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Denigration Of Women In Othello

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In many stories from many different time periods, authors use the plot of women being mistrusted, deceived, and denigrated by men, and them falsely blamed for causing conflicts and even downfalls, in order to make the antagonists behind look more evil, or cruel. It is clearly illustrated in stories such as Othello, Oedipus, Catcher in the Rye, the Japanese Creational Myth, and the Story of Eden. All of them are in different genres, and are from many different time periods and places, but they all take the type of conflicts of either man vs man or man vs nature. Women could often be criminalized by men's deception, or get falsely accused of causing conflicts as a result of men's mistrust and denigration, even though what is …show more content…

This victimization of women makes the antagonists look more evil or cruel for to the readers. In Othello, there were various cases of those deception, mistrust and denigration of women by men, which all were caused by Iago. The most significant case in this story would be the denigration of Desdemona. In order to bring downfall to Othello, Iago convinces Othello that Desdemona is being faithless. He uses Emilia, his wife, to steal the handkerchief that Othello gave to Desdemona, and uses it as an evidence to prove Desdemona's faithlessness to Othello. In the end of the story, Emilia reveals, "O thou dull Moor, that handkerchief thou speak'st of. I found by fortune, and give my husband- For often, with a solemn earnestness (More than indeed belonged to such a trifle), He begged me to steal 't." Emilia was deceived by her husband, Iago. As a result, she became a part of the cause of the death of Desdemona, who she was most royal to, and the downfall of Othello, even though she did not intended to be. This is one clear case of a man deceiving a woman and making her look an evil. When Othello finally reveals the reason of his anger to Desdemona and tells her that he

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