Male And Female Relationships In Othello Flashcards
The downfall of des and Emilia comes about not because of their own fallibility but because …..
Of the weaknesses of men who seek to control them, through accepting their subservient role the female characters actually expose male weaknesses
Male weakness “she has deceived her father and may thee’
He has to believe that des is inherently deceitful bc it softens the blow against him
Des = ‘my life and education both do learn me how to respect you’
She recognise that it is the male insecurity that had inflicted thus role upon her, she’s just following it
Othello’s otherness is weakness
‘Her name that was as fresh as dian’s visage is now begrimmed and black as mine own face’
Iago masculine and sexual insecurity
‘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
Desdemona draws on a theatrical lineage of women who challenge male expectations:
Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, a midsummers night’s dream
Interestingly, women were expected to be men, submissive and docile but the tragic play…
Features women who were anything but
People assumed that women were naturally awful and…
Needed to be subjugated for the safety of society
Christian traditions and practices frame women within the..
Madonna or whore dichotomy- either angelic or entirely fallen- needing men to help redeem them
… needing men to help redeem them. Perhaps this is what we see on stage…
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
Sexually promiscuous as default…
Inextricably tied to tragedy
Emilia ‘the world’s a huge thing: it is great price for a small vice’
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
Women who r sexually promiscuous and duplicities was also quite..
Endemic in England as well.
Although set in Venice and Cyprus the exoticism underpins the liberal melting point which would be quite..
Appealing and causes anxiety in people due to the social blur in of social constructs.
Des and othello’s love is out of control of iago’s plot and ‘green eyed’ monster jealousy bc..
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
Cassio is far from innocent bc of him talking bad about Bianca behind her back
‘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
Is Desdemona condemned by her initial choice?
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?
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..
‘Stem the 200 yr history of productions that were consistently replacing des voice with silence and transforming her presence into absence.’
