Othello presents women as the victims of men
To what extent do you agree that in “Othello” Shakespeare presents women as the tragic victims of men?
Throughout ‘Othello’, Shakespeare uses the manipulation of the protagonist, by the antagonist, Iago, to present a play controlled by men. In such a male dominated society, Shakespeare presents the women in the play as tragic victims at the hands of their husbands, in particular Desdemona and Emilia. Throughout this essay I will relate to the Aristotelian and Senecan descriptions of tragedy to come to a conclusion of how in ‘Othello’ Shakespeare presents women as tragic victims of men.
Firstly, throughout ‘Othello’ Shakespeare presents men as the dominant characters of the play, whereas the women are portrayed as characters to always be suspicious of. No female character is given as many lines in the play as any male character, in particular Iago. This is reflective of Iago’s dominance in ‘Othello’, therefore meeting one of the Senecan definitions of tragedy presenting women as tragic victims of men. Furthermore Othello’s suspicious nature towards his wife, Desdemona, is false, and though the women are constantly thought of cheating, they never do. In act 3 scene 4 of the play Desdemona claims that Othello is “true of mind”. The dramatic irony of that statement once again implies that Desdemona is a character who follows social conventions, yet her husband’s false accusations relate to the Aristotelian definition of tragedy in the Desdemona is pitied by the audience due to her pure feelings of love towards Othello. The use of the adjective “true” further shows Desdemona as a tragic victim of Othello as she is unaware of Othello’s beliefs that she is cheating on him with Cassio, which is false.
Though women may be portrayed as tragic victims in ‘Othello’, Emilia gives the audience reason to believe that women are far from tragic victims in the play. She challenges social convention in that women should be passive to their husbands. In defiance of Iago’s “Be
Throughout ‘Othello’, Shakespeare uses the manipulation of the protagonist, by the antagonist, Iago, to present a play controlled by men. In such a male dominated society, Shakespeare presents the women in the play as tragic victims at the hands of their husbands, in particular Desdemona and Emilia. Throughout this essay I will relate to the Aristotelian and Senecan descriptions of tragedy to come to a conclusion of how in ‘Othello’ Shakespeare presents women as tragic victims of men.
Firstly, throughout ‘Othello’ Shakespeare presents men as the dominant characters of the play, whereas the women are portrayed as characters to always be suspicious of. No female character is given as many lines in the play as any male character, in particular Iago. This is reflective of Iago’s dominance in ‘Othello’, therefore meeting one of the Senecan definitions of tragedy presenting women as tragic victims of men. Furthermore Othello’s suspicious nature towards his wife, Desdemona, is false, and though the women are constantly thought of cheating, they never do. In act 3 scene 4 of the play Desdemona claims that Othello is “true of mind”. The dramatic irony of that statement once again implies that Desdemona is a character who follows social conventions, yet her husband’s false accusations relate to the Aristotelian definition of tragedy in the Desdemona is pitied by the audience due to her pure feelings of love towards Othello. The use of the adjective “true” further shows Desdemona as a tragic victim of Othello as she is unaware of Othello’s beliefs that she is cheating on him with Cassio, which is false.
Though women may be portrayed as tragic victims in ‘Othello’, Emilia gives the audience reason to believe that women are far from tragic victims in the play. She challenges social convention in that women should be passive to their husbands. In defiance of Iago’s “Be