Women’s Oppression in Shakespeare’s Othello
Question
Support G.K. Hunter’s claim that “[t]he dramatic function of Iago is to reduce the white ‘reality’ of Othello to the black ‘appearance’ of his face” nicely captures the sense in which Othello’s action continually moves between concealment and revelation (258). As I will go on to demonstrate, concealment and revelation also govern the play’s sexual dynamics. [And so on.] Summarizing a Relevant Chunk As G.K. Hunter has argued, Shakespeare presents a “traditional” view of unpleasant “Moorish” qualities (“gross, disgusting, inferior” and so on). He gains his audience’s assent only to undermine that presentation with the actual appearance of Othello, a dignified and glamorous hero. Accordingly, Hunter argues, Othello appears as a man “that we have wronged.” Our initial belief in Iago’s mischaracterization of Othello makes “us” both complicit with Iago and Iago’s victims (255). Using Counter-Argument and Counter-Evidence While G.K. Hunter argues that Shakespeare presents (and then undermines) a traditionally negative view of Moors, [Scholar X] argues that Moors were not, in fact, the victims of the kind of prejudicial thinking Hunter describes (Hunter 255, X 312). Logic If Othello is, as Hunter argues, “a play which manipulates our sympathies, supposing that we will have brought to the theatre a set of careless assumptions about Moors,” (256) then it is not clear how Othello has continued to enthrall modern audiences in an age when the term “Moor” signifies virtually nothing. The continuing success of Othello suggests that Hunter’s emphasis on the prejudicial mindset of Shakespeare’s audience, and Shakespeare’s manipulation of that mindset, requires reappraisal.
Notes on Thesis Statements Your thesis statement is the the sentence the rest of your essay will support the plausibility of. Thesis statements in essays about literature will not be factual, nor will they be so close to factual that they’re effectively factual. Negative Ex. “In this essay, I will demonstrate that Othello was first staged in 1604.” — This is a fact. Negative Ex. “In this essay, I will demonstrate that Shakespeare is one of the most important authors in the English language.” — This is not technically a fact, since “importance” is subjective, but it is so widely accepted that it is close enough to fact. Your thesis statement should aim for plausibility. Positive Ex. “Iago embodies the figures of both Vice and Reason, ideas emerging from two different traditions, Christianity and the Enlightenment, the former well-established in English society and the latter still emerging at the time of the play’s debut.” — Whether or not I believe it upon first reading, this seems to track with enough of what I know about European intellectual history to make me open to reading further. Negative Ex. “Iago is actually part man, part machine. I will demonstrate, through close reading certain clues in the play, that Iago is literally a cyborg.” — Yeah ... no. Your thesis should aim for demonstrability. Negative Ex. “It was Shakespeare’s intention that Othello should serve as a play designed to lecture the newly ascendant King James on the perils of leadership.” — We know very little about Shakespeare’s actual life, and we know nothing about his stated intentions. So immediately I would want to know what evidence you could furnish that would prove that Shakespeare had a specific and stated intention for his play. Your thesis should aim for something that is not plot-oriented. Negative Ex. “Emilia obeys Iago even though she suspects that he has nefarious ends because she is obeying the gender and marital norms of the time.” — This posits an explanation of a certain plot point. It’s therefore about the motivations and causality of the plot, and it does not engage a broader interpretation of the play. It’s too limited and bounded to make for an effective and provocative thesis statement. Your thesis statement should not make a value judgment, or at least not a simplistic one. Negative Ex. “Iago is evil [or racist] and any right-thinking person should deplore what he does.” — This may make you feel good, but it does not help us understand the Thesis statement should address a question or problem about the text. The source of this interpretive problem could be: — The text itself — Critical debate surrounding the text — The history of the text’s production or reception — The relationship between a given set of historical and social circumstances and the text itself Thesis statement should not just be supported by evidence. Thesis statements should emerge from an analysis of evidence. Examples: The popularity of Harry Potter fanfiction suggests that the ways we understand the basic elements of literary texts have shifted with the advent of modern fan communities. Literary “characters” are no longer delineated by the texts in which they originate. Literary characters are social phenomena, not narrative phenomena. “Ozymandias” suggests that history ironizes and alters the meaning of literary statements in ways the authors of those statements cannot predict. The most recent six The Fast and the Furious films are allegories of the post-9/11 American security state that seek to resolve the tensions between “liberty” and “security” through recourse to familial metaphors.


Solution
Women’s Oppression in
Shakespeare’s Othello
Introduction
The
theme of gender particularly women oppression stands out as a significant
subject in the course of examining Shakespeare’s Othello. Recebt years have
seen scholars coming to realize the significance that female characters within
the play contributed towards the growth of the plot and other themes within the
play (You 12). Women, gender, and domesticity are significant subjects to
explore in this particular play since they are evident in almost all the scenes
(Adams 4). They are significant to this particular study since different
aspects of gender have been explored in the play to bring out oppression faced
by women. An example is the roles and expectations that women in the play are
expected to perform such as carrying out domestic tasks, satisfying men
sexually and always serving men whenever called upon. Also, women oppression
has played a critical role in developing other characters and themes within the
play. In the play, women oppression has been depicted through Othello’s mother
even though she died prior the beginning of the play, Desdemona, Emilia, and
Bianca (You 12). In what follows,
I will argue that Othello has greatly explored the
fact that men disregard women in the society and all the action men do to women
is a form of oppression.
Women’s
Oppression based on their gender.
Aspects of women oppression particularly
as a result of gender inequality are evident throughout the play. The subject
of women oppression stands out as a significant subject in the course of
examining Othello’s tragedy in Shakespeare’s Othello due to the significant
contribution made by women in the course of enhancing the play’s plot. In the play, from the onset to the end of the
play there are numerous instances whereby the audience can notice
discriminatory words or acts made against women. Within the play, it is clear
that women have been rendered powerless and are considered as men’s possession.
From time to time, within the play, women are referred to as objects. For
instance, Brabantio asserts “She is ... stol'n from me“ (1.3.60). In this
statement, Brabantio employs the use of political terms to describe the
situation and the things that had come to pass making him consider his daughter
to be dead to him. Also, within the same scene, the men; Roderigo and Brabantio
can be seen to consider the inferiority that women have as something natural.
It is for this reason that Roderigo asserts that Desdemona had made a “great
revolt” since she had portrayed resistance against men’s leadership (Adam
60).
Oppression
of women due to traditional stereotypes
In some of the conversations in the play,
women are dishonored insulted and not trusted. This is evident where Desdemona
tries to prove how loyal and true she is but Othello does not believe asserting
“Heaven truly knows that thou art false as hell.” Here, Othello shows the lack
of trust that she has towards Desdemona. Instead of explaining to her using
kind words she employs the use of harsh words. She prompts her to continue
lying to him so that she can be damned by God to hell. He also goes on to
ridicule her asserting that she is a hypocrite that even the devil will mistake
her to be an angel of which she is not. From this depiction, You (14) asserts that, such a case is a representation of how men did
not trust women and thus verbally
discriminated using harsh words and sarcasm. In other words, it can be argued that
Desdemona is mistreated and disrespected the most out of all the women. At the
beginning of the story, Brabantio creates a notion that he is the one who
possesses Desdemona. This is evident in his accusation against Othello by
claiming that Othello had stolen her from him. Nevertheless, Othello is also
depicted mistreating Desdemona through his accusations of women being
untrustworthy and that is why he accuses her of unfaithfulness. It is also seen
that Othello further extends the degradation towards Desdemona by calling her
rude names and saying her “fountain” is polluted and can only produce
disgusting toads. The rude names Othello calls Desdemona show that he does not
respect her, even though she is completely loyal to him. From this textual
evidence, it is undoubtedly vivid that women discrimination in Othello is
rampant.
Moreover, Emilia is constantly mocked and
disrespected by her husband, Iago. He is
rude to her by saying she is too talkative, but in reality, she doesn’t speak
frequently, “In faith, too much/ I find it still, when I have leave to sleep/
She puts her tongue a little in her heart.”(2.1.112) Lago makes these callous remarks in front of
Cassio and Desdemona, thus humiliating her further. Lago never offers Emilia
any affection and is discriminative towards her and all women in general by
saying they are lazy for everything except sex, “You [Women] rise to play and
go to bed to work.”(2.1.118). His sexist assertion affects Emilia internally by
wounding her self-esteem. There are times when people’s words can be very
detrimental to people’s lives. The effect of verbal oppression might not harm
an individual physically, but psychological torture is considered worse even
than physical harm. Therefore, when Lago oppresses these women through verbal
discrimination, they might develop low self-esteem that will render them
unhappy all their life and might even affect their health. It is thus improper
to discriminate against others even within the contemporary society whether
verbally or physically.
Disrimination of women by men to render them powerless
Women have been oppressed in the play Othello just
because men want to be powerful and render women powerless. It is evident
within the text that women were oppressed by being denied the position of power
and thus rendered powerless. Within the play, both Desdemona and Emilia
experience violence from their husbands just because their husbands are thirsty
for being superior. Most of the male characters in the play and even women
perceive the role of women to be the one relating to domestic issues. In Othello, women are viewed as an inferior
sex which is a form of discrimination referred to as sexism. Therefore, through
differences in sex, different women in the book are discriminated in varied
demeaning manners. For example, Emilia has been depicted as a person who is not
intelligent while Bianca has been portrayed as a prostitute. Even though the
different women in Othello have varied qualities, the aspect of discrimination
of rather an oppression is shared among all of them. The oppression shared by
this women is discrimination by men in their lives. Boyer (178) points out that
it is clear in the play that the society during the setting of the play did not
want women to get an insight into their sexuality since knowing this would give
them power and more importantly control over their bodies. For instance, Lago
claims “I follow him to serve my turn upon him. ” (1.1.4). In this statement,
Lago tries to show how the powerless people are discriminated and thus it is
important for them to come up with strategies to evade the discrimination
imposed against them. While saying this statement, lago is describing the
strategy that he is employing to Roderigo and at the same time trying to
justify his treachery. It can also be seen that he is bitter about his
superiors because they follow them only to harm them. The same case applies to
women, the people who are in power particularly men misuse their powers and
often harm women as depicted by lago. It can also be seen that Lago compares
servants top donkeys as a mechanism of stressing on the type of mistreatment
faced by those who are powerless such as women.
Women are oppressed due to racial difference
Within the play, women have also been oppressed just
for having certain racial identifies. Othello mistreats his wife because she is
of a different race. Othello accuses her wife of being
unfaithful just because of racial differences; this insinuates that men at the
time had little trust on women while the race was a factor that affected gender
and vice versa. Subsequently, most
of the scholars support the notion that women oppression is a significant
subject within the play Othello. For example, Boyer
(180) argues that Emilia might have been discriminated frequently due to her
racial identity and the fact that she was a woman. Also,
the author explores how Shakespeare was fascinated with black race and always
depicting them as inferior to other races in his different works. From this, it
can be deduced that even women who were black were mistreated and looked down
upon in the play. On the other hand, Smith (12) asserts
that there was a frequent comparison between Othello and Emilia’s
color-sensitive wish that was driven towards her mistress. Here, the author
tries to insinuate that despite the fact that women can be oppressed on
other grounds, still due to racial difference, women in Othello suffered even
more by drawing on the case of Emilia. The play has depicted both Othello and
Emilia as people of color and from it is the reason as to why racial
discrimination is perceived within the play.
Neglect among women in the society
You (25) asserts that female characters in
Othello had been neglected by traditional criticisms that have been done on
Shakespeare’s plays. This is a major challenge even within the contemporary
society since there are numerous women who suffer at the hands of men due to
traditional beliefs in the society. Neglection comes in when women are denied
to engage in some important things even assigned less important and beneficial
duties while men are assigned significant roles in the society. In the play,
Bianca is abused and by the men in her life. Most men disrespect by considering
her as the town whore and viewing her as inferior. Out of all the men, Cassio
is the most abusive. He takes disregards Bianca of her by primarily using her
for sex and saying demeaning things behind her back, “I marry her! What? A
whore?/ Prithee bear some charity to my wit. Do not think it so unwholesome.
Ha, ha, ha!.” (4.1.6) Cassio treats his wife like she is an
object of sexual desire and pleasure. He is exploiting Bianca by using her body
for sex rather than having a mutual relationship instead. The female characters
are persistently mistreated. Men view them as lower in status and incapable of
being independent. Therefore, from this it is seen that women have been
neglected from making up their independent decisions while men have taken the
role of deciding for them. Some men’s sexist views are based on traditional
stereotypes, like all women are whores or unintelligent. These stereotypes
affect women and make them feel inferior. People shouldn’t discriminate others
by their gender or any other social status.
Conclusion
There is sufficient evidence from the conducted study
supporting the hypothesis of the research that women oppresssion has greatly
beeen explored in Shakespeare’s play Othello. Throughout the play, it is noted
that women have been oppressed on different grounds. Some of the women in the
play have been oppressed due to their gender while others have been oppressed
due to their race.
Also, in the play, it has been shown that majority of the male
characters thought of women as being inherently promiscuous. Therefore, it can be summarized that the different
waysin which shakespeare portrays how women were oppressed are through the
perception of their gender being inferior, lack of power, racial difference,
traditional stereotypes and neglection. On the other hand, the study has also
discovered that there are numerous studies which have explored the subject of
racisim in the play but women oppression has been minimally explored.
Therefore, it is imperative that future studies carry an indepth look into how
women were oppressed in the play focusing on specific subjects such as power,
sex, sterotypes among others. It is also imperative for future studies to
compare how women were oppressed during shakespeare’s time and in the
contemporary society.
Works Cited
Adams, Michael. William Shakespeare's Othello.
Woodbury, N.Y: Barron's, 1984. Print.
Boyer,
Arlynda. "The Other Interracial Marriage in Othello". Shakespeare
(Shakespeare): 11.2 (2015
June), pp. 178-200.
Shakespeare, William, and Jane Coles. Othello.
, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014. Print.
Smith,
Ian. "Seeing Blackness: Reading Race in Othello". pp. 405-420.
Michael Neill
(ed.)
and David Schalkwyk (ed.). The Oxford
Handbook of Shakespearean Tragedy.
Oxford
Handbooks. Oxford, England: Oxford UP, 2016.
You, Hao. "Men, Women and War: An
Examination of Gender Conflicts within Othello." (2015).



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