![]() ![]() In Act 4 Scene 3 the two characters to voice their opinions about men, Desdemona fully reveals her childish innocence with her question about faithfulness: “Wouldst though do such a deed for all the world?” Emilia reveals her sense of humour and practical realism: “The world’s a huge thing: it is a great price for a small vice” and “Nor I neither by this heavenly light: I might do’t as well I’th dark.” Emilia’s conclusion that it is men who commit adultery without moral punishment and her statement of sexual equality is an important message within the play. The stillness of the bedroom scenes preceding Desdemona and Emilia’s murder are essential to this reading, both beautiful and dreadful, as the women are completely blind to their fate. Othello, in his speech to the Senate, which is usually considered noble and dignified, says “For such proceedings I am charged withal – I won his daughter.” (Act 1, Sc 3, 93-94) ![]() She, as a woman, is a designated prize or asset to her father (owner), and then husband, as reflected Brabantio’s question, “Oh thou foul thief, Where hast thou stow’d my daughter?” as one “stows” their possessions. By doing this, she ultimately pays a price: her life. The only way she can gain independence from her father is by submitting to another man, her husband. But here’s my husband / And so much duty as my mother showed/ To you, preferring you before her father, / So much I challenge…” In doing this, Desdemona shows simultaneously her strong will by “challenging” her father, and her reliance on the patriarchal structures inherent in her life. She clearly outlines the nature of women’s status: “You are lord of all my duty, / I am hitherto your daughter. Her outburst at Cassio gives the on looking Othello what he thinks is proof of Desdemona’s infidelity while displaying her strong character and standing up to a man, behaviour which does not follow the stereotypical expectations of women of the time.Īct 1 Scene 1 establishes the context of a patriarchal society, and this is continued in Act 1 Scene 3 with Desdemona summoned to the Senate to defend her new marriage. She receives Desdemona’s handkerchief from Cassio and gives it back to him when she discovers it is another woman’s. Attention must also be paid to Bianca, who plays an unknowing role in Othello’s jealousy. The three focus scenes here are Act 1 Scene 3, Act 4 Scene 3 and Act 5 Scene 2. A feminist reading also recognises that it is the men’s deplorable attitudes in regard to women and gender that in part caused the tragedy, for instance, Othello’s response to Emilia insistence that Desdemona is honest, “She says enough yet she’s a simple bawd/That cannot say as much” (Act 4 Sc 2). For these reasons, I am proposing two potential readings, or interpretations of the play, a feminist reading and a reading based on the themes of class and power.Ī feminist reading would give voice to the play’s three female characters: Desdemona, Emilia and Bianca (the play’s only female survivor), provoking sympathy within the audience for them and portraying them as the true victims of the avoidable tragedy.Ī feminist reading stems from the fact that in Shakespeare’s times, women, whether married or not, fell roughly into two categories: that of a fair, innocent and virgin, or a cuckolding whore. Modern audiences, too, have certain expectations and ideas about the play, and it is vital, when producing a play like Othello to take these expectations into consideration. Its thematic concerns are expansive and open to interpretation: they range from tragedy, love, power, jealousy, trust, class and race, and the actions of its characters often provoke controversy and harsh criticism, from Othello’s “fatal flaw” of envy, to Desdemona’s trivial persistence and Iago’s sinister and deadly plotting. Shakespeare’s tragedy Othello has been brought to the stage hundreds, thousands of times with many different interpretations and readings due to its vast history of literary debate and analysis. ![]()
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