Desdemona - Virtuous Woman or Modern Woman Challenging Oppressive Societal Values?

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

Shakespeare’s play ‘Othello’, set in early Venice, focuses on the key relationship between titular character Othello and his wife Desdemona, to comment on the human condition through the text. The relationship between the married couple allows us to understand Shakespeare’s commentary on human nature, particularly how humans are inherently selfish, prone to falling victim to jealousy, and are made both stronger and weaker by their emotions.

Othello insults and strikes Desdemona in public and Desdemona being horrified by these actions says that “I have not deserved this” (4.1.241). Desdemona finds Othello to be incorrect in his actions and she expresses her feelings to Othello. This proves Desdemona to be ahead of the time the play was written since unlike other women Desdemona defends herself and her beliefs strongly. Therefore, Desdemona is shown as an all-around powerful woman.

Feminist critical lens examines certain texts with a primary focus on both gender’s relationship with each other and how such relationships demonstrate effects towards beliefs, behaviors, and values. This critical lens also examines a patriarchal-centered society and how such society define and interact with women with an emphasis on stereotypes of both genders that are present and evident in the text being analyzed. William Shakespeare’s Othello can be scrutinized through the feminist critical lens. A deep analysis focused on feminism of the play Othello paves way for the judgement of different societal status of women in the period when the play took place, the Elizabethan society. Othello is a best fit that demonstrates how men were

Although misperceptions about the other gender are dangerous causes of downfall, flawed views among one’s own gender are also great contributors to destruction. Othello and Desdemona best exemplify this notion. Desdemona presents herself as pure, compassionate, and understanding towards everyone, especially Othello. Shakespeare theorizes on how some women believe the stereotype about females is valid and must be followed, and men can exhibit the same

Her death is therefore her punishment, furthermore making Emilia a tragic victim as she has died through no fault of her own. Like Emilia, Desdemona is also a tragic victim of the men in ‘Othello’. Her murder, like Emilia’s, is through no fault of her own is a result of Othello’s jealousy and Iago’s interference. What makes Desdemona even more tragic to the audience is the fact that even in death she tries to protect her husband, telling Emilia that she has killed herself, “nobody, I myself”, this further depicts to the audience that Desdemona is a good and pure character. Her devotion to her husband makes her a tragic victim in the play as she can not be blamed for her death.

The passivity that society expects women to possess is a major contributing factor in the deaths of females in both stories. Society’s silencing and oppression of the characters makes the audience feel remorse for their actions. Lastly, the authors depict female characters as more human than their male counterparts, challenging the ideal female stereotype. The female characters in Shakespeare’s Othello and Shelley’s Frankenstein reflect how society treats women. It is imperative to use literature as a means of correcting social beliefs as they truly represent society’s perspective. As a result, literature is a significant contributing factor in societal

Desdemona from Othello by William Shakespeare (1969) and Eliza Doolittle from Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw (2003) are characters who struggle with the repercussions of prejudice created by society and who defy social norms. Prejudice is an unfavorable opinion or feeling formed beforehand or without knowledge, thought, or reason. Although both theater pieces are based on different eras, both characters have similar characteristics and ideologies on how to behave within society. In this essay, I will argue social prejudice is the antecedent of the negative outcomes which impact Desdemona and Eliza’s rebellious actions and through the use of meter, diction, and punctuation; the authors reveal the extremism of the claim. Though I agree that their rebellious attitudes played roles in their misfortunes, I still support that their misfortunes

Othello, by William Shakespeare is well known for its richness in literary content and elements pertinent to societal ideas. Moreover, women are portrayed in Othello in ways that confirm, but also contradict their treatment in Shakespeare’s time. Both female action and language represent these ideas such as expectations for a wife and expectations for how a woman is to act. That said, there are many other lines spoken by these characters that defy the expectations placed on women at time. Overall, the feminist critical lens allows a reader to understand Othello and the manner in which it is slightly sexist and controversial. This lens allows the reader to observe both discrepancies of how women are treated, and common characteristics found

   Throughout the length of Shakespeare’s tragedy Othello there is a steady undercurrent of sexism. It is originating from not one, but rather various male characters in the play, who manifest prejudicial, discriminatory attitudes toward women.

Euripides and Sophocles wrote powerful tragedies that remain influential to this day. The vast majority of work recovered from this time is by male authorship. What remains about women of this time is written through the lens of male authors’ perspective and beliefs about the role of women in Greek culture. The works of these two playwrights frequently characterize women as unstable and dangerous. Agave, Antigone, and Medea are all undoubtedly the driving force behind the tragic action in these plays. It is their choices that lead to the pain and death of the people around them. Through an examination of the evidence from three separate works, Antigone, The Bacchae, and The Medea, the role of women in ancient Greek tragedy becomes clear. The actions of Agave, Antigone, and Medea repeatedly prove their characters instability and danger.

Desdemona’s action, instead of asking her father’s permission, eloped with the Moor, Othello, is another form of social transgressive action. It seems she denies her father any right in choosing or granting, instead she decides in her own, to marry Othello. This act of independence illustrates Desdemona’s transgression to perform her role as daughter, and reflects icons of masculine which is considered as “incorrect” gender performance. Marrying Othello has also proved that Desdemona breaks the social norms of women’s passivity during her time.

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.

Ann-Marie MacDonald’s Goodnight Desdemona (Good morningJuliet) uses intertextuality to unveil the complete Shakespearean characters of Juliet and Desdemona to reveal the feminist narrative lurking between lines of Shakespeare’s plays. Only through the intertextual re-examination of the Shakespearean text itself via the interjection of genre and the reassigning of dialogue, within the metatheatre, is the true feminist representation of the female Shakespearian characters unveiled from behind the patriarchal preconceptions. From this understanding we may read Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet) to be true feminist reworking of Shakespeare. Therefore the metatheatre’s intertextuality reinforces and supports the traits of the feminine.

The feminist approach is based on finding and exposing negative attitudes toward women in literature. Feminists are interested in exposing the undervaluing of women in literature that has long been accepted as the norm by both men and women. Women characters in both Metamorphosis and Oedipus the King have different and similar characteristics based on the general norms so that they can be exposed by the feminist approach. In Metamorphosis and Oedipus the King, feminist approach is through the description of women about the traditional gender values of women, women’s inequality of power and importance, and women’s effect to the whole society.