Male Chivalry In Shakespeare's Othello

From the beginning of act I, Othello is defined as a soldier. He is most comfortable and revered on the battlefield and quite awkward everywhere else, perhaps most importantly in the bedroom and in his relationship with Desdemona. Othello refers to Desdemona as his “fair warrior” (II.i.179) and likes her best when she is beside him during military issues or business, perhaps because he feels he can impress her the most when he is in his element. Othello won Desdemona heart in his eyes by wooing her with his extravagant stories of military travel and battle. Othello’s masculinity, honor, and manhood are intrinsically tied with his career. From Act I-II Othello and Desdemona’s consummation of the marriage is constantly interrupted by matters related to Othello’s career, i.e., the war with the Turks and having to go to Cyprus, and rather than Desdemona being annoyed by the interruption, she is just as invested as Othello, indicating that their relationship is very much built on Othello’s

   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.

In the book “Gender Trouble” (1990), feminist theorist Judith Butler explains “gender is not only a social construct, but also a kind of performance such as a show we put on, a costume or disguise we wear” (Butler). In other words, gender is a performance, an act, and costumes, not the main aspect of essential identity. By understanding this theory of gender as an act, performance, we can see how gender has greatly impacted the outcome of the play in William Shakespeare’s Othello. From a careful analysis of the story, tragedy in Othello is result of violating expected gender roles, gender performance by Desdemona and Othello, and the result of Iago’s inability to tolerate these violations.

    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)

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

Contextually it is important to understand how women are presented as tragic victims of men in ‘Othello’. Contemporary views of women were, according to Sir Thomas Elyot “to be mild, timorous, tractable, benign, of sure remembrance, and shamefast.” Conversely men were seen to be “fierce, strong in opinion, covetous of glory, desirous of knowledge, appetiting by generation to bring for his semblable.” Elyot’s views of the contemporary man, though much grander than those of women, could prove to be their downfall in ‘Othello’. Shakespeare’s protagonist’s downfall could be based on the fact that he is desirous of knowledge, and Iago’s manipulation of Othello’s trustworthy nature suggests that not only are women the tragic victims of men, but it is men who are also victims of men.

To continue, “[Hamlet is] loved of the distracted multitude” (4.3.4). He is assumed to be a charismatic and noble prince. However, his character is completely different from what is expected, breaking the Aristotelian ideal of propriety. Hamlet is supposed to behave nobly and gentlemanly. On the contrary, Hamlet often sprouts sexual innuendos and offhanded remarks.

Othello, by William Shakespeare, is a play about a black moor, Othello, who marries Desdemona, the daughter of a Senator. This play contains various themes such as racism, love, betrayal, revenge, and gender. Shakespeare depicts Desdemona as a monster by having Iago call her a “white ewe” as a way to establish Desdemona’s nonconformity to gender. By calling Desdemona a type of animal and Othello another animal, he is not only saying that the coupling is monstrous, but that they are individually monstrous as well. In this sense, the Renaissance believed that monsters were creatures formed from an abnormality in nature and were usually represented by animal figures or a hybrid of human and animal. Renaissance theories of conventional male and female biology, known as the humoral theory, dictated that men were hot and dry and women were cold and wet. This was given by the different liquids that were believed to circulate within their bodies. As a woman, Desdemona should be cold and wet. However, Desdemona defies nature by being hot

All throughout the early and mostly late 1900’s, the one thing that men and women had in common was respect. The respect they had was for themselves and others. Women respected the men’s virility by understanding their roles in society as a woman and respecting themselves with understanding how a woman should be treated and how a woman should conduct herself. Men respected the women by understanding and acknowledging how they are supposed to be treated and respected themselves with understanding of how a man should conduct themselves. However, as time progressed, the meaning of self-respect amongst men and women has declined.

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.

Women in the sixteenth century were commonly dominated by a patriarchal society. Meaning their loyalty and respect lay amongst the men in their lives with little choice for opposition. In Othello by William Shakespeare, he portrays the role of women in a way typical to their representation in Elizabethan and Venetian society. While the women may be presented as mentally stronger than their male counterparts, the language given to these female characters suggest that they have internalized society 's expectation of them. Apart from moments of private conversation and Emilia 's reaction to Desdemona 's death, the women behave in a submission that is expected of them, believing it to be the natural way, as the men continue to downgrade and treat them as secondary citizens. Shakespeare represents this status of women through the traditional views of the male characters, moments of submission from the females, and how the women internalize this society.

Othello is a military hero, widely respected and admired by most. Even his enemies have a grudging respect for him. He has taken the loveliest lady as his bride, and has a seemingly great life. He is seen as a very good man, as proven by the words of the Duke of Venice: “..If virtue no delighted beauty lack, your son in law is far more fair than black.”(Page 47, Line 285-286). Despite all this, Othello does have a fatal

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.

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;

Set in the late sixteenth century among the wars between the Turks and the Venetians, Shakespeare’s Othello is one of the earliest works in history to explore topics such as interracial marriage and the dangers of jealousy. When compared to the traditions of its time period, many critics will argue that the play portrays modern, radical ideas about gender relations. However, this claim isn’t completely true. Although the strong women in Othello are well ahead of their times, the men of the play remain grounded in the traditional ideas about gender and marriage.