Male And Female Relationships In Othello

Question 1

The downfall of des and Emilia comes about not because of their own fallibility but because …..

Answer 1

Of the weaknesses of men who seek to control them, through accepting their subservient role the female characters actually expose male weaknesses

Question 2

Male weakness “she has deceived her father and may thee’

Answer 2

He has to believe that des is inherently deceitful bc it softens the blow against him

Question 3

Des = ‘my life and education both do learn me how to respect you’

Answer 3

She recognise that it is the male insecurity that had inflicted thus role upon her, she’s just following it

Question 4

Othello’s otherness is weakness

Answer 4

‘Her name that was as fresh as dian’s visage is now begrimmed and black as mine own face’

Question 5

Iago masculine and sexual insecurity

Answer 5

‘And it is thought abroad that twice my sheets he’s done my office’
Uses the metaphor of office for his duty, feels obliged to satiny his wife and his inability to do this emasculates him and besmirches and tarnishes his reputation

Question 6

Desdemona draws on a theatrical lineage of women who challenge male expectations:

Answer 6

Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, a midsummers night’s dream

Question 7

Interestingly, women were expected to be men, submissive and docile but the tragic play…

Answer 7

Features women who were anything but

Question 8

People assumed that women were naturally awful and…

Answer 8

Needed to be subjugated for the safety of society

Question 9

Christian traditions and practices frame women within the..

Answer 9

Madonna or whore dichotomy- either angelic or entirely fallen- needing men to help redeem them

Question 10

… needing men to help redeem them. Perhaps this is what we see on stage…

Answer 10

E.g des makes her own decisions but that is the same choice that condemns and ostracises her so branbaio was right. Own female autonomy equal inevitable ruin

Question 11

Sexually promiscuous as default…

Answer 11

Inextricably tied to tragedy

Question 12

Emilia ‘the world’s a huge thing: it is great price for a small vice’

Answer 12

Rhyme= cheer des, female solidarity. Men in Venice were unfounded by stories of cheating women [ sexual liberty], e.g comedic tradition of a January-may romance in Canterbury tales: imagery of an older man cuckolded by his younger wife.
The illogical and paradoxical nature in the juxtaposition of adjectives ‘huge’ and ‘small’ illustrate the dichotomous requirements of women [to provide men with sexual pleasure, but be chaste until marriage], this has nothing to do with their behaviour, bc this is all happening n the minds of men

Question 13

Women who r sexually promiscuous and duplicities was also quite..

Answer 13

Endemic in England as well.

Question 14

Although set in Venice and Cyprus the exoticism underpins the liberal melting point which would be quite..

Answer 14

Appealing and causes anxiety in people due to the social blur in of social constructs.

Question 15

Des and othello’s love is out of control of iago’s plot and ‘green eyed’ monster jealousy bc..

Answer 15

Infedilty was the ultimate marital crime in early modern England, e,g in Emilia’s speech that is quite proto-feminist, ‘say they slack their duties,.. they strike us’, here, she argues that infidelity is a response to her husbands behaviour, and Shakespeare’s decision to temporarily revive es from death on stage, hammers home the idea that des is innocent and still loyal to the patriarchy when she exonerates othello and claiming no one has murdered her except herself

Question 16

Cassio is far from innocent bc of him talking bad about Bianca behind her back

Answer 16

‘I marry her! What? A customer!’ Before he was the epitome of courtesy to des in act 2 but if their status is low like Bianca, his courtesy runs out and he’s not a gentleman.
Iago scapegoats her and blames her for stabbing Cassio ‘what look you pale’, accusing her, so convenient that it is easy to throw suspicions on her, linking to cultural narratives that except this behaviour from her

Question 17

Is Desdemona condemned by her initial choice?

Answer 17

Is the play cautioning against women making controversial choices, or is Shakespeare making a point about how society is stacked against women’s independent choices?

Question 18

During the 18th and 19th centuries, des scenes were cut or heavily edited, robbing her f agency, so much so that no good actress wanted to take the roll..

Answer 18

‘Stem the 200 yr history of productions that were consistently replacing des voice with silence and transforming her presence into absence.’