Dominance In Othello

The societal views of a person is often reflected in their writing. Shakespeare lived through the Elizabethan era, a time of great prosperity and rejoice of the nation of England. Although it was a golden age for England, it did have underneath its shimmering surface societal problems. Women were treated as second class citizens brought down much lower under men. Men were regarded as the noble provider in a family and women were the submissive housewives. In Shakespeare's play Othello it is set in the same era Shakespeare lived in along with all of its ideals . The ideas and societal norms of the time are reflected in the play. The oppressive views of women and the male dominance over the three female characters Desdemona, Emilia, and Bianca …show more content…
Emilia is one of the main characters and is the wife of Iago. Just like Desdemona she experiences the oppression from the patriarchal society. With the males need of feeling of superiority and dominenece they will do anything to keep that in control. In Vanita's paper she talks about and analysis the deaths of Desdemona and Emilia. Vanita argues in it that they both died similar deaths even though many others argue differently. Many think that their deaths were caused by different reasons but she argues against that. Both of their deaths were caused their male partners. They murdered by rage and hate against them by those who supposed to love them out of feeling inferior. In the patriarchal society men are supposed to be dominate and act superior toward their women. This would often lead them to act violently against their wives. They both killed because of the public's misogynist generalizations about women and marriage. . (Vanita ""Proper" Men and Fallen" Women: The Unprotectedness of Wives in Othello"). Emilia was killed by her own husband, the man who is supposed to love her. Iago is swift with his decision when he kills her. He doesn't think of her as a wife at that moment but instead the person who will destroy his standing in the patriarchal society. In Neimneh article writes about the castration anxiety and mirror stages in Othello. In it she shows Othello goes through the castration phase which is his fear of losing his masculinity, his wife or his military status. He relies on Iago and loyalty to keep his masculinity. Once this was threatened he is hurt and kills himself. This masculinity and standing in the patriarchal society left women to be hurt in men's conquest of keeping their standing in society. If the men's reputation was at risk women will suffer because of it.( Neimneh "Castration Anxiety and the Mirror Stage: A Psychoanalytic Reading of Shakespeare's Othello.") Iago goes through this when he