William Shakespeare 's Othello As Oppressed And Marginalized By Patriarchal Society

Emilia acts similarly when she defies her husband in the final Act of the play. She is of a middle class and serves as a maid and a loyal friend to Desdemona. Her character is somewhat different as she follows her husband, Iago, diligently but speaks disparagingly of men and believes them to be foolish and perverse. This is particularly evident in Act 4 Scene 3 “let husbands know their wives have sense like them: they see, and smell, and have palates both for sweet and sour” and “what is it that they do when they change us for others? Is it sport? I think it is”. She expresses the inequality between men and women living in this time

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

Emilia contributes greatly to the dramatic action of the play. In the rising action she unwittingly gives her husband the very object that will seal Desdemona’s fate. The handkerchief she hands to Iago becomes the material evidence that convinces Othello of Desdemona’s guilt. There are a couple of opportunities where Emilia is in a position to alter the tragic outcome. In Act III, scene iv Desdemona asks Emilia if she know where she lost her handkerchief. Emilia states, “ I know not, madam.” (III.iv.23). Again, later in the scene Emilia misses another opportunity to foil Iago’s plan. Emilia sees how upset Othello gets about Desdemona not being able to produce the handkerchief yet she does not come forth. Instead, she blames it on men and marriage; “ Tis not a year or two shows us a man. They are all but stomachs, and we all but food…” (III.iv.103-104). She does not see the connection between the jealous husband and the handkerchief. This dramatic device of having the character being naïve to information about which the audience is aware builds tension. The audience knows of Iago’s plan to use the handkerchief

Throughout ‘Othello’, Shakespeare uses the manipulation of the protagonist, by the antagonist, Iago, to present a play controlled by men. In such a male dominated society, Shakespeare presents the women in the play as tragic victims at the hands of their husbands, in particular Desdemona and Emilia. Throughout this essay I will relate to the Aristotelian and Senecan descriptions of tragedy to come to a conclusion of how in ‘Othello’ Shakespeare presents women as tragic victims of men.

Emilia has a similar role in this play, but she not only has an obligation to her husband Iago but she also has to answer to her mistress's powerful husband Othello. Throughout the play she has no choice but to play the role of a good obeying wife and keep what she knows to herself. She knows that she has that obligation to her husband, but she fights with herself because she seems to have a different obligation to her mistress. She has no choice but to go on living her everyday life, even after knowing what Iago was planning. She would not think of questioning him, because she would know the consequences.

Throughout the play, yes, Emilia certainly has her moments of shining independence and strength, and it is important to recognize those instances in order to decipher to what extent Emilia truly vouched for fair treatment and equality. In the midst of Shakespeare’s characterization of Iago as someone who disrespects women, Iago comments on his his spit fire of a wife by saying, “Sir, would she give you so much of her lips / As of her tongue she oft bestows on me / You’ll have enough.” (II.i.100-102). Iago shares a glimpse of how emilia behaves when nobody else is around, saying that she talks without end, given Iago’s demeaning nature it can be interpreted that he

In the last act, Emilia is capable of speaking out Iago’s bloody guilt in front of gentlemen bravely. For instance, she is unafraid of resisting Iago by saying “’Tis proper I obey him, but not now… I will ne’er go home”(V, ii, 195). Emilia’s anger is perfectly delineated through her speech. To some extent, Emilia is equivalent with the status men since she firmly claims that she "will not charm [her] tongue", and that [she] is bound to speak” (5.2.183-184). When Iago demands Emilia to go home, she expresses her emotions being long suppressed. In spite of the traditional view that restricts wives to be reticence and passive, Emilia becomes an outspoken individual as she breaks the rule of obeying the husband in order to act on her behalf. At last when Iago brutally stabs Emilia to death, her self-sacrifice is heroic as she lived to protect her mistress. Furthermore, Emilia is in fact the only character in the play that is excluded from Iago’s malicious plan because of his neglect. Emilia’s disobedient acts ultimately constitute Iago’s downfall and significantly display the ideas that women can be as strong as men, thus, her braveness and belief fits the ideology of

Othello, by William Shakespeare is well known for its richness in literary content and elements pertinent to societal ideas. Moreover, women are portrayed in Othello in ways that confirm, but also contradict their treatment in Shakespeare’s time. Both female action and language represent these ideas such as expectations for a wife and expectations for how a woman is to act. That said, there are many other lines spoken by these characters that defy the expectations placed on women at time. Overall, the feminist critical lens allows a reader to understand Othello and the manner in which it is slightly sexist and controversial. This lens allows the reader to observe both discrepancies of how women are treated, and common characteristics found

In addition, Emilia proves her underrated intelligence by standing up for what she believes is right. Desdemona, Othello's wife, and Emilia's relationship grows because of her great loyalty towards her. At the end of the play Emilia stands up for Desdemona because Othello kills her. She explains Desdemona's true love for him and would never do anything to hurt him, which proves Desdemona's innocence. Not only does Emilia stand up for Desdemona, but she also voices her opinion to Othello. Emilia shows no fear standing up to Othello to prove to him that his wife has always been faithful. At first Othello finds it implausible but then Emilia says, "Thou art rash as fire, to say that she was false. O, she was heavenly true!" (Shakespeare V: ii, 165-166).Women are looked at in Othello as unintelligent and unfaithful, but Emilia changes that stereotype by standing up to the men. From the start Emilia and Iago's relationship always seemed rocky. Emilia's confidence in herself shows that she is not afraid to stand up to her husband. Emilia realizes the danger she puts herself in when she stands up to Iago. In order to make things right, she does whatever it takes, even if that means ruining their marriage or taking her life.

Emilia didn't have a very wonderful marriage relationship with her husband Iago. She wished for more because she really loved Iago and did some bad things like stealing the handkerchief that she knew meant so much to Desdemona just to make Iago happy, of which she did not notice(3.3.297-320). In another incident where Emilia is not appreciated by her husband, is seen when Iago is ready to compose a poem for Desdemona, because she is beautiful but refuses to do the same thing to Emilia, his wife (2.1.117-134). According to Emilia, men are the cause of many marital relationships. The jealous men posses make them ruin the relationship they have. In the play, we see this come to pass when Othello, because of being jealous loose the trust he had on his wife to the point of killing her. She further says that, women cheat on their husbands because their husbands don't satisfy their wives sexually for they go to sleep with other women beside their wives (4.3.87-88).

   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.

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.

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.

In William Shakespeare’s tragic play Othello there are numerous instances of obvious sexism aimed at the three women in the drama -- Desdemona, Emilia and Bianca – and aimed at womankind generally. Let us delve into this subject in this paper.