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Stereotypes And Women In Shakespeare's Othello

575 Words3 Pages

Othello shows how men and women aren’t treated as equals, but as individuals where one is better than the other. In the novel Othello, there are many stereotypes between man and woman. Men are considered to be much greater than women, who are contemplated as poor souls. Moreover, the women in Othello are portrayed as innocent beings who do anything to save their relationships with their husbands. Continuing on, society is controlled by men, and women are not equal to them because they are so used to what society is and thinks it’s normal. In the text, we see that men are powerful and more outspoken whereas women are introverted and slaves to their husbands. Society also creates different identities to characters such as Bianca. Bianca is a prostitute, who is often …show more content…

Men are premeditated as the heroes, whereas women are characterized as anemic souls. In Othello, we see that women are considered their father’s property until marriage. Desdemona’s marriage was filled with despotism and jealousy. “ Sir, you’re robbed. For shame, put on your gown! Your heart is burst. You have lost half your soul” (Shakespeare 1.1.94-95). This clearly demonstrates how in society, everyone was used to the father owning the daughter. In this case, Iago goes to Brabantio and feels sorrow for him because he lost his daughter to Othello. Othello seems persuaded by Iago that Desdemona is cheating on him because of female sexuality. “Iago inflames Othello with the idea of a sexual affair between Cassio and Desdemona” (Shumaker 1). This validates that in society, it was easy to manipulate others on women because of the way women were seen. Instead of trusting his wife, he believes that she is indeed cheating on him because of what Iago says to him about the way women behave. Women were known to only be obedient and submissive, and if they did something, then it would be a dishonor to the whole

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