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Finding Identity In Othello And The Joy Luck

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Finding one’s identity is a necessary part of life. Before one can know where he/she belongs, one must know who he/she is. Though this sounds simple, finding one’s identity is not an easy task. In many cases, someone may have an obstacle blocking him/her from truly finding his/her identity. But, in the end, everyone hopefully has figured out who they really are. On their journeys to find their identities, Emilia from Othello by William Shakespeare and June from The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan both discover their true selves by overcoming and standing up to the obstacles holding them back. Emilia and June are both held back by something in their lives. Emilia is held back by Iago because he constantly puts her down. Iago tells her that she talks too much and that she needs to be quiet, saying, “in faith,” she speaks “too much” (2.1.104). He also blatantly abuses her when he says Emilia “[is] a foolish wife” (3.3.304). When Iago says destructive things like these to Emilia, she does not have a chance to form her own identity. She is always reminded of what Iago thinks of her and therefore internalizes those ideas. June is held back by her many failed attempts to be a prodigy. Her mother spends endless amounts of time training June to “be a Chinese Shirley Temple” (Tan 132), to …show more content…

Emilia begins to question the behavior of men (but not yet Iago) when she stands up to Othello. When Othello starts to rudely interrogate Emilia about Desdemona’s fidelity to him, Emilia defends Desdemona saying, “she is honest… If you think other, remove your thought” (4.2.12-14). She finds her voice and realizes that she should use it to stand up for justice. She also knows that someone has “devised [the] slander” (4.2.133) against Desdemona, but fails to realize it was Iago. Therefore, she has also fails to recognize the abuse in her own marriage and has still not found her own

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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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“Two Kinds” a short story out of Amy Tan’s book “The Joy Luck Club” is a representation of the pressures immigrant children face from their parents. In the story, we follow a young girl named Jing-Mei as she embarks down the road to becoming a Prodigy. Her mother believed that “you could be anything you wanted to be in America” (Tan). For Jing-Mei that meant her mother believed she could become instantly famous. “Of course, you can be a prodigy, too”, her mother told her (Tan).

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Desdemona asks Emilia if women who cheat on their husbands actually exist. When Emilia replies that she would consider doing it if she got enough out of it, Desdemona says, “I do not think there is any such woman” (4.3.83). Despite the evidence right in front of Desdemona that people are willing to have affairs, she still holds her belief that no one would ever do such a thing. Desdemona tells Iago and Emilia that, “Unkindness may do much, / and his unkindness may defeat my live, / but never taint my love” (4.2.159-61). She even admits that she may end up dead, but that it won’t affect her love and trust in Othello.

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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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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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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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Emilia and Desdemona do contrast in context. Emilia exhibits common sense by saying she would undermine her spouse, however, "I would not do a wonder such as this for a joint-ring...monarch." Her announcement demonstrates practicality as well as reliability and affection for Iago as she would render herself powerless against the outrage of corruption for the prosperity of her spouse. Desdemona, then again, is greatly optimistic in her perspectives of

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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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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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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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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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Moreover, women may have surreptitiously helped formulate Emilia’s self-sufficiency and valor in order to either live vicariously through her, in frustration with their misogynist society, or at the very least, to comment on it. Additionally, it is likely that Emilia’s independence was inspired by Shakespeare’s own wife and mother, whose atypical authority can both be confidently assumed. Shakespeare’s mother, Mary Arden, very possibly had more sway in her relationship with Shakespeare’s father, John Shakespeare, because before their marriage, Mary was in a higher social class than John, as her father was a gentleman farmer (Andrews). Thus she was not entirely reliant on her husband. As

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Iago’s powerfully disruptive insinuations torment Othello to fall precipitously into his intricate trap, believing in the prospect of Cassio and Desdemona’s fictitious affair. Through the use of linguistic techniques such as elliptical speech, subservient vocative choices and a hesitant tone, Iago is able to construct artful innuendoes to deceive and manipulate Othello. Supplementary to linguistic techniques, dramatic techniques such as dramatic irony reinforces Iago’s role as a two-faced villain, who is making a pretence of being Othello’s loyal ensign. Eventually, Iago’s villainy nature sows a seed of doubt in Othello that germinates into the murder of Desdemona. Through the characterisation of Iago as a notorious villain, Shakespeare is able to hold Iago’s actions accountable for the play’s tragic downfall, establishing a sense of powerlessness amongst the

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