Ruth Vanita, the author of “Proper” Men and “Fallen” Women: The Unprotectedness of Wives in Othello, explains how Elizabethan and Jacobean writers included the murder of an adulterous wife by her husband in a majority of their plays. She attempts to prove that Desdemona and Emilia both died as victims of spousal abuse due to their alleged infidelity. According to the accepted social norms, both Desdemona and Emilia deserved their murders because of their infidelity to their husbands. Emilia betrayed Iago by blatantly defying him in order to prove Desdemona’s innocence; while Desdemona, although always faithful, betrayed Othello through her supposed infidelity with Cassio. Since men regarded their wives as property, they had to discipline them and could resort to violence in order to teach them a lesson.…
During the Renaissance, marriages were extremely typical and similar, especially for the women in those marriages. Women usually took a "backseat" and let the men do most of the work. While the men took control of all the decisions that he felt were bet for the household, the women were "required" not to take part in any decision-making. This was because it was the norm to see women as inferior to their male counterparts in these areas. Women were simply very submissive to their husbands, having to obey every one of his commands and having to refrain from doing everything that displeases him. Women just had to live through control their whole life, as they are controlled by their fathers through childhood and by their husbands during marriage. In addition, the looks of women also contributed to her life during the Renaissance.…
Othello by William Shakespeare depicts a contrasting ideology to A Doll’s House. In Othello, women are all victims of male dominance. They had to do everything they were told or risk being punished and sometimes even killed. In the play, Desdemona disobeys her father and marries Othello. In that time period, women were not able to choose their partners. Therefore she redefines her role as a woman. Although Desdemona was independent in her actions, her outcome was much…
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that began in Florence, Italy. It inspired changes in art, literature, mathematics, science, and even beauty ideals. The Renaissance movement started in the 1400s and then spread throughout the majority of Europe; it lasted till the early years of the 16th century.…
In the times of the Renaissance, women began to gain rights. One of these rights was the right to read. Although it was more accepted than it was in the past, many people still disagreed with the thought of women and girls reading.…
The Renaissance is seen as a period of enlightenment and disocoveries. This is true, but it only applied to men. Women in this time period were seen as objects. This was because they were subjected to the mistakes Eve, the first female, made. She fell to temptation and in result, influenced Adam. They were kicked out of the Garden of Eden and forced to live a life of mortality. Because of Eve’s mistake, women in the Renaissance were kept hidden away, only to be used as a means of procreation. They weren’t allowed to grow develop their minds or talents. As the humanist scholar Marsilio Ficino said, "Women should be used like chamber pots: hidden away once a man has pissed in them." A woman’s presence in the Renaissance was seen in the children she had, but nothing more.…
Women were impacted by the Renaissance in economic rights as well as working skills and knowledge.…
The fall of Rome began in the early middle Ages. Pope Gregory established the western Church of Rome. Women played great roles in the Middle Ages. Women were in control of the convent of nuns. The king was the top leader in the land of the Feudal System that contributed to the hard working farmers who were labeled as peasant. The head merchant was the owner of everything in the villages including the crops, the town, and the peasants. The Cathedral Churches of England were the most impressive of the Middle Ages. The family was the fundamental part of social order and women played a significant role at every level of feudal…
The English Renaissance lasted predominantly through the sixteenth and early seventeenth century. Its influence was felt in many of the arts. Exploring or acknowledging sexuality was deemed negative due to gender expectations. “Traditionally, women were told to obey their fathers and then their husbands; to be virgins and then chaste wives; to prefer silence to speech and self-expression” (Carole Levin et al., 2000, p.15). The role of women in the renaissance was patriarchal in nature and their roles were secondary to men’s. Even putting class aside, women were expected to take on the traditional role of wife and fulfil the role that the concept of marriage gave them. Education for women was limited and gender inequality was what caused the…
They showed themselves with political influent people. Do too many changes in Rome, women had a lot of challenges when Augustus came to power and established the empire. It became critical when Rome’s rules changed and made women’s lives a little intense and stressful. Many women of Rome were also victims of rape and they were not moved by it nor did they care. The Sabine women were betrayed by the men of Rome and suffered hardship and humiliation. They were also hailed captive for ending military hostilities between their husband and it made the young men to whom they gave birth to, fight in battle with their fathers. The Roman women had an influence on the Roman states even in the republican time. It is clear that Roman women had to endure much pain and agony. It makes you wonder were their lives bittersweet or defeated. Knowing the roman women’s lives were not a happy ending, they kept their…
In Othello, the two main women, Desdemona and her friend Emilia, are foils of one another. Desdemona is Othello’s wife and acts exactly as a woman was believed to in their era, a devoted and subservient wife who would die if that is what her husband requested, whereas Emilia was loyal to her husband only until it contradicted her moral code. Emilia stood up for her friend when she was threatened, “Good gentlemen, let me have leave to speak: / Tis proper I obey him, but not now. / -Perchance, Iago, I will ne’er go home”(Othello V.ii.195-197). Throughout the play, Emilia makes references to her independent nature, but it is not until this scene at the end of the play that she openly defies her husband in order to protect her closest friend. It is a total girl power moment for her and led to many discussions about her as a character, “[she] achieved psychological freedom and freed herself from societal domination and self-imposed restraints by speaking and acting as she thinks and feels”(Iyasere). Emilia also has a powerful monologue comparing women to men in this play. Her outcry to the men is a strikingly radical speech in a play that had repeatedly displayed patriarchal dominance. Her tone is powerful and progressive throughout the final scene, contributing to the impact the…
Even to this very day, women are limited in opportunities compared to men. The Renaissance was a time of humanism which helped open up women’s options, but it was still insufficient. Select women were allowed to get a broad education, but they must never become a master of one topic. Even if they were lucky enough to have this knowledge, they were looked down on by men and even other women. However, few women broke past the gender barrier and were praised for their work. Women of the Renaissance simply could not please everyone when choosing to accept the few opportunities they were limited to.…
First, a reader must understand the way gender was understood in Shakespeare’s time. “If we are going to insist in understanding the Elizabethan dramatic artifice, let us also insist in examining Othello according to the traditional values which Shakespeare has injected implicitly and explicitly into the play (Kirschbaum, 284).” This quote given by another author shows the importance of understanding the original texts. The original text, while maybe outdated, is still vital in understanding the culture and history behind the play. A student must understand the implications that Shakespeare originally intended to be understood by the audience. There are three main characters in the play. These women are Desdemona, Emilia, and Bianca. These women all show true, strong affection to the main men in their lives.…
The role of life for women was always tough but in the middle ages, mainly in the time after the Reformation was the easiest. The Reformation was the era that occurred when the battling was on their religions. It was mostly the Catholics going against Lutheranism. The printing press launched the making of the Reformation because of the chances for people to have the ability to read the bible. Women had it easier life post-Reformation than in the Antiquity because of compassionate marriage, and moral guides. Except for old women being taken advantage of.…
Over the expansion of time between 16th Century Reformation and the 18th Century Enlightenment, the role of a woman was greatly discussed. The Reformation was led to a desire in seeking changes. The age of Enlightenment prompted looking at things under a different light. It was the ideas of the Reformation and the Enlightenment that led to a desire for classification and roles for each person in society over this expansion of time. Women were never recognized as equals to men by the majority of society. The specific details of a woman's role entailed did change slightly between the Enlightenment and Reformation; women were granted some new abilities such as more education and ability to divorce their husbands but limited in how they could work and live in society while being considered subordinate to man.…