Gender Stereotypes In Shakespeare's Othello

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

All throughout Illyria, there is romance, passion, royalty, and an immense amount of gender stereotypes. William Shakespeare imagines the kingdom of Illyria to have very traditional norms for both women and men in his play Twelfth Night. In Scene 2 of Act 1, Viola, recently rescued from a shipwreck, hears about a duke named Orsino and instantly comes up with a plan to get closer to him. Her plan is to disguise herself as a boy who she will name Cesario and become one of Orsino's’ attendants. Right off the bat, we begin to see gender stereotypes. Why must Viola become a man in order to work for the duke? Elizabethan society “molded women into the form of the dutiful wife and mother” (Elizabethan Women). Viola could not have served duke Orsino as a woman because as a woman she was expected to work at home and be either a “dutiful wife [or a] mother”. Scene two prepares the audience for the idea of gender throughout the rest of the play. Shakespeare's Twelfth Night is very traditional play due to its ideas of gender stereotypes in Elizabethan society.

According to a quote by The Atlantic, America is still a “patriarchal community” (Cohen 1). The majority of humans live in a society influenced by men and have little to no understanding of a matriarchal society because it is not around. For centuries, women have fought for equality and it is a reoccuring theme in literature. This theme can show how people critique and analyze many works of art. Countless people can read a text and depict it differently, from the beginning to end. This depends on what critical lens they view it from, allowing people to comprehend the different ways literature is written. There is many different critical lens to choose from. An example of one of the critical lens is the feminist viewpoint. The feminist theory, analyzes the nature of gender equality. This approach shows how women can compare to men. This can be done politically, socially, or economically. In William Shakespeare's play, Hamlet, he can be seen going against the feminist theory. This lens will affect Hamlet’s two main, female characters Gertrude and Ophelia. While viewing Hamlet through the feminist theory lens, many male characters can be seen as being, aggressively, dominant; creating the women to have many stereotypes.

In Shakespeare’s Othello, the role of women is greatly emphasized. The important characters of the play, Othello, Iago, and Cassio, each have a women that stands behind him. These women each have an obligation to remain loyal and respect their husband's wishes, especially Desdemona and Emilia.

Okin argues that the consequences of gendered division of labor within a family comes in three different stages, vulnerability in anticipation of marriage, vulnerability in the marriage itself, and vulnerability in when marriage ends and divorce happens. Within the first

    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,

Of all the characters in Shakespeare’s works, none fall harder or faster than that of Othello, The Moor of Venice. Easily swayed and wrought by jealousy, Othello’s downfall is brought on by the fact that he doesn’t believe in himself. This uncertainty is the basis upon which unfolds one of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies. Through the in depth analysis of both Othello and Iago, I will serve to prove that Shakespeare was illustrating the fact that disaster is the only outcome of men lead by wild emotion and pride.

We as American people have the ability to pick and chose want we want to do with our lives. For example we get to chose what we want to believe in, what we want to be, where we will go, and who we will marry. Something that is hard for people to comprehend now is you weren’t always given these choices. Even though we now are able to chose how we live our lives now, one thing that has not changed are gender stereotypes and the roles that genders are expected to play in our society today. Shakespeare touched on a lot of these ideas in his play Much Ado About Nothing. The soldiers in this play come to the city, Messina, after they have finished fighting in a war. Instead of all of the soldiers having sex and partying, one of the soldiers falls in love, and wants to marry. The play talks about the ongoing struggle between the main characters, Benedick and Claudio, and the contradicting views on whether to marry or stay a bachelor which plagues society today.

   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.

In Shakespeare’s ‘Othello’, the protagonists Othello, and his wife, Desdemona, are at first presented in a misleading way before they appear first-hand in the play. They are reduced to stereotypes, or versions of themselves that are not their real characters, which are introduced later in the play when they first speak. Shakespeare uses this technique to emphasise the disrespectful, condescending treatment of women and black people at the time. Their characters are made clear as they voice their views and it is clear to the audience the strength and eloquence of their manners.

Foreigners tend to draw negative attention to themselves in other cultures because they look, act, and often speak differently than natives, as in William Shakespeare’s Othello, the Moor of Venice. Othello, in this case, is immediately disliked and misunderstood from the beginning, so he easily becomes a target of mischief. Due to Othello is discriminated, he constantly expresses subservient feminine behavior, because without the power of his title he feels inferior. Othello is a culturally-challenged foreigner who reveals a confusing feminine side that invokes his masculine attitudes and behaviors, resulting in the tragic outcome of the play.

Throughout history, sexism has built a prominent barrier between genders. In his journal, “Mastering Emotions or Still Losing Control? Seeking Public Engagement With ‘Sexual Infidelity’ Homicide,” Adrian Howe explores the awareness toward sexism utilizing the emotional excuses for violence. Howe supports this assertion by mentioning a man’s red mist, an extreme anger that temporarily clouds one’s judgment, and he ends up killing his lover because he believes the other party has cheated on him. Exploiting infidelity as an excuse can lower his sentence for murdering his partner because he deems her a possession. As a woman is unfaithful, she provokes his honor with her dishonorable action. That issue insinuates the inability of a woman to defend herself from

Desdemona frequently exhibits her own free will and independence. She holds power over his husband Othello and tries to use it to pardon Cassio

Feminism is and has always been a prominent focus in society. Specifically during the Renaissance, when Shakespeare’s Othello was written, were women thought of as subordinate to men. Shakespeare portrays women as merely FOIL characters to their male counterparts throughout the play. They help shed light on the men’s dark sides as well as their true faults. Their roles include wives, prostitutes, and even messengers. The women in the play are disrespected and treated as lesser beings. Although there are imperative female characters in Shakespeare’s Othello, many of them are treated as tools or objects and are disrespected by the men, specifically Iago, Othello and Cassio.