Name: Carrie Richards

ENG4U
LEsson 18, Unit 4

Key Question #44

Dear Diary,

I have been called upon because Desdemona’s father has seen me to be “unfit” for his
daughter and corrupting her mind. I feel that my manhood and reputation is being
questioned. I am a noble man with great background qualities and I am applaud for being
seen as this not noble man. After all that I have faced with the Duke of Venice and Brabantio
I can now become satisfied with the nature of my wife Desdemona. My love for her has risen
and I will give up my life for her. Her willingness to listen to my stories is a damn good
woman to call my own and love to death. I am finally happy and sincerely in love.

I am leaving to Cyprus without my lovely Desdemona to go fight and defend my men. But my
thoughts brewing of Desdemona continuously grow and I miss my beloved wife. But before
thee, I see my beloved wife and become reunited. My heart and “soul's joy” cannot bare it.
My heart is struck with the utmost comfort that my wife has given me.

I am happy to be celebrating the glory but must not “outsport discretion.” I with great
knowledge believe that Iago is most honest and trustworthy. But I must leave to assure our
love with Desdemona and pursue “profits yet to come ’tween.”

I cannot bare the fact and sight of my men putting each other in danger. I must get to the
bottom of this issue and predict a solution. One of my best officers has been injured and no
one can confess to what has happened. I am stricken with immediate anger and demand to
hear an explanation. I believe Iago’s explanation because he is of a trustworthy nature and
Michael Cassio must no longer be an officer of mine and it may not be right but it’s what is
right for the safety of my men. Now I must go and quiet those who were distracted by the
rocus and then go to bed Desdemona and I go. I thus giving Iago my letters to pay my
respects to the senate. I will fix my wrongs and fortifications for them. I must know if Cassio
is with my beloved Desdemona. I sense both of them are hiding something behind my eyes.
I will not have dinner or any other meetings with Cassio unless he comes to me and speak
his mind. I will not wait for Cassio.

I will deny any request from my beloved Desdemona but I will not belittle myself for the sake
of Cassio. I will speak to her on this subject.

Key Question #45

Women In the play Othello

Shakespeare presents the Venetian society as patriarchal, with firm roots of ideology
adaptation of Elizabethan England. Built upon Renaissance beliefs, women were only meant
to marry, and, additionally, expected to be silent, submissive, and very obedient to their
husbands and all men in general. The way women have to conduct themselves in
Shakespeare’s play Othello, is firmly rooted in the Venetian patriarchal society’s
perspectives. William Shakespeare attempts to present how women are expected to behave
according to the stereotypes of society.
Based in Venice, the play tells the story of a black army general who is highly ranked
by his peers and who has married the daughter of a renowned senator in secrecy. Within the
entire play, only three women, Desdemona, Emilia, and Bianca, have speaking roles within
the script. Desdemona is Othello’s wife, Bianca is a minor character who is significant to the
text and Emilia is married to Iago. All these three women tend to be portrayed as inferior to
men, with all of them receiving low and harsh treatment from all Venice men. Accordingly, in
a conversation with Iago’s wife, Emilia, Desdemona tells her that “Nay, we must think men
are not gods”(III.4), further implying her perception and the perception of women towards
men in the play, Othello. (Shakespeare 170) Therefore, Shakespeare’s play,Othello,
demonstrates the timeless fact that women are mistreated, not because of social rank but for
their gender.
During this time, the text was set in, women were so subjugated that they were not
allowed to what they thought or even implement their right of free speech. In the play,
Othello, female characters are viewed as possessions that husbands use and dispose of as
they wish. For instance, in his well-wishing words to Othello, the first senator tells him that he
is of the hope that Othello will “use” Desdemona well, in Act I, Scene 3 (Shakespeare 56).
The first senator’s words are in the ideal tone and purpose to show the mistreatment of
women in Venice. He conveys Desdemona as Othello’s property, depriving her of her
humanity, and further entails Othello, the man, to do whatever he would please with her,
therefore objectifying the woman. Equally important women’s matrimonial function is also set
out, as further seen by Othello’s ironical loving words to Desdemona in Act II, Scene 3.
Othello tells his wife to “Come, my dear love. The purchase made are the fruits to ensure.”
Marriage was viewed as a purchase as the woman was viewed as a commodity. It
was viewed as a favour with women subsequently expected to fulfil sexual desires and the
man’s commands in return for the so-called favour. During this time, women were perceived
as objects who lived in a male-dominant world. Also, Iago’s counterpart, Emilia, is portrayed
as a brainwashed wife who sheepishly follows each and everything her husband says. Her
deep love for Iago leads her to become so “blind” to Iago’s actions, such as his plan to kill
Othello. Despite this, Iago is not in love with Emilia, his wife as she is to him and even
abuses her in public. Iago treats Emilia as a personal object and deprives her of her
humanity by perceiving to use her the way he pleases. In Act I, Scene 3, Iago’s soliloquy
reveals to the audience that he suspects his wife of having committed unfaithful acts with
Othello and also of his view towards her. Using the quote: “He’s done my office,” his tone
and choice of words reveals that he does not care about his wife and views her as an object,
his office and ultimately his possession.
Consequently, Iago begins to destroy Othello’s marriage with Desdemona by making
him believe that she had cheated on him with Cassio. Iago objectifies his wife further by
saying, “For that, I do suspect the lusty Moor, Hath leaped unto my seat” (Act I, Scene 3).
Equally important, the conceptualization of patriarchy is shown in Act II, Scene 1, where Iago
believes that sleeping with Othello’s wife Desdemona, would amount to being equal with
Othello cheating on his wife, Emilia. “Till I am evened with him, wife for wife.”
In the play, Othello, women are also viewed as sex objects, and portrayed as very
submissive and unresisting throughout the play. This is seen when men use abusive terms,
tone and coherent words. Women are portrayed as the inferior who cannot take their stands
against men. Right from the beginning of the play, Iago uses very abusive and sexist terms,
referring women as annoying sex objects. “You are pictures out of doors, bells in your
parlours, wild-cat in your kitchens, saints in your injuries, devils being offended, player’s in
your housewifery, and housewives’ in our beds.”
In Iago’s soliloquy in Act II, Scene 1, he talks of seeking revenge of Othello and
subsequently ensuring the downfall of Cassio Michael.
“That Cassio loves her, I do well believe’t:
That she loves him, ‘tis apt and of great credit.
The Moor– howbeit that I endure him not– Is of a constant, loving, noble, nature,
And, I dare think, he’ll prove to Desdemona
A most dear husband. Now, I do love her too; not out of absolute lust– though peradventure
I stand accountant for as great a sin–
But partly led to diet my revenge
For that I do suspect the lusty Moor
Hath leaped into my seat, the thought whereof
Doth, like a poisonous mineral, gnaw my inwards,
And nothing can, or shall, content my soul
Till I am evened with him, wife for wife;
Or falling so, yet that I put the Moor
At least into a jealousy so strong
That judgement cannot cure, Which thing to do
If this poor trash of Venice, whom I leash
For his quick hunting, stand the putting on,
I’ll have our Michael Cassio on the hip,
Abuse him to the Moor in the rank garb–
For I fear Cassio with my night-cap too–
Make the Moor thank me, love me, and reward me
For making him egregiously an ass,
And practising upon his peace and quiet,
Even to madness. “TIs here, but yet confused:
Knavery’s plain face is never seen till used.”
In Act III, Scene 3, Emilia is presented as unresisting and submissive to her
husband’s wishes only to please him. Her words to Desdemona, “I nothing, but to please his
fantasy,” imply to the audience that she also demeans herself as being a mere possession of
Iago. Women also demean themselves and subsequently view themselves as inferior to men
and very submissive. In Act III, Scene 3, Desdemona demeans herself by declaring that she
is obedient and that she will continue obeying orders of her husband, Othello. Even through
the latter stages of their relationship, she is still submissive. This is seen in Act IV when
Othello orders her to go to bed. She replies in a somewhat submissive tone “ I will, my lord”
(Act IV.3, line 12) Her use of the word Lord further expounds on women’s mistreatment
during this time, despite their status socially. In her last breath, in Act V, scene 2, she
appears to have accepted her societal role entirely as inferior and subordinate (Act V.2, lines
127).
Shakespeare portrays women as societal victims forced to follow the already
patriarchal norms and the perfect woman’s norms. Additionally, women suffer tragic fates if
they attempt to disobey the already present system. This is seen mostly through Emilia’s
relationship with Iago and Desdemona, who is mistreated despite her societal status.
Because they are women, they are viewed as the lower-ranked gender.
 In Act 4, Scene 3, Desdemona is seen singing the Song of the Willow, one in
which a lady laments about her lost love. Initially, about a man who dies after subsequent
cruel acts from his lover, Shakespeare flips the song to suit the play and to suit Desdemona,
the woman who is a victim of bad societal treatment. The song acts as a foreshadow to
Desdemona’s tragedy in hands of Othello’s cruelty, despite being her husband. In her
unusual response to Emilia in her dying moments, she accuses herself of committing the
crime of killing herself thus, taking the blame off of Othello. In Act III, Scene 4, through the
eyes of Iago’s wife, Emilia, Shakespeare portrays the woman as the victim to the atrocities of
the society. Emilia tries attempts to argue for equality like men:

“But I do think it is their husbands’ faults

If wives do fall; say they slack their duties,
And pour our treasures into foreign laps,
Or else break out in peevish jealousies,
Throwing restraint upon us, or say they strike us,
Or scant our former having in despite,

Why,we have galls, and though we have some grace,

Yet have we some revenge

Let husbands know

Their wives have a sense like them: they see and smell
And have palates both for sweet and sour,
As husbands have.

What is it that they do

When they change us for others? Is it a sport?
I think it is: and doth affection breed it?
I think it doth: is’t frailty that thus errs?
Desires for sport, and frailty, as men have?

Then let them use us well: else let them know

The ills we do, their ills instruct us so.”