William Shakespeare 's Othello, And Taming Of The Shrew

The society in which Othello takes place is a patriarchal one, where men had complete control over women. They were seen as possessions rather than being just as equally human and capable of duties performed by men. All women of the Elizabethan were to obey all men, fathers, brothers, husbands, etc. Which leads me to the most reliable and trustworthy character of Desdemona, whom goes through many trials just to satisfy her love. Shakespeare brings the thought of Desdemona into the play by Barbantio, her father, “It is too true an evil. Gone she is.\...Oh, she deceives me\ Past thought! …” (1.1.163)(1.1.168-169), whom has just found she has taken off with Othello and firstly suspects they have been hitched. Shakespeare gives reader the

“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 Othello, Desdemona proves to be very strong and liberated. Since the beginning of the play Desdemona is portrayed to be strong and independent. Desdemona makes her own decision to wed Othello denying her

The Taming of the Shrew, written by William Shakespeare, is historical proof that flirting and temptation, relating to the opposite sex, has been around since the earliest of times. Because males and females continue to interact, the complications in this play remain as relevant and humorous today as they did to Elizabethan audiences. This is a very fun play, full of comedy and sexual remarks. It's lasting impression imprints itself into the minds of its readers, for it is an unforgettable story of sex, flirting, and happiness. The Taming of the Shrew remains as relevant today because of its relation to the age-old story of the battle of the sexes and dynamics of marriage, as well as the woman's struggle with both of these.

Desdemona is portrayed as a very inquisitive women, whom loves to explore the things and people outside of her class. She fell in love with Othello because of her curious nature and being attracted to his acts of bravado. Her intentions are sincere; however her curiosity in this act is seen as folly. She asks her cousin Lodovico about his arrival and informs him of Cassio’s dismissal. This angers Othello as she is praising another man, taking a persona of being proactive about him. For Othello this concludes that she is disobedient and has dishonored him - to put her in place, he resorts to violence:

Both Taming of the Shrew and Othello Shakespeare present a variety of relationships which dramatise abuse against women. In Taming of the Shrew Petruchio’s attempts to reform Kate to make her the ideal housewife can be interpreted as a form of domestic abuse. Not only does he withhold necessities such as food, he places her in isolation, and even plays mind games with her to such an extent that she is fearful of defying him - creating a relationship of dependence. In Othello too, there are two different types of abusive relationships that have the same outcome - a husband feels so betrayed by his wife that he subjects her to a barrage of verbal abuse, ultimately seeing no option but to murder her.

We see Desdemona as a young beautiful white female, madly in love with a powerful black man. She is strong inside but doesn't tend to show that side of her as much as she would want to. She tends to play the peace-maker in her marriage and is always trying to understand Othello. Throughout the play she struggles to prove her loyalty and respect to her husband, no matter what it takes she tries to be a

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

The idea of the contrapasso, or counter suffering, explains that punishments must arise from the sin itself, not the damage that the sin created. Dante’s Inferno expresses the contropasso through nine circles of Hell which are distinguished based upon the specific sin of a mortal being. The job of placing mortals into a particular circle of Hell can be an arduous, but given the opportunity to fulfill this task; Katherina from Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew displays the distinct characteristics which allow her to be placed among the sinners in the Inferno. Kate’s tragic flaw of being the shrew in the play means she personifies anger. Her anger is clearly seen at the beginning of the play, but appears to lessen during the remaining acts. On the surface it can be easy to conclude that Kate is a shrew no more and her marriage has tamed her. Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew contains clues which can conclude that Katherina is not tamed at the conclusion of the play and therefore she embodies the characteristics that most closely correspond to Dante’s fifth circle of hell, Anger.

Desdemona is shown as the most pure and proper of the women in Othello and is put into the center of all the drama. The men of the play manipulate her image of a naive lover to being a “ ...strumpet!” (V.ii.94). Desdemona is oblivious to what is going on around her and stays loyal to her morals but Iago’s rumours lure Othello to thinking otherwise. Desdemona’s true morals is her absolute devotion to her husband. She stayed loyal to her lover throughout the entire play and in the end it did her no good. “Nobody; I myself. Farewell! Commend me to my kind lord. O, farewell!” Desdemona on her deathbed, still defends her Lord’s actions. She does not fight back nor call for help, Desdemona begs for her life asking to “Kill me (Desdemona) tomorrow; let me live tonight!” (V.ii.97). She is not as strong-willed like the other ladies and is Shakespeare’s example of the archetype of the innocence and has the bases of a flat character. After the

Many women do not like being controlled. In the past, women were oppressed because they were not allowed to work and control aspects of their lifestyle, such as working themselves, rather they were forced to marry and depend on their spouses. William Shakespeare chose to present this concept through Katherina’s character in the play The Taming of The Shrew. Throughout the play, Katherina is seems to be untamable due to the manner in which she is first introduced, her attitude changes too abruptly for it to be convincing, and that she is either putting on an act or she 's just scared.

When William Shakespeare and Aeschylus create purpose, they create it in a direct manner. Executing it with carefully chosen language, Shakespeare and Aeschylus implement multiple layers to construct meaning and multiple interpretations. Without alienating the audience and regardless of it’s controversial theme’s, both text’s were at a time developed when devoted leaders condemned the idea of Eve and praised the Virgin Mary, Neoclassical scholars welcome the idea of feminism, reversed gender roles, and that women could be the dominant domain. The everyday couple would settle and incorporate pieces of the popular ideas of societies hierarchy of the male position, masculinity over ruled femininity, which was embedded in a tradition constructed society. This essay seeks to create an understanding of the symbolic characters of Katherina in Shakespeare’s ‘The Taming of The Shrew’ and of Clytemnestra in Aeschylus’s ‘Agamemnon’. By exploring both texts in conjunction, it comes to attention that both female characters play masculine roles to be able to achieve their dominance stance. Both women not only revel the real life female, but also depicts to the audience the double bind due to the patriarchal world they live in. This essay will show how both characters use their actions as well as their words as an opportunity, yet becoming problematic due to the idea of ‘a mans world’.

In Shakespeare’s ‘The Taming of the Shrew’, women are shown to be objectified and subservient to men, conforming to the accepted gender roles that are expected of them. Patriarchal views of femininity support the authority of men in society, as well as subjugation and subordination of women. As written of the representation of women in early literature, “the focus of interest is on the heroine’s choice of marriage partner, which will decide her ultimate social position and … determine her happiness ” Yet through the story Shakespeare subtly presents a relationship which is built upon trust, involving two intelligent characters who come to appreciate one another. Which can be supported by the view of later feminists, who agree that it is not necessarily individual men who oppress women, but the underlying prejudice of a patriarchal society.

In the play Othello by Shakespeare Desdemona the wife of Othello fits the roll and expectations of the wife for the time period. At the beginning of the play Desdemona is described as a loyal loving wife. She is very submissive to her husband and will only speak of controversial topics with him in privet. In Lectures on Shakespeare Hudson speaks of Desdemona saying that "The beauty of the woman is so hid in the obedience and affection of the wife, that it almost seems a profanation to praise it." Desdemona would never dream of having a career because her job is to take care of her husband and children if she was to have any. When told to do