HOW FAR DO YOU FIND THE FEMALE CHARACTERS IN OTHELLO CONVINCING
Othello is a complex tragic play that explores the concepts of mortality, love, appearance and reality. As Othello is a play mainly about jealousy and revenge it is fraught with a secret plot. The female characters in Othello are seen as secondary characters to the main male ones because Shakespeare presents us with a male dominated world in which women are seen as inferior and more passive beings. ... All women in Shakespeare’s Othello are engaged in unbalanced partnerships. ... Iago who is Emilia’s husband is the main cause of this domestic tragedy because he determines on revenge from Desdemona’s husband ‘Othello’ and so persuades Othello of the adultery between Desdemona and Cassio. ... We can relate this to Shakespeare’s Othello when Desdemona is described as a property of her father “…sir, you’re robbed”… {1,1,88}. ... In the 18th century, a woman who was seen with a man unmarried was labelled as a whore just like Bianca in Othello. ... She is deeply in love with Othello, regardless of his race but at the same time provides the fatal flaw for our tragic hero for sexual jealousy. ... At this stage we feel her to be a strong, assertive and clear minded character particularly when her father asks her to choose between him and her husband, Othello. ... We also sense her to be a bold character that is only guided by her strong love towards Othello. ... The last part of the play we can see that she is not being as a fully believable or realistic character because she panics about the loss of the handkerchief in act 3 scene 4 when she states to Othello “…I say it is not lost…” {Line 81}. Desdemona shows compassion in pleading for Cassio at the same moment where Othello is asking her about the handkerchief “…I pray, talk me of Cassio…” {Line 89}. ... Desdemona is abused and rejected by nearly all of the male characters in Othello. Desdemona refuses to blame Othello for her unhappiness so she declares it’s her “…wretched fortune…” {iv2. ... In this part of the play we see how Desdemona gives much of love and loyalty to Othello. ... Also not only this but she blames herself for being destroyed even though she knows it’s her love towards Othello.