Non-masculine Roles in Othello Essay -- Othello essays

Non-masculine Roles in Othello In William Shakespeargons tragic shimmer Othello the three women characters have interesting roles. Through the dialogue and action early(a) roles are stated or implied as applying to women. In Historical Differences misogynism and Othello Valerie Wayne presents Desdemonas reaction to Iagos verbal expressions concerning womens role as sexual objects Iago instead claims that four different kinds of women are sexually micturate either their beauty or intelligence help them to bed, or their repulsiveness or foolishness get them thither anyway. Fair or foul, orthogonal or foolish, women are all whores to him. Desdemona dismisses this miserable praise as antiquated fond paradoxes to make fools laugh i th alehouse (136-7), but it is a particularly rank form of such mockery that dilates in every(prenominal) instance upon women as objects for sexual use and then blames them, as whores, for a use constructed by that discourse. (163) At the outset of the play Iago persuades the rejected suer of Desdemona, Roderigo, to accompany him to the home of Brabantio, Desdemonas father, in the middle of the night. Once there the two awaken the senator with loud shouts about his daughters elopement with Othello. This is the sign reference to the role of women in the play the role of wife. In rejoinder to the noise and Iagos vulgar descriptions of Desdemonas involvement with the general, Brabantio arises from bed. Iagos off-color references to the senators daughter present a second role of women that of extramarital lover. With Roderigos help, he gathers a search party to go and light upon Desdemona and bring her home. The fathers attitude is that life without his Desdemona will be much worse than before... ...er own husband as the dark mastermind behind the murder results in Iagos killing her. hopeless Othello, grief-stricken by remorse for the tragic mistake he has made, stabs himself and dies on the bed next to his wife. T hus it is seen that the roles of women are many and varied and are key to the successful development of the story. WORKS CITED Bevington, David, ed. William Shakespeare Four Tragedies. New York footling Books, 1980. Shakespeare, William. Othello. In The Electric Shakespeare. Princeton University. 1996. http//www.eiu.edu/multilit/studyabroad/othello/othello_all.html No line nos. Wayne, Valerie. Historical Differences Misogyny and Othello. The field of Difference Materialist Feminist Criticism of Shakespeare. Ed Valerie Wayne. Ithaca, NY Cornell University Press, 1991. e implicates