Womanhood & Sexuality Flashcards
(19 cards)
Act 1, Scene 1
IAGO: ‘Thieves, thieves, thieves!’
-EPIZEUXIS repeating the same word immediately creating a sense of panic and disorder
-Idea of Desdemona being stolen reflections the transactional nature of marriage at the time
-Iago exploiting the SOCIAL CONVENTIONS of daughters being their fathers property to create panic and meddle with Brabantio
Act 1, Scene 2
BRABANTIO: ‘Whether a maid so tender, fair and happy’
-JUXTAPOSITION using TRIPARTITE STRUCTURE characterises Desdemona and Othello as complete opposites, making her innocence and purity a stark contrast to Othello’s corruption
Act 1, Scene 2
BRABANTIO: ‘O thou foul thief, where has thou stowed my daughter?’
-MOTIF of thievery Othello being a thief shows how Iago’s manipulation from scene one has already clearly impacted Brabantio
Act 2, Scene 1
IAGO: ‘Players in your housewifery and hussies in your beds’
-illustrates Iago’s discriminatory undercurrents surfacing, holding prejudice attitudes towards race, gender, class - MACHIAVELLIAN
-suggests Iago think Emilia is not fulfilling her domestic duties to his standards
-introduces a sense of jealousy towards Othello and the real love and affection in his relationship
-DUAL MEANING of housewife to mean whore, suggests that Iago views Emilia and women in general as false and deceptive playing a facade. This creates a disconnect between men and women. Sense of dramatic irony as we know Iago is extremely deceptive and false himself
Act 2, Scene 1
IAGO: ‘Her eye must be fed, and what a delight should she have to look on the devil’
-SEMANTIC FIELD of food - portrays Desdemona as insecure in her relationship almost saying that she has naively fell into it
Act 3, Scene 3
DESDEMONA: ‘talk him out of patience’ ‘Tell me othello, trust me’
-Desdemona subverting GENDER ROLES, unusually Desdemona as a woman is the one dictating the narrative, rejecting obedience and asserting a level of agency - Othello has instilled Desdemona with this confidence as he treats her as an EQUAL, shows her naivety to how this behaviour will be received by others
-RENAISSANCE AUDIENCE would see this as Desdemona’s fate as a TRAGIC VICTIM being set as women who challenge the social order will be punished in some way
Act 3, Scene 3
EMILIA: ‘I nothing but to please his fantasy’
-Highlights Emilia’s willing nature and possible undertone of naivety
-Emilia has become a pawn in Iago’s game, her willing nature renders her vulnerable and susceptible to being compromise and exploited
Act 3, Scene 4
EMILIA: ‘they are all but stomachs, and we are all but food’
‘‘they eat us hungrily and then when they are full they belch us’
-EXTENDED METAPHOR of food, representing sexual appetite, highlighting the wasteful and exploitative nature of the patriarchy, discarding women when they no longer satisfy men’s needs
-men are consumed by jealousy and greed
-Emilia’s frustration in her relationship is the root of her HAMARTIA, her silence → her bitterness and frustration is preventing her from stepping up, Iago’s ROLE AS THE VILLAIN
Act 3, Scene 4
BIANCA: ‘some token of a newer friend’
-JEALOUSY as she indicates that there should be a level of loyalty in the relationship, perhaps she is a mistress
Act 4, Scene 1
IAGO: ‘selling her desires’
-(Iago to the audience) indicates that Bianca is a prostitute, and Cassio doesn’t take his relationship with her seriously
Act 4, Scene 1
CASSIO: ‘bauble’
-describing Bianca as an object, using DEROGATORY LANGUAGE
Act 4, Scene 1
EMILIA: ‘I will be hanged, if some eternal villain, some busy and insinuating rogue, some cogging, cozening slave, to get some office, has devised this slander’
-DRAMATIC IRONY, Emilia unaware that her husband is this villain
-she hasn’t fully identified the truth heightening the tragedy
Act 4, Scene 3
EMILIA: ‘Let husbands know their wives have sense like them’
RENAISSANCE/CONTEMPORANEOUS AUDIENCE would view both Iago and Emilia as outsider figures with unusual views on society, they both have unconventional ways of thinking
-Emilia is subverting societal expectations of women by promoting marital equality and not being blindly loyal to her husband, which indicates that she doesn’t stand for supporting her husbands evil, even though at this point she isn’t aware of the full extent
Act 4, Scene 3
DESDEMONA: ‘I will, my Lord’
-simple response from Desdemona in the form of a MONO SYLLABIC LINE shows her dutiful submission contrasting her earlier confidence
-the switch in Desdemona’s response is RESTORATION OF HER ROLE AS WOMAN to be subservient characterising Desdemona as a TRAGIC VICTIM being silenced and failing to defend herself
Act 4, Scene 3
EMILIA: ‘Who would not make their husband a cuckold to make him a monarch’
-characterised as a FOIL of Desdemona
-Emilia’s BAWDY HUMOUR and lack of seriousness in the situation despite the morbid and tragic undertones of the Willow song, indicates that she is not as innocent and naive as a tragic victim in the same way as Desdemona
Act 5, Scene 1
IAGO: ‘I do suspect this trash’
-Iago categorising Bianca as a prostitute
-weaponising her reputation being lower social class against her
-illustrates Iago’s ability to manipulate the perception of those around him
Act 5, Scene 1
BIANCA: ‘I am not strumpet, but of life as honest as you that thus abuse me’
-EMOTIVE statement → encourages us to recognise and challenge the treatment of lower class women, TRAGIC VICTIM OF HER SOCIAL STATUS
-reflects the societal expectations would regard her as prostitute for being unmarried and having a relationship with Cassio
Act 5, Scene 2
EMILIA: ‘Good gentlemen, let me have leave to speak. ‘Tis proper I obey, but not now Perchance Iago i will never go home’
-Emilia acts as a MOUTHPIECE of the audience, exposing Iago as the villain, now she is a complete foil of Desdemona, not showing any loyalty to her husband and instead defies Iago
Act 5, Scene 2
EMILIA: ‘I will not charm my tongue; I am bound to speak: my mistress lies murder’d in her bed.’
-Indicates that Emilia’s loyalty is not devoted to Iago, but in fact lies with Desdemona, her mistress that she is willing to put herself in jeopardy for as she knows she is innocent
-Highlights Emilia’s outspoken and defiant nature against men, contrary to the loyal and doting wife she may have initially appeared as
-CHALLENGING THE SOCIAL ORDER even after Desdemona’s death
