Gender Roles In Othello

Shakespeare’s Othello was written in 1603, a time in which attitudes to courtship and seduction were vastly different to what’s commonly accepted in our society today.. Consequently, an audience from the 21st century would approach, and leave a performance of Othello in entirely different ways. In the 17th Century, use of a male perspective was far common and expected than a female perspective, however, in recent years, the perspective of a female has become more valued than before. Due to this, when discussing the presentation of the beginning of Othello and Desdemona’s relationship, there are multiple ways in which you can explore the use of gender and perspectives.

In this extract Brabantio serves to present the traditional male perspective

Similarly, to Brabantio, he holds the view that the relationship between Desdemona and Othello is not appropriate, demonstrated by is reference to it as a ‘mangled matter’. However, what sets these two male points of views apart is the Duke encouragement for Brabantio to accept the marriage by making the point that ‘men do their broken weapons use/ than their bare hands’. This phrase could be interpreted as meaning that, due to Desdemona marrying a moor she is now a ‘broken’ daughter, however, that is still better than having no daughter at all. The use of the image of a weapon to represent Desdemona demonstrates the patriarchal society which makes the objectification of women commonplace. This use of imagery alludes to the fact women can be used as a ‘weapon’ in their society as daughters are used as a tool to climb up the social ladder as such. By marrying your daughter into a richer family than your own, you can climb the social ladder, therefore by extension, the more obedient and virginal the daughter, the more likely they are to win a wealthy husband, and thus the stronger the social ‘weapon’ they are. The Duke may be implying that by marrying Othello, Desdemona has become a ‘broken

Othello’s point of view on courtship and seduction is arguably more valuable than both Brabantio’s and the Duke’s due to the fact he is the one in the relationship to Desdemona. Othello presents a point of view of courtship and seduction hitherto unheard of by any other character in the play thus far: that Desdemona was active and instrumental in their courting. As women were commonly seen as mindless, and wholly reliant on men to do things for them, the idea that Desdemona was actually courting him provides a contrast the common presentation of women at this time. Whilst a modern audience would not be shocked by the idea of a women actively seducing a man, for an audience in the 17th century, this would have a been shocking and unusual notion. Othello talks of Desdemona’s ‘greedy ear’ and describes her as ‘devouring’ his discourse, phrases that not only connote to eagerness, but also to lustfulness. Unmarried 17th century venetian women were expected to be virgins, and without sexual desire, and so Othello’s presentation of Desdemona as someone with the capacity to ‘devour’ is again, unusual. Tis presentation of Desdemona contrasts greatly to Brabantio’s reference to her as a ‘gentle mistress’, consequently putting into question the reliability of the male character’s ability to wholly represent a relationship between a man and a