Feminist Criticism In Shakespeare's Othello

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

“Othello” begins in middle of an argument between Roderigo and Iago. Desdemona and Othello’s wedding is the main topic of their argument. Desdemona is a Venetian beauty who is treated as a possession of her father, Brabantio, but by marrying an outsider Othello, she goes against the tradition of venetian custom which she is expected to marry a rich man to maintain her family’s honour. Iago reports Brabantio that his daughter is being stolen by Othello. “Awake! What ho, Brabantio! Thieves, thieves!” (1.1. 76). This quote depicts how unmarried women were treated back in 16’s century. However, while everyone in the play thinks that Othello has stolen Desdemona to marry him, Desdemona speaks herself to prove that she truly loves Othello. “That I love the Moor to love with him” (1.3. 246). Also, she even asks for her permission to go to Cyprus with Othello because she can’t stand the thought of remaining at home, which doesn’t have any adventure. There is a comparison between her social class and her

The relationship between Desdemona and Othello in the play ‘Othello’ is used to express and observe the way that humans are selfish by nature. Although both Desdemona and Othello do sincerely love each other, both of them find great personal gain in their marriage, which clearly contributes to their feelings for one another. Othello, who is a black leader in an overwhelmingly white, Christian society, has come from a troubled and difficult background, being “sold to slavery” and working in the military all his life. In finding a good Christian wife in Desdemona, he finds someone to always support him in hard times, as evidenced in his summary of their romance, “she loved me for the dangers I had passed, and I loved her that she did pity them”. This quote suggests that their love is more self-serving than he lets on; Desdemona loves Othello for the adventures he has been on and the stories he tells, and Othello loves Desdemona because she listens and devotes herself to what he has to say. When Desdemona gets a chance to explain their relationship herself, she is particularly proud of the fact that she “did love the Moor to live with him; my downright violence and storms of fortunes may trumpet to the world”. We note that she mentions her ‘violence’, the way she deliberately disobeyed her father and fled his company to secretly marry a man who is not one of her father’s approved suitors. This furthers the idea that Desdemona seems to be in love with Othello because of the adventures he has been on, and the excitement and liberty of her being with such a man; she is seeking her own freedom in a misogynistic society by defying her father to marry Othello. Their relationship is

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.

The tragedy of Othello, written by William Shakespeare, presents the main character Othello, as a respectable, honorable, and dignified man, but because of his insecurities and good nature, he is easily taken advantage of and manipulated by his peers and alleged friends. The dynamic of Othello’s character significantly changes throughout the play. The contrast is most pronounced from the beginning of the play to its conclusion, switching from being calm and peaceful to acts of uncontrolled venomous rage. Othello’s motivation in the play appears to be his love and concern for his wife Desdemona, which ironically, ends up being his downfall in the end.

Shakespeare mocks society’s extreme measures by suggesting death as the sole option for Othello when he fails to understand that Desdemona may not fit female stereotypes. Without the ability to label her, Othello fails to “assert Desdemona’s chastity and corruptibility simultaneously” and “murders Desdemona to redeem her from degradation” (Neely). The characters, like many people, struggle to alter views that have been so firmly pressed into their minds. In this way, Shakespeare negatively comments on humans’ inabilities to see beyond what society tells them and to comprehend truths unique to a specific person rather than his gender roles. Shakespeare uses the characters Desdemona and Othello to display how people become accustomed to the gender identities that society defines for them. Therefore, both characters, as depicted by their deaths, fail to understand each other personally as individuals instead of as the stereotypical man or woman that is being presented.

Othello is set during the Elizabethan era, where men were considered to be the leaders and women their inferiors. Women were often regarded as the ‘weaker sex’. This patriarchal society and theme of male superiority is portrayed throughout the play. These themes are depicted through the relationships between the characters. Brabantio and Desdemona’s relationship shows how he believed the traditional Elizabethan view, that men were to control and dominate their wife’s or daughters. He is furious at Othello for stealing his daughter from him. Also, Othello’s masculinity is destroyed through the poisoning of his mind against Desdemona, his wife. Iago also treats his wife

In Othello, We view how Othello’s jealousy affects his composure and his actions. In the play, Desdemona gives Othello the handkerchief, and Othello is enraged with this action. Othello feels as if she is not valuing the significance of the handkerchief to him, he perceives it as her giving away her innocence and purity. He thinks this as he continues to be manipulated by Iago to think that Desdemona is cheating on him with Cassio. Othello’s hatred continues to grow as he begins to use an aggressive tone and boorish wording towards Desdemona.

Don John, who led a revolution against his brother, is held higher than the woman that Claudio was marrying. In Othello, Desdemona is not pressured by her farther, in fact she goes behind her farther back to marry Othello. However patriarchal themes are still explored, Desdemona is killed because Othello believes she is a whore. This scene is a clear example of the patriarchal views of the time, men had no trust for women that they thought were whores, they would not want to be associated with them, especially as Othello had a high military rank. It is not hard for Iago to plant a seed of doubt in Othello’s mind.

By lying for her husband Othello and saying she killed herself instead of the truth, Desdemona displays that she has her accepted her role as a subordinate in society even though Othello does not go along with the lie and admits that he was the one who murdered her by his conscious. Another instance of the submissiveness of women in “Othello” is how women always support the men in “Othello” no matter how questionable the men’s actions are, the women continue to support the men. Brabantio argues that this is the way of women, and that when women disobey men that it is unnatural, he says that when his daughter Desdemona goes against his orders and marries Othello without his permission,

Sexism in the Othello Othello is one of the William Shakespeare’s representative plays. As one of the greatest literature in the Renaissance, his progressive feminism thinking faultlessly permeate in this play. Distinct male characters in this play, have a hidden commonality which is all of them belittle women. Brabantio, the father of Desdemona, comes from the nobility, which makes him influenced by the ideology of upper class. Brabantio and Desdemona, they set up the household in a clear hierarchicalRenaissance patriarchal situation.

Desdemona disobeys the standards set by Elizabethan society, she is not silent and obedient at the questioning of Othello. She, in fact, disobeys her Father to be with her husband. She speaks up for Othello at the hearing and implores the Duke to allow her to go to Cyprus, something that women just do not do. In the end, her quality of being chaste would be questioned by Othello. By his own method he determines that she is guilty of infidelity.

Desdemona, the wife of Othello, plays a major role in portraying a feminist message throughout the play. By marrying Othello, Desdemona defies both parental authority and the social convention of her time. Desdemona argues against her father’s accusations that Othello wedded her without her permission. She simply goes on to disagree and thus resulting in her father approving of the marriage. Desdemona showed much strength and courage by going behind her father’s back in order to marry Othello. Desdemona is not

Moreover, divorced in that period of time usually was impossible, but “in her last moments, Desdemona realizes that "beggarly divorcement" would be preferable to death: "0 banish me, my lord, but kill me not" (V.ii.79). She fights for survival, pleading for one night more” (Vanita, 351). Desdemona understand, that Othello can do what ever he want and partly to the society he is right because he is a man. Male have dominated the society for a long period, and this raises a lot of conflicts between gender responsibilities in the society. The portrayal of women suffering in Othello is a clear demonstration of how women suffer the fate of marginalization in the society; they are made so low in the social class.

In the play Othello, written by Shakespeare in the late sixteenth century, women do not contrive to enjoy the same freedom that women do today. In the play, Othello and Desdemona become married despite race and age. Desdemona is a young woman who is married to a much older man who is also African American. Iago is the character that tries to break up this marriage and convince Othello that Desdemona is unfaithful. Iago wants Cassio to lose his position as lieutenant. Iago frames Cassio to convince Othello that Desdemona is cheating. In the end, Othello ends up killing Desdemona. The Elizabethan society had its own standards for women and different social values, especially between married and unmarried women.