Othello’s Women
...iety and posed a threat to male authority. The other aspect of Desdemona’s mutiny was the miscegenation in Desdemona and Othello’s marriage. In this time era women were considered servants bonded by love to their husbands and by a duty to obey him and respect him. Desdemona describes herself and her position: ‘Tis as I should entreat you wear your gloves, Or feed on nourishing dishes, or keep you warm, Or sue to you to do a peculiar profit To your own person (III, iii, 77-80) This is the typical view of men in this era, a position of seen, but not heard. Shakespeare places women in his plays in order to give motive. In both Macbeth and Othello women are the cause of the man's fall. In Othello if it were not for Desdamona, there would not be any jealous murders. She is the center point at which the book revolves. Even though her actual part is small her presence makes the play possible. Desdamona's place in this play is to stand there with minimal verbal interaction and to represent the high-class romantic woman. From this Shakespeare will take a man's jealous nature and twist it into a motive. Not only is Othello the head of the family, but he also has his own views of women. He makes this pretty clear with his conversation with Iago, where Iago is speaking of his wife's escapades with Cassio. To this Othello responds “And yet, how nature erring from itself” (III, iii, 227). Meaning that because she is a woman, she cannot resist herself from temptation. Then later when his jealousy is a rage he slaps his wife then gives a speech, which explains how his wife obeys his every whim. Ay! You did wish that I would make her turn. Sir, she can turn, and turn, and yet go on And turn again; and she can weep, sir, weep; And she's obedient; as you say, obedient. Very obedient. Proceed you in your tears. Concerning this, sir-O well-painted passion! I am commanded home. –Get you away; I'll send for you anon.-Sir, I obey the mandate And will return to Venice.-Hence, avaunt! (IV, i, 252-260) This is be one of the most chauvinistic comments in the entire play. It sums up Othello’s opinion that starts off hidden at the beginning of the play, but emerges under anger. The stereotypes of women's positions in this society were not stopped by the boundaries of economic class. Emilia is a perfect example of this. She is a hard working middle class woman, who still bears the burden of her husband's (Iago’s) sexiest attitude. She believes that the purpose of a woman is to strengthen her husband, through any means necessary. She gives an example of this when she says: “Why, who would not make her husband a cuckold to make him a monarch? I should venture purgatory for't”(IV, iii, 77-79) What she is saying, is that she is willing to sacrifice her body's purity in order to make her husband powerful. Something like this isn't just a response out of the blue, it must be driven into someone. Society is the hammer and chauvinism is the nail. Another example of Emilia's desperate attempt to obtain her husband's approval is when she steals Desdamona's handkerchief. She gives it to Iago, without even thinking of the consequences. If she did not feel so unequal, she wouldn't have done this act in order to obtain a sense of approval. However without this kind of society, Shakespeare's plot would not work. While Emilia makes an attempt to break free from inequality when she stands up to her husband near the end of the play (act five), it does result in her death. Even in this play one can see how society is beginning to grow from it's primitive v...