A Feminist Analysis of Othello Essay -- Feminism Feminist Women Critic

A Feminist Analysis of Othello In William Shakespeares sad play Othello there are numerous instances of obvious sexism aimed at the triplet women in the drama -- Desdemona, Emilia and Bianca and aimed at womankind globally. Let us roll into this subject in this paper. In the es ordain Wit and Witchcraft an speak to to Othello Robert B. Heilman discusses a scene which occurs late in the play and which is sexist When Othello procedure Desdemona and dismisses Emilia, Leave procreants alone . . . / Cough or cry hem if anybody come. / Your secret, your mystery . . . (IV.2.28-30), he not only dismisses Emilia, accuses Desdemona of infidelity, and betrays his own insane bitterness, but he converts the marriage into a brothel arrangement in which all triad are involved, and by so doing establishes imaginative breeds of connection with the role of Bianca and specially with the Iago philosophy of sexual conduct. (331) In the opening scene, while Iago is expressing his hatred for th e general Othello for his having chosen Michael Cassio for the lieutenancy, he contrives a plan to partially avenge himself (I follow him to serve my turn upon him), with Roderigos assistance, by alerting Desdemonas father, Brabantio, to the fact of his daughters elopement with Othello Call up her father, / Rouse him leave after him, poison his delight . . .. Implied in this move is the fact of a fathers assumed control over the daughters choice of a marriage partner. Brabantios admonition to Roderigo implicitly expresses the akin message The worser welcome I have charged thee not to refuge about my doors In honest plainness thou hast heard me say My daughter is not for thee . . .... ... Review, LXIV, 1 (Winter 1956), 1-4, 8-10 and Arizona Quarterly (Spring 1956), pp.5-16. Jorgensen, Paul A. William Shakespeare The Tragedies. capital of Massachusetts Twayne Publishers, 1985. Mack, Maynard. Everybodys Shakespeare Reflections Chiefly on the Tragedies. Lincoln, NB Universit y of Nebraska Press, 1993. Pitt, Angela. Women in Shakespeares Tragedies. Readings on The Tragedies. Ed. Clarice Swisher. San Diego Greenhaven Press, 1996. Reprint from Shakespeares Women. N.p. n.p., 1981. Shakespeare, William. Othello. In The Electric Shakespeare. Princeton University. 1996. http//www.eiu.edu/multilit/studyabroad/othello/othello_all.html No line nos. Wayne, Valerie. Historical Differences Misogyny and Othello. The Matter of Difference Materialist Feminist Criticism of Shakespeare. Ed Valerie Wayne. Ithaca, NY Cornell University Press, 1991.