Essay Comparing The Taming Of The Shrew And Othello

In Shakespeare’s two plays, Othello and The Taming of the Shrew patterns of domination and submission are explored in relation to the shared issue of gender and power contained in each play. In Shakespeare’s time, women were expected to carry themselves a certain way to maintain the honor of their families. Shakespeare writes Othello and The Taming of the Shrew in the Elizabethan era which readers can see by the way the male figures in the plays see their women as property than human beings. By writing from the Elizabethan point-of-view, it effects the way each play is perceived as behavior previously seen as acceptable may now be viewed as unacceptable from a feminist perspective. For example, in The Taming of the Shrew, Petruchio dehumanizes Katharina’s character which results in Katharina’s submission to her husband, Petruchio. In Othello, there are two main female characters

Despite Emilia’s thoughts about her husband Iago, she is an obedient wife to him. Readers can imply that Iago does not see his wife or any woman as a person in society by the way he constantly mocks and disrespects his wife, never seems to offer his wife any affection, and he always talks about women in a negative way in general. Nevertheless, Emilia still wants to please her husband. Emilia says, “What he will do with [Desdemona’s handkerchief.] Heaven knows, not I. I nothing but to please his fantasy” (III.3.306-308). Emilia is willing to steal her friend, Desdemona’s handkerchief in hope that Iago will appreciate her for once. Like Desdemona’s character, Emilia’s character is willing to do whatever it takes to make her husband happy by submitting herself to her husband. Readers can see that Iago has power and control over Emilia by how he is able to make her do whatever he wants even though he disrespects her as a person by calling her things like “a foolish wife”