Feminine Roles in Othello Essay -- Othello essays

Feminine Roles in Othello A variety of maps have women in them in William Shakespeares tragic drama Othello. Let us in this essay examine the female characters and their roles. One key role for the heroine of the drama, Desdemona, is to admit the general. David Bevington in William Shakespeare Four Tragedies enlightens us about the heros habituation on Desdemona Othellos most tortured speeches (3.4.57-77, 4.2.49-66) reveal the extent to which he equates the seemingly betraying woman he has so depended on for happiness with his take mother, who gave Othellos father a handkerchief and threatened him with loss of her neck if he should lose it. Othello has briefly learned and then forgotten the treasured art of harmonizing erotic passion and spiritual love, and as these two wide aims of love are driven apart in him, he comes to comminate and fear the sexuality that puts him so much in mind of his bodily frailty and dependence on woman. (226) At the outset of the play Iago persuades the spurned suitor of Desdemona, Roderigo, to accompany him to the home of Brabantio, Desdemonas father, in the middle of the night. at a time there the two awaken the senator with loud shouts about his daughters elopement with Othello. This is the initial reference to the role of women in the play the role of wife. In response to the noise and Iagos vulgar descriptions of Desdemonas involvement with the general, Brabantio arises from bed. Iagos bawdy references to the senators daughter present a second role of women that of illicit lover. With Roderigos help, he gathers a search party to go and find Desdemona and bring her home. The fathers attitude is that life without his Desdemona ordain be much ... ... strike on. Emilia is aware that she is violating social approach pattern here Tis proper I obey him, but not now. This infraction costs her dearly Emilias stunning interrogation and article of faith of her own husband as the evil mastermind behind the murder results in Iagos killing her. Despondent Othello, grief-stricken by compunction for the tragic mistake he has made, stabs himself and dies on the bed next to his wife. thence it is seen that the roles of women are many and varied and are key to the successful phylogeny of the story. WORKS CITED Bevington, David, ed. William Shakespeare Four Tragedies. New York Bantam Books, 1980. Shakespeare, William. Othello. In The Electric Shakespeare. Princeton University. 1996. http//www.eiu.edu/multilit/studyabroad/othello/othello_all.html No line nos.