Marriage Rules In Othello

The roles of women and rules of marriage have changed very drastically since the 16th century. In the play Othello three women, each of a different social class, were part of the story and all had different roles and marriage rules to follow. Although many may believe the roles of women and marriage rules portrayed in Othello and in real life during the 16th century were extremely different, one might believe the book follows the rules very accurately. Some examples of this would be the roles of women in the 16th century, marriage rules of the 16th century, and how the women of Othello act. The roles of women include their need to obey male relatives, what careers were available to them, and what women became prostitutes.
The roles of women …show more content…
Desdemona was the highest ranking lady. According to Dr. Farah Karim-Cooper, “Desdemona is from a noble or ‘Patrician’ family in Venice and therefore would have the least amount of freedom; her behavior would have been watched carefully and she would not have been allowed to go out in public without her gentlewoman,” ("Women in Othello", Karim-Cooper). With this information from Dr. Karim-Cooper one can conclude that Desdemona was very sneaky to get away with marrying a moor without her parents finding out. Desdemona broke one of the biggest known rules of women in the 16th century. She disobeyed her father by marrying Othello. She also broke marriage rules of the 16th century by marrying without permission or having an arranged marriage and keeping it a secret and not going through with a ceremony for friends and family in the church. The news that Desdemona was married shocked Brabantio. In Act one Scene two Brabantio says “O heaven!-How got she out?” This statement by Brabantio proves that Desdemona’s father had not known that she had been going out of the house and not being …show more content…
The first real description of Desdemona is while she is being described in poetic language like most men described women with during the 16th century ("Women in Othello", Karim-Cooper). An example of this is made by Cassio in Act two Scene three when Cassio was telling Iago, She’s a most exquisite lady/Indeed she’s a most fresh and delicate creature./ She is indeed perfection (Shakespeare). This shows that although women were below men in society the men still treated the women well and respected them. Iago also slowly began to destroy Desdemona’s reputation and change Othello’s views on her and their marriage (“Othello”, Shakespeare). Throughout the whole play of Othello, Iago was trying to make it look like Desdemona was having an affair with Cassio. Iago used the line “She did deceive her father marrying you;” (Act three, Scene three). Iago’s scheme all leads up to Desdemona being killed for being a “whore.” Iago knew how men believed it was normal to be called on by another woman to cheat on the unsuspecting husband and put that idea in Othello’s head by claiming that, “all Venetian women cheat” (Shakespeare). Desdemona would have been breaking a big rule of obeying the male family members and according to the article, “women”, “In a marriage just like roles