ipl-logo

Othello Feminist Analysis

841 Words4 Pages

There are many different types of women in the world. One of those many types of women include the ones who hate when men take them for granted and underestimate them. In Shakespeare's epic tragedy, Othello, Emilia is one of those women. Emilia, also known as evil Iago’s wife, is at first portrayed as a weakling; however, readers later get an inside of how she really sees men. Shakespeare uses certain words to get Emilia’s strong personality and message across. Shakespeare uses the words: “jealousies”, “affection”, and “revenge” in Emilia’s monologue to reveal her feminist thoughts towards men. First and foremost, in this passage, Shakespeare uses the word “Jealousies” to portray the way Emilia believes that men act towards everything. “Jealousies” originates from the word “Jealous”, meaning feeling …show more content…

The denotation of the word revenge is to exact punishment or expiation for a wrong on behalf of, especially in a resentful or vindictive spirit (The Definition). Emilia is angry that men underestimates woman and states, “Why, we have galls, and though we have some grace, Yet have we some revenge”(4.3 7-8). Emilia strongly think that men underestimate woman and they do not see that they can be just as vindictive as them. For most readers, “revenge” gives a negative connotation. When people think of the word “revenge”, they think of hurting and tricking others; however, some see the word in a positive way because for some, revenge is fun and interesting to them. However, Emilia uses it in a vindictive way. The etymology of the word “revenge” helps us further understand why Emilia saw fit to use this word. The word comes from the latin word “vindicare” meaning "to lay claim to, avenge, punish" (Online Etymology). In this passage, Shakespeare continues to use imagery throughout to express how Emilia thinks that men underestimate

More about Othello Feminist Analysis

    Open Document