Feminine Roles in Othello Essay examples -- Othello essays

maidenly Roles in Othello A variety of manipulations have women in them in William Shakespeares tragic drama Othello. Let us in this essay consider the female characters and their powers. One key role for the heroine of the drama, Desdemona, is to support the general. David Bevington in William Shakespeare quaternity Tragedies states the heros dependence 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 experience mother, who gave Othellos render a handkerchief and threatened him with loss of her love if he should lose it. (226) A antithetic role for the heroine appears at the beginning of the play. Iago persuades the rejected suitor of Desdemona, Roderigo, to accompany him to the nucleotide of Brabantio, Desdemonas father, in the middle of the night. Once there the two wake 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 young wife. Iagos bawdy references to the senators daughter present a second role of women that of illicit lover. The fathers attitude is that life without his Desdemona will be much worsened than before without her he foresees nought but bitterness. Here is seen another role or function of women in the drama that of comforter for the aged. Brabantio is the old father, and he hates to lose the comforting services of his Desdemona. Othello expresses his sentiments to Iago regarding his relationship with the senators daughter, saying that I love the gentle Desdemona, I would not my unhoused free condition ordain into c... ...emonas phoneyness. Emilia at this point becomes a beacon of visible radiation and truth she contradicts Iago Thou art rash as fire, to say / That she was false O, she was heavenly true and accuses him of lying and of causing murder And your reports have posit the murd er on. Emilias stunning interrogation and conviction of her own husband cost her dearly she is thus absolved from her earlier collaborationism with Iago and ends on a note of innocence. Thus it is seen that the roles of women are many and vary and are key to the successful development of the story. WORKS CITED Bevington, David, ed. William Shakespeare Four Tragedies. refreshed 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.