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Emilia's Role In Othello

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Othello In the play Othello we are going to examine the role of Emilia. How well was her role as Iago’s wife received, how important was her role. She is the “undoing” of Iago through her honesty. Was her honesty done on purpose to have Iago out of her life for good? Was she right to betray her husband for her lady? Whom did she serve? Herself? Desdemona? Her husband? Does she redeem herself in the end for stealing the handkerchief or did she get what she deserved for betraying her lady in the first place? Or did she betray her lady or duly serve her husband? Consider these questions in your answer. Emilia’s role as Iago’s wife was received, and how important was her role in the play Othello. Emilia the wife of Iago follows …show more content…

Or did she betray her lady or duly serve her husband? I truly do not know if I believe that Emilia redeemed herself in the end because she is the person whom put the handkerchief in her husband’s hands which pretty much caused this entire tragedy to happen all together. Of course it never would have happed without Iago’s hatred and revenge on Othello so it is easy to say that one would not have happened without the other. I think that the problem here is Iago he is the one who put all these thoughts into her head to do these things for her husband and had he not done this when Desdemona dropped her handkerchief in the first place she would have picked it up and told her lady as soon as it happened. Emilia duly did serve her husband throughout the play until she sees the light of how horrible of person that her husband truly is, and that she had a part in this of has happened. It is at this point that Emilia does redeem herself by putting the truth out about what her husband has done and pays for with her life. After Emilia is killed Othello sees all of what has happened and what he has done and cannot handle it and he kills himself to lay down in bed with his wife and

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For example, in Act 5, Scene 2, Emilia states, “' Twill out, ’twill out.—I peace? / No, I will speak as liberal as the North. / Let heaven and men and devils, let them all, / All, all cry shame against me, yet I’ll speak.” Emilia’s retaliation against Iago is a clear act of empowerment.

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In this article, Iyasere makes the claim that Emilia confesses what she has done and enounces Iago for just “to rid herself of the burden of guilt and liberate herself from eternal damnation.” While this assertion is correct and can be backed up, it doesn’t fully explore the reasons that Emilia denounces Iago. This theory behind Emilia’s confession forgets the crucial detail that Emilia could have been confessing out of her own loyalty and friendship to Desdemona. While Emilia was Desdemona’s lady in waiting, the two had developed a bond. That bond could been seen when the two would speak of their marraiges and talk about what could’ve been considered taboo subjects, such as Emilia suggesting she would be unfaithful if their was something to

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992 Words | 4 Pages

In this quote Iago’s choice of words shows how he sees her, as his possession. This is why Marxist criticism is the criticism that best describes Iago, he is the true definition of a Marxist character. He likes that sense of power that he has over her and their marriage. Iago doesn’t care about the relationship that he and Emilia have but he cares about what come with the thought of marriage. Typically in a marriage the man is who pays the bills, runs the household, and makes the wife stay home.

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177 Words | 1 Pages

She was Desdemona's maid, a woman of practical intelligence and emotional resilience that played a great role and character. She follows Iago in wifely duty throughout, but during the play develops a strong loyalty to Desdemona and, at the end, denounces Iago's lies to defend Desdemona's reputation very well. She speaks disparagingly of men, but, until the last scene, she supports her husband when needed. When finally she sees the truth, Emilia abandons all loyalty to Iago and verbally attacks him for the villain he is. In response, he silences her by killing her.

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757 Words | 4 Pages

His detachment towards the characters then drives him to do sinister deeds on to them, ultimately causing his downfall. Emilia, Iago’s own wife is another character to which he is detached from. In Act Five, scene two, Iago kills his wife for telling

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882 Words | 4 Pages

She could not present the evidence required to be exonerated, per Othello’s logic. Othello lost it mentally and lent more to the obligation trait of the military which in his mind caused for the execution of Desdemona and death of

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Othello also trusts Iago so implicitly that he stakes not only his reputation on it, but also his wife. He holds such great faith in "thy (Iago's) honesty and love" that he relinquishes the care of his dear wife, Desdemona, to him, "I assign my wife to thee" (1.3.294-297). Othello’s open trust in Iago

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He ends up uses all the money Rodrigo gave him, for himself. Not only that, but Iago ends up killing Roderigo, he says, “if Roderigo lives, he’ll expect me to give back all the gold and jewels I swindled him out of as gifts to Desdemona, that must not happen.” Iago stabs Roderigo, and puts all the charges on him. Emilia is Iago’s wife as well as Desdemona’s maid, he lacks attention and sympathy towards her. It is very obvious that he does not care about her.

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Speaking of which, Iago only becomes Othello 's lieutenant solely due to the suspicion he plants in Othello 's mind, proving how even this friendship isn 't pure. Iago is at the center of all relationships pulling the strings. Moreover, the truth between Emilia and Iago 's so-called matrimony is seen as Emilia confides in Desdemona about men, "They [men] are all but stomachs, and we all but food; They eat us hungerly, and when they are full, They belch us" (3.4 121-123). Not only does this explain the root of the men 's wants in amorous relationships, but it demonstrates the true intentions of all the men in the play in relation to the women in the play. Although Othello does not have any examples of friendship, one must make affirm that life is filled with people unlike the characters in

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1010 Words | 5 Pages

Throughout the play we observe Emilia’s character change, and how she suffered the consequence of challenging the system. Shakespeare’s Othello, utilises a range of dramatic techniques to showcase how women where portrayed during early modern England, as tools, chaste and naive. The antagonist, Iago takes this to advantage to manipulate his wife to unintentionally take a part in the moral dissembling of Othello. The idea where women were being victimised is presented when Iago utilises his power and authority to

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702 Words | 3 Pages

When Emilia makes her first appearance in the play, she is very quiet, she listens to Iago, and only speaks a few lines -- all a sentence or less, showing that Iago has control over most of her actions. This is also at a point when Iago has or will have basically every other character wrapped around his finger: Cassio gets drunk, Roderigo attacks Cassio, Othello begins to suspect Desdemona, etc.. But as the play continues, Emilia begins to speak for longer periods of time, voice more of her opinions, and stand up for herself towards Iago, until the very last act of the play when she defies Iago and speaks the truth about his misdeeds (5.2.227-230). Iago’s loss of control over Emilia parallels his loss of control over all the lies and acts he had put on towards the other characters.

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494 Words | 2 Pages

Emilia was also involved in the problem which ended her life in a matter of minutes. Once Iago had no other than to confess Othello finally realized what a big of a mistake he had committed. He as well decides to end his life by stabbing himself. Othello, being one of the main characters in ‘Othello’, had been tricked and deceived by Iago, Emilia’s husband.

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844 Words | 4 Pages

Othello starts to believe Iago’s lies about his friends and wife, leading Othello to change his behavior towards his closest allies. Iago instigates a fight between Cassio and Montano, and Othello must take charge of his soldiers, he says: Thy honesty and love doth mince this matter, Making it light to Cassio. Cassio, I love thee But never more be officer of mine. (2.3.210-213) Othello makes the decision to fire Cassio, and things get worse when Iago makes his wife, Emilia, steal Desdemona 's handkerchief.

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When he does not get the position he wants and also heard that Othello has been sleeping with his wife Emilia, Iago’s manipulation increases. Iago plans his scheme based on, “[Othello] has done my office, I know not if’t be true/ But I, for mere suspicion in that kind/ Will do as if for surety” (I. III. 431-433). This use of manipulation is all based on an assumption that Othello has slept with Iago’s wife, and this assumption leads to even more horrible events.

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1592 Words | 7 Pages

While Desdemona is a remarkably strong character, Emilia also displays independence unmatched by any other female in Othello, and there are multiple details of Shakespeare and his time that may have prompted such a portrayal. In Elizabethan England, many women worked behind the scenes of productions, like Shakespeare’s, as uncredited authors and editors (Crowley). Due to their anonymity, nobody can be sure that women were involved in Shakespeare’s plays nor Othello in particular, but there is a genuine possibility that female writers did have leverage. This may have had to do with how Emilia was portrayed as resilient from the time of Desdemona’s death all the way until her own, standing up for herself regardless of the ridicule it caused her (Iyasere). In fact, it even killed her in the end.

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