Feminist Essays on Othello

A Feminist Perspective of  Othello      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 opening scene, while Iago is expressing his hatred for the general Othello for his having chosen Michael Cassio for the lieutenancy, he contrives a plan to partially avenge himself (“I follow him

A Feminist Analysis of Othello   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. In the essay “Wit and Witchcraft: an Approach to Othello” Robert B. Heilman discusses a scene which occurs late in the play and which is sexist: When Othello summons Desdemona and dismisses Emilia, “Leave procreants

Othello Essay William Shakespeare’s Othello tells a story of the tragic downfall of a man through jealousy and mistrust, influenced by the manipulative actions of another. Due to innumerable changes within society over time, it is inevitable that a wide range of critical interpretations and readings of the text will emerge. My personal interpretation of the play draws from the concepts of the traditional Aristotelian views of a tragedy. An Aristotelian interpretation concerns itself with whether

This essay will assess ideas of femininity in reference to James' The

Controversiality is something that Shakespeare has conquered in all of his plays. Most of these controversial things have to women and the treatment of them. Some of the biggest ones are King Lear, Hamlet, and Othello. These plays show how Shakespeare portrays women. Women are an essential part of everyone’s lives because they are the ones that give birth to the people of this world. In these three plays especially it is told how women were treated back then. These plays have a variety of stories

Othello Analysis Othello is a story of jealousy and manipulation. The story of a man who believes that he deserves to have everything he wants. If anything gets in the way he may ridicule, manipulate or even fight to move it. Othello uses several different types of elements in the drama. Symbolism, Irony and Conflict are all elements that can be found in Othello. We will discuss each in detail later in the essay. The audience views characters in Othello in many different ways especially when

you the blacker devil." The last line illustrates what Newman terms "rhetorical miscegenation." Outlining the frequency with which black and white were used to "denote polarization" during the Renaissance, (145) she comments on how the emphasis in Othello of Desdemona as "the idealisation of fair female

Contradictory Characterisations of Women in Shakespeare's Othello   Othello opens with a discussion between two men concerning the fate of a very beautiful woman named Desdemona. One of the men is distraught, having tried to win her love but miserably failed, and the other agrees that she is quite a prize. A prize is not just a name for Desdemona, as her humanity is lost somewhere along the way and she ceases to be anything but a prize to be won. Both men are angry and want to seek revenge

Gender Bias in Othello          Shakespeare’s tragic play Othello is an unfortunate example of gender bias, of sexism which takes advantage of women. The three women characters in the drama are all, in their own ways, victims of men’s skewed attitudes regarding women. Let us delve into this topic in this essay.   Barbara A. Mowat and Paul Werstine comment in the Introduction to Shakespeare: Othello that sexism is a big factor  in the play:   At this point in our civilization

Dalloway, and also in her famous essay, A Room of One’s Own. Though Woolf admires Shakespeare’s androgyny (specifically in A Room of One’s Own), she also makes the case that his treatment of female characters does not allow for the women to be three-dimensional, therefore leaving them flat and lacking in depth. Even though for the most part Woolf’s assertion is correct, there are several examples in Shakespeare’s plays that suggest otherwise, namely in the play Othello. Additionally, in a similar vain