Women In Othello Essay

Women in Othello Women have been the backbone of many renowned stories such as The Help, The Great Gatsby and many other ionic novels. Women have been used to push and pull the plot, and in many instances it was done to fit the wants and needs of the antagonist. This is unmistakable in the novel Othello by William Shakespeare. The antagonist in the novel manipulates women to peruse his plan of achieving a particular status that he desires. In the novel Othello, women are manipulated to pursue the plot line in favor of one character by the use of gender stereotypes, expected dependence on males and males’ use of women. Gender roles have been a prevalent factor in many societies if not in all societies. In the most basic stereotypic situation women are the mothers, the lover and the caring ones. Women have to be idyllic, quiet, porcelain dolls. Males are supposed to be the providers and manly men. In Othello this stereotype is very pronounced. One example of this basic stereotype is during Othello’s explanation of how Desdemona fell in love …show more content…
Iago even states that “Our bodies are our gardens, to the which our wills are gardeners.” (1.3.429-430) When he states this he is talking about how we can manipulate the garden or one’s body by changing what the person sees. Iago uses this concept multiple times but especially when he uses women as tools. He used his wife to pull the figurative last straw in Othello’s confidence with his wife. After constant mental abuse, his wife Emilia would do anything to make him happy. Anything he asked she would do in some hope to get some form of affection from him. He used her to steal Desdemona’s strawberry handkerchief that was bestowed upon her by her husband Othello. Even after she does what he demands, she still is never enough. Emilia’s reward for her work was being told “it’s a common thing to have a foolish wife”