Othello Shakespeare

The feminist study of Shakespeare's Othello encourages us to judge, understand, and critique different social ideals as well as the role of women in a patriarchal society. Othello is an example of a film that illustrates patriarchal society's standards and the showing of rights in patriarchal relationships, as well as the repression, coercion, and limitation of femininity. The film shows how cultures based on Renaissance values require women to marry and be obedient to their husbands. Consequently, marriage is the single occupation for women and it exposes them to massive household responsibilities ranging from management to child-rearing. Furthermore, the patriarchal society portrayed in Shakespeare’s Othello expects women to be silent, obedient, and chaste to men including husbands, brothers, and fathers. Besides, patriarchal rule justifies the subordination of women as the natural order because it portrays women as people who are psychologically and physiologically inferior to their male counterparts. Shakespeare’s Othello presents characters like Desdemona, Bianca, and Emilia as women who behave and carry out themselves according to the expectations of the patriarchal society.

Desdemona and Emilia vividly demonstrate the expectations patriarchal society they live in portraying women as submissive people who are possessions of their husbands. Women often bow to the wills and demands of their husbands who may use them as they desire. Men use women as primary objects to expedite their quests. When Othello commands Desdemona to go to her bed, she obediently replies, ‘I will, my lord’ (IV.3.9). Moreover, women the society expects women to be obedient to their husbands as Desdemona remains true to her husband.

The male character, Othello, reveals the authority that men have over women furthering the feminist perspective of the society. For example, Othello consistently orders his wife Desdemona, and he expects her to be submissive. Obeying the orders of Othello is a mandatory practice that Desdemona must exhibit. Lago, on the other hand, presents himself as a hostile character to women. Lago views women as a product that the husbands buy as a favor and, therefore, should satisfy the man’s sexual desires as a reward for the privilege. According to Lago, women are deceptive individuals who conceal immoral conducts from their husbands.

However, Desdemona comes out to be a strong and intelligent woman who agitates for personal fulfillment in a hostile society. Despite seeking to be sexually submissive as a sign of love to her husband, Desdemona views the women’s sexuality as a mere temptation and wantonness. Bianca also tries to flee from a tyranny of forced marriages through adultery, murder, or elopement in the society that is hostile to women.

Shakespeare, through his work Othello, demonstrates the social values and status of women in a patriarchal society. Shakespeare reveals the frustrations, intimidations, hostilities, suppressions, and restrictions of femininity in the societies. Shakespeare, therefore, intends to create awareness of the suppression that women succumb to with an aim to change the status quo, criticize and challenge the practice, and significantly agitate for societies that promote values and morals for women.