As English Lit - Othello Course Work Tazhelp

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 2

William Hazlit 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.

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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.