Gender Roles In Shakespeare's Othello

“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

In the play ‘Othello’ written by William Shakespeare, we see not only the main male character leads. But we also see the female characters, Desdemona, Emilia, and Bianca. These three women were portrayed in ways that showed them being inferior to the other male roles as well as society during the Elizabethan Era. But Shakespeare made each of these individual ladies characteristics quite unique to one another having the traits of a feminist. Even though in the play we read how the male characters did somewhat control them and made them look weak compared to them, there were moments where Desdemona, Emilia and Bianca stood up for themselves.

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

    A variety of roles have women in them in William Shakespeare’s tragic drama Othello. Let us in this essay examine the female characters and their roles.

In Shakespeare’s Othello, Othello and Desdemona’s marriage was doomed from the start. They did not start well; their marriage was controversial because of their race and Othello’s failure to follow proper etiquette while he was courting her. However these issues could have been overcome with time. The biggest problem is Othello’s attitude to Desdemona. Othello’s model of Desdemona prevents him from considering her a person. He thinks of her instead as superior to himself in every way, to the point that she is a god. Her race, beauty, and status make her godly in his mind. She becomes untouchable in Othello’s mind, and he begins to distance himself from her. Because Othello thinks of Desdemona as “Alabaster”(5.2.5) he will never consider

    Othello represents a prime example of Shakespeare's ability to develop relationships between the sexes so as to demonstrate those relationships' weaknesses. In Othello, the sexes are divided by misconceptions and ego- centric views of the opposite gender. The men of the play, in particular Othello, maintain a patriarchal, chivalric notion of the sexes, while the women of the play yearn for more involvement in their husbands' affairs. So it is that the thrust of the play emerges from "the opposition of attitudes, viewpoints, and sexes." (Neely 214)

In the play Othello, by William Shakespeare, the tragic protagonist Othello is tricked by his subordinant, Iago, into thinking that his wife, Desdemona, has been unfaithful to him with another man named Cassio. Iago does this because Othello gave a promotion to Cassio that Iago had felt he deserved instead. Iago, bitter and jealous of Othello the Moor and Lieutenant Cassio, both of whom he speaks disparagingly of, devises and enacts a plot that results in both chaos and turmoil for the people around him. He is able to achieve success in his plot by playing on hasty generalizations frequently made by people of that time. Iago plays on stereotypes and generalizations about women and the Turkish people during about the 17th century. According to Independent Tudor Historian Heather Sharnette, “Marriage was seen as the desirable state for both men and women, and single women were sometimes looked upon in suspicion” (Sharnette, Elizabethan Women). During this time, women had a lot of expectations to be innocent, faithful, and obedient above all else in their marriages. On the other hand, men were supposed to take care of their women. However at the same time men were quick to accuse and suspect all women of being deceitful and conniving. Women were somehow inferior and weak, while at the same time evil and fraudulent. Turkish people, or any people remotely darker than the English, were written off as black and therefore less than. And so Turkish men were assumed barbaric, brash,

   Shakespeare’s tragic drama Othello features sexism as regular fare – initially from Brabantio and Iago, and finally from Othello. Let us in this essay explore the occurrences and severity of sexism in the drama.

the paralyzing feminization of males make the latter more appropriate to a tragedy or a

Othello and Desdemona, a controversial couple, find their relationship drastically changing as jealousy and manipulation tear them apart in the tragedy Othello. While fighting racism and family values Othello describes the moment he fell in love with Desdemona, “She loved me for the dangers I had passed, and I love her that she did pity them” (I.iii.168-169). Their relationship is full of nothing but love at this moment. No opinions or judgement from family and friends can change how they feel about each other. Othello also proves that Desdemona fell for him based on his personality and that no trickery was involved, as many believed that a lady like Desdemona could not fall for a person of color and low economic class.

In Shakespeare’s Othello women are depicted as possessions, ’whores’, and generally just submissive beings with only a few situational exceptions. They are simply sexual objects in the view of the men that dominate this play, but at times they break free of that label and show that women can be much more than that. In today’s society women are praised, they have value, and are worth much more than how they are depicted by Shakespeare. Each of the three women in the play have their differences. They are each from a different social class and all stand for something different as people. Desdemona is of the highest social class and represents unwavering loyalty, innocence, and kindness. Emilia is in the middle class and is different from Desdemona because she believes in individuality and some women’s rights. She shows her bold tendencies throughout the play, even though she is somewhat of a loyal and submissive wife. Finally there is Bianca of the lowest social class who plays a small role of a weak and clearly emotionally damaged woman. Her main focus in life is to be loved but this clouds her mind and limits what she allows herself to become, ultimately she is nothing more than Cassio’s jealous misstress.

Main Idea: Shakespeare was not a sexist: All though the main three females in the play were seen as important and contributed tremendously towards the plot of the play. The readers see Shakespeare pushing the ideology of men and women being equal with the slow occurrence of many plots towards the play, and how it all unravels itself. These were proven in the play by when;

    Let’s look at the roles of the three lady-characters in the Shakespearean drama Othello. Their roles are not marginal, but are rather vital to the tragedy.

Othello’s identity is composed of his occupation as a general and a husband to Desdemona and as a result of Desdemona’s possible affair with Casio, Othello continues to loathe and lament his new founded loss of identity. Othello and Desdemona fell in love with each other on the foundation of Othello’s adventures and Desdemona equating the painful life stories of Othello with love and “a world of kisses” (1.3.158). Iago is able to easily manipulate Othello into believing that Desdemona does not love him