Emilia

Question 1

Overview

Answer 1

• Maid and friend
• Used as a pawn by Iago
• Passive victim
• Assertive and headstrong
• Allegiance to Desdemona
• Loyal
• Martyr for justice and equality
• Honest
• Experienced

Question 2

The housewife

Answer 2

• Passive reaction in Act 2 Scene 1 “talks too much”, “foolish” Act 3 Scene 1
• Surrendered
• bleak experience with marriage (bare) contrasts with Desdemona’s idealistic version

Question 3

The rejected lover

Answer 3

• Iago’s mistreatment and disinterest, still Emilia pleased him
• For the first half of the play, Emilia appears to be pathetically submissive to her husbands desires
• May view her as complicit in Iago’s plans
• Only when the full extent of Iago’s wickedness comes to light that Emilia is able to reject him

Question 4

The loyal friend

Answer 4

• Loyalty to Desdemona challenges submissive stereotype
• Willing to risk her own safety
• Chooses her friendship over her marriage

Question 5

The martyr

Answer 5

• Unfazed by authority and isn’t afraid to speak out against injustice
• Her dying words “So speaking as I think, I die, I die” Act 5 Scene 2, suggests she sacrificed her life for truth and honesty
• Someone who is killed for the sake of a greater cause
• Her decision to still the handkerchief has had fatal consequences do her death is an act of repentance can be compared to religious faith

Question 6

The voice of reason

Answer 6

• Pragmatist (practical considerations) throughout the play while everyone descends into delusion and panic
• Sees the world as corrupt, thinking of men as irrational and perverse
• “I’ll be hanged if some eternal villain/.. To get some office/ Have not devised this slander
• Predicts the course of the play
• Has no influence on the plays outcome as she is a woman
• Through Emilia, the audience gets to cut through the noise of the patriarchal narrative
• A vessel through which the audience can find catharsis and satisfaction