Suffocating Women In Shakespeare's Othello

Suffocating Female Power

Women have historically always been treated as second class citizens in the male dominated world of William Shakespeare’s Othello. Women have begun fighting for a fair egalitarian society, but it has been met with resistance from men. This is portrayed when the women in the play started to realize the power they possessed, but continued to get mistreated. The women were forced to give the men their undivided attention and support, and when the men would not take responsibility for their actions or were threatened by the actions of the females they would demonize the women. This play showed a continuing struggle for equality between the two sexes. However, because of the antiquated mindset of men, true equality was never

This also demonstrated the different levels of self control and intellect between Emilia and Othello. Although Emilia was not left without emotions upon hearing the accusations, she did not let her emotions overwhelm her in any measurable way. Emilia recognized that men are threatened by strong females, she theorized that this is the reason men target weak females: “is’t frailty that thus errs”(IV.3.95). Desdemona recognized that she has some power over Othello early on in the play when Cassio asked her to convince Othello that he has only, “love and service”(III.3.18). She explained to Cassio: “If I do vow a friendship, I’ll perform it to the last article; my lord shall never rest; I’ll watch him tame, and talk him out of patience”(III.3.21-23). She was confident that she is capable of altering the way Othello will think of Cassio. Moreover, she was so confident in her abilities she referred to herself as, “thy solicitor”(III.3.27), and assured Cassio she would, “rather die than give away thy cause away”(III.3.27-28). Also, Cassio only asked for her assistance because he understood the level of influence she had, he referred to her as, “our great captain's captain”(II.1.75). This made it very clear that Cassio understood that even his very own General was easily manipulated by the influence of Desdemona. Even Othello eventually realized the

Almost immediately after the play started possessive words were used by the males to describe their female partners on a regular basis. Othello stated at one point during the first act that, “to his conveyance I assign my wife”(I.3.285). Not only did he use terminology implying he viewed his wife as property, but he also implied the she was a burden on men. Later on Othello even referred to his marriage as an act of purchase and told Desdemona the he wanted to go home and have sex with her: “the purchase made, the fruits are to ensure; that profit’s yet to come ‘twixt me and you” (II.3.9-10). Because of her submissive nature, Desdemona at the beginning is actually viewed as the perfect wife for men in that society: “The antebellum Desdemona provided an ideal vessel for this adoration of sentiment. "[A]s Coleridge justly remarks," explained the introduction to the 1845 Samuel French edition as played at the Park Theatre, "[Desdemona] is just the woman every man wishes for in a wife? one whose wisdom is of the heart, rather than the head" (Desdemona and the Role of Women in the Antebellum North, page 239). Iago also viewed women as nothing more than simple possessions and a form of sexual fulfilment. Correspondingly, his motivation for tricking Othello into killing his