Othello Character Analysis Outline

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Arparish Royal
Mrs. Goddard
English ll
19 November, 2015

"Character Analysis Outline"
A person will only take so much abuse from someone before they have had enough and decide to stand for what they believe. Emilia is first woman in William Shakespeare's Othello to become independent of Iago's leash and show how a woman of her time can ignore the gender roles in place, to protect someone she cares about.

During the time period Othello is set in, women are view as property and the lesser to men. Even now in today's society some believe women are second to men. The ideal woman during this time was to obey their "owners" every wish at a moments notice. Even fathers treated their daughters as if they were property. Emilia wasn't only treated …show more content…

"But I do think it is their husbands' faults If wives do fall: say that they slack their duties, and pour our treasures into foreign laps, Or else break out in peevish jealousies, Throwing restraint upon us; or say they strike us, Or scant our former having in despite;"(4.3.90-102). The conversation between Emilia and Desdemona reveals that Emilia is beginning to see how men perceive women. Desdemona could play a role in changing Emilia view on reality, even if Desdemona doesn't realize it. Desdemona's inexperience in her relationship with Othello opens Emilia eyes when Othello goes from loving his wife to cursing her. Emilia realizes that she's in a similar position.

Considering that Othello was written in the early 1600s, gender inequality was still highly practiced. Unmarried women were seen as their fathers' property and the play's two marriages are are filled with male jealousy and cruelty. Relationships build on non trust and emotions like jealousy will always end in that couples' separation. Emilia will be seen by most as the stereotypical type of women that stays with an abusive husband because of their desperate need for affection. Even so those being abused will soon have