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Comparing Women In Othello And The Canterbury Tales

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There are many instances in literature, past and present, where the author shares his or her opinion on women in society through the use of his or her works; Othello and The Canterbury Tales are no exception. William Shakespeare and Geoffrey Chaucer use their description of the main female characters in their books as a direct projection of their take on the patriarchy and misogyny. In both Othello, by William Shakespeare, and The Canterbury Tales, by Geoffrey Chaucer, women are portrayed as less than men. Each book has a woman that serves as an example of what a woman “should” be in society, as well as a woman that goes against the accepted social paradigm. In the end, the woman who acts as she pleases receives a harsher description and, in the case of Emilia, a bitter end. In Othello, Desdemona …show more content…

It is expressed early on in the book, that women are seen as property. In Act 2 Scene 3, Othello says, “The purchase made, the fruits are to ensue.” He speaks of his marriage to Desdemona as a “purchase” he has made, and her body and their physicality are the fruits that come with said purchase. He treats her as an object he owns. Another time Desdemona is referred to as an object is in Act 1 Scene 3. The Duke tells Othello to “use Desdemona well.” There are many points in the story where Desdemona acts submissively in the presence of men. When asking Iago to speak to Othello, wondering what to do to win him back, she falls to her knees. She was literally begging on her knees to Iago in distress about her situation with her husband. Most notably, Desdemona acts submissively right before she is killed by Othello. As he speaks of her death moments before killing her, she acquiesces his orders to pray. He smothers her. When Emilia comes in, Desdemona is on her

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Women in the middle ages tend to be push aside as the Chaucer displayed in “The Knight’s Tale” and “The Wife of Bath’s Tale”. In the medieval system, people believed that women are to be educated by their husbands, that women are vicious, and therefore they believe men were always right. Women’s position in society was determined by the unfavorable attitudes of leaders. Women also was to seem to be following the Mother of Christ example to preserve their virginity. When the Wife of Bath was created there was no awareness of feminine desire for equality.

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The Ladies Found Within The Text And The Roles They Play Throughout this year we have read some of the best literature in all of America and have been introduced to some of the most iconic characters. I would like to focus on the women featured within these novels. In Shakespeare's tragedy Othello, we are introduced to Desdemona who is a victim of murder and false accusations.

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Stereotypes of Women in The Canterbury Tales Stereotypes of women have not changed throughout the years of history. Throughout the Canterbury Tales, Chaucer portrays women through negative stereotypes. Women are portrayed as selfish, lustful and immoral. In the Wife of Bath’s Prologue women are portrayed as selfish.

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The Canterbury Tales is a valid piece of Medieval literature that demonstrates men and women’s relationships as displayed in courtly love and chivalry; this piece confronts the injustice between society’s views of gender

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Many female critics have looked towards The Wife of Bath as a feminist role model (Reisman) She wanted authority over her five husbands, “She’d been respectable throughout her life, with five churched husbands bringing joy and strife, Not counting other company in her youth;” (Chaucer, l. 459-461) In Othello, the society centered around the men having all the control over women except in their beds, which was when the women could take control. Othello uses his power to over Desdemona to mock her,“Ay, you did wish that I would make her turn. Sir, she can turn, and turn, and get go on, And turn again.

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In Shakespeare’s ‘Othello’, women are portrayed as either pure angelic beings and jewels, or as whores who are impure. They are objectified and shown as something to be used. The only women in this play are Desdemona, Emilia and Bianca compared to the main 6 male characters, not to mention the minor characters, who are also all male. Their depicted purpose is to belong to a man; Desdemona, Emilia and Bianca’s lives revolve around being wives to Othello, Iago and Cassio. This fits into the idea of a perfect Elizabethan woman, who’s lives are subject to their husband’s rule across all aspects, to be disposed of as men wish.

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Several of the characters described in this work are women. Some of these women are rebellious and seek for sovereignty over their lives. Through his description of the Wife in The General Prologue of The Canterbury Tales, as well as the “Knight’s Tale” and the “Wife of Bath’s Tale,” Chaucer suggests that, although many

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Geoffrey Chaucer’s, “The Canterbury Tales” tells a story about the journey of pilgrims who come from different social classes, all heading to Canterbury, England. During their quest, Chaucer explores moral lessons through the tales that the pilgrims spoke upon and he explains how one should live through the errors of both men and women. Through these tales however, there is a subliminal message which is how medieval men at this time looked down upon women and how this affected their role in society. Women’s roles in the Medieval era were not equal to that of men. During this period of time, women were forced to be obedient to man and were only to be seen and not heard.

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The way these women act and conduct themselves is unquestionably related to the ideological expectations of Elizabethan and patriarchal society. Desdemona, Othello 's wife and Brabantio 's daughter, is represented as the ideal woman. So she would never be disloyal to her husband. On many occasions, Desdemona obeys her husband firmly and calls herself obedient even after Othello hits her. She was loving and loyal to Othello and wishes a long marriage of prosperity and commitment that would lead to her ultimate happiness.

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However, all this hatred is unfounded, and if Othello just dug a little deeper into Iago’s claims, he would realize that Desdemona is innocent. Othello’s problems affected Desdemona in more ways than one. She now has to deal with a husband who is angry at her for no reason. As mentioned in the last paragraph, the mental struggle one goes through when beating themselves up over something is great. Desdemona beats herself up because she doesn’t know what she did to Othello, but Othello is still angry.

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1452 Words | 6 Pages

Desdemona is a white, Venetian debutante that chooses to marry a black man, a Moor, over the wishes of her father. At the beginning of the play, merely six hours after being married, Desdemona’s father attempts to stop her from accompanying Othello on military duty. He relents when Desdemona pledges her allegiance to Othello by telling her father, “But here’s my husband, And so much duty as my mother showed to you, preferring you before her father, so much I challenge that I may profess due to the Moor my Lord”

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Othello secretly marries Desdemona without telling anyone because he is afraid of the reactions he might get from the

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Thus, Desdemona is more of a trophy to Othello than a wife. Even though they eloped. “The purchase made, the fruits are to ensue: That profit’s yet to come ’tween me and you. Good night. ”(2,3,8-9) When Othello mentions profits, he's implying how he received a lot of “value” from his purchase.

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Emilia goes against the traditional Elizabethan norms expected for a woman to follow. At the time, it was normal for women to obey all orders given to them by their husbands, if not they “[seen] as traders.” (Roy) Comparing this societal norm from more than four centuries ago, women have come a long way. Where disobeying their husband could be seen as not betrayal, but “self- defense” (Rosenberg) Shakespeare later gives Emilia trust in her relationship with Iago.

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In Othello, Othello and Desdemona are both characters that are struggling with their identities. In the beginning of the play we find Othello as a respectful man that is successful, but then we get Iago that manipulates him to make him seem as the bad guy. We also find Desdemona that turns against her father and the Elizabethan society to marry Othello, but we also find that she is respectful and obedient to Othello.

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