standing up to Othello to prove to him that his wife has always been faithful. At first Othello finds it implausible but then Emilia says, "Thou art rash as fire, to say that she was false. O, she was heavenly true!" (Shakespeare V: ii, 165-166).Women are looked at in Othello as unintelligent and unfaithful, but Emilia changes that stereotype by standing up to the men. From the start Emilia and Iago's relationship always seemed rocky. Emilia's confidence in herself shows that she is not afraid to stand up to her husband. Emilia realizes the danger she puts herself in when she stands up to Iago. In order to make things right, she does whatever it takes, even if that means ruining their marriage or taking her life.

Emilia didn't have a very wonderful marriage relationship with her husband Iago. She wished for more because she really loved Iago and did some bad things like stealing the handkerchief that she knew meant so much to Desdemona just to make Iago happy, of which she did not notice(3.3.297-320). In another incident where Emilia is not appreciated by her husband, is seen when Iago is ready to compose a poem for Desdemona, because she is beautiful but refuses to do the same thing to Emilia, his wife (2.1.117-134). According to Emilia, men are the cause of many marital relationships. The jealous men posses make them ruin the relationship they have. In the play, we see this come to pass when Othello, because of being jealous loose the trust he had on his wife to the point of killing her. She further says that, women cheat on their husbands because their husbands don't satisfy their wives sexually for they go to sleep with other women beside their wives (4.3.87-88).

But not only this, he goes on to say that he believes that Othello has had sex with his wife, Emilia “Hath leaped into my seat”. In this silioquy Iago shares the beginning of his plan, to make Othello so jealous with the idea that Cassio and Desdemona are having an affair “jealousy so strong that judgement cannot cure”. However because of the reasons he put forward to Roderigo earlier in the play, we cannot be sure that Iago is telling the truth to the audience, even though he is seen to be confiding in the audience with his master plan. Through the use of this silioquy, and the others in the play, Shakespeare creates dramatic irony, where the audience know more about what is happening than the characters themselves do. This assists his portrayal of Othello as a tragic hero, as the audience is able to see his fatal flaw, and learn the devastating result because of it.

Then, there is the matter of Othello’s wife, Emilia. One would think that being so close to Iago, she would know something of his deceitful nature. However, she is continuously hoodwinked by her husband. She seems to know nothing of his supposed rage toward Othello at being overlooked for the promotion to lieutenant. She also believes him when he pretends to be upset over Cassio’s demotion from lieutenancy. She says thus to Desdemona, “I warrant it grieves my husband/ As if the cause were his.” (III.iii.3-4). Later, she finds her lady’s