Othello coursework

In Othello, women seem to play a submissive role to their

husbands.

In general… we lose sight of [Desdemona’s] charms in

her attachment and devotedness to her husband.
William Hazlit 1817

Society’s covert condemnation of Desdemona for

choosing to marry a black man reinforces the prejudice
that what happens between husband and wife is a
private and domestic affair in which no one should
interfere.
Ruth Vanita 1994

Explore these two different historical views of Desdemona’s

position, including your own ideas about the role of women in
the play.

The above comments regarding domestic tragedy Othello by William

Shakespeare are views that concentrate on different facets of the play – the
opinion that Desdemona has been “los[t] sight”1 of and the view that the
audience “covert[ly] condemn[s]”2 her. Hazlit’s comment focuses on the
portrayal of Desdemona by Shakespeare in the play, whilst Vanita’s is a
comment about how we as an audience receive Desdemona and how
society’s views are reflected in our interpretations of the play and our feelings
towards certain characters. It is more a statement about Shakespeare’s
intentions for audiences rather than the personalities of his characters. This is
why I think that Vanita’s comments contain less relevance to the play than
Hazlit’s – social attitudes are fluid, whereas written characters’ traits are much
less so.
When Hazlit talks about “los[ing] sight of Desdemona’s charms” he is
comparing the so-called “charms” that are described by other characters,
such as “gentle” and “paragons description” to the real character of
Desdemona. Men in the play expect her to be foolish or ignorant (in
euphemisms) – “she will find the error of her choice” – but Desdemona shows

1
William Hazlit
2
Ruth Vanita
few signs of this ignorance herself. In fact, in a dialogue about Iago with
Emilia she tells Emilia not to “learn / of him, Emilia, though he be thy
husband”, showing that Desdemona is not blindly obedient to her husband
because of her position as a woman, a wife and a daughter. This is a very
considered thought for a woman that men only expect to “owe obedience”.
The truth is that we only lose sight of the charms that Desdemona has in the
eyes of Cassio - “excels the quirks of blazoning pens”… “The divine
Desdemona”; in the eyes of Othello - “sweet Desdemona”; and in the eyes of
Roderigo - “full of most blessed condition”. In reality, Desdemona exposes the
audience to a range of different “charms”: courtesy - “that was but courtesy”;
beauty - “I do love her too / Not out of absolute lust”; incorruptibility - “O, the
more angel she”; and a mind of her own - “most lame and impotent
conclusion!”, and these are well respected qualities regardless of gender. So,
although Desdemona may be devoted to her husband her charms are
certainly still existent.

The body of this essay has been removed.

The argument I put forward is in acceptance partly with

Roland Barthes’s Death of the Author theory, as I believe that the
connotations of the text and the morals drawn from it are not
universal; interpretations will always party reflect the previous
assumptions and beliefs of the reader in the time, place, society and
context in which it is read. However, Shakespeare has given the
women in Othello a chance. He has created some strong, very
different female characters that break the mould of stock female
characters in fictional texts – our presumed ‘damsel in distress’
turns out to be the ‘tragic hero’ or the martyr of the story, while the
secondary female character unmasks an evil even when faced with
the consequence of death; she is a take on the ‘knight in shining
armour’. Although the two main female characters in the play do not
come to typically ‘desirable’ endings, they are not typically
‘desirable’ women (as Iago emphasizes in Act 2 Scene 1) – but in the
context of their individual journeys they succeed.