Saturday, July 20, 2019
A Feminist Perspective of Othello Essay -- Feminism Feminist Women Cr
A Feminist Perspective ofà Othello à à à Throughout the length of Shakespeareââ¬â¢s tragedy Othello there is a steady undercurrent of sexism. It is originating from not one, but rather various male characters in the play, who manifest prejudicial, discriminatory attitudes toward women. à In the opening scene, while Iago is expressing his hatred for the general Othello for his having chosen Michael Cassio for the lieutenancy, he contrives a plan to partially avenge himself (ââ¬Å"I follow him to serve my turn upon himâ⬠), with Roderigoââ¬â¢s assistance, by alerting Desdemonaââ¬â¢s father, Brabantio, to the fact of his daughterââ¬â¢s elopement with Othello: ââ¬Å"Call up her father, / Rouse him: make after him, poison his delight [. . .] .â⬠Implied in this move is the fact of a fatherââ¬â¢s assumed control over the daughterââ¬â¢s choice of a marriage partner. Iagoââ¬â¢s warning to the senator follows closely: ââ¬Å"'Zounds, sir, you're robb'd; for shame, put on your gown; / Your heart is burst, you have lost half your soul.â⬠This statement also implies that the father has authority over the daughter. Brabantioââ¬â¢s admonition to Roderigo implicitly expresses the same message: à The worser welcome: à à à à I have charged thee not to haunt about my doors: à à à à In honest plainness thou hast heard me say à à à à My daughter is not for thee [. . .] . (1.1) à Iagoââ¬â¢s continuing earthy appraisals of the situation all seem to bestow upon the father the power to make decisions for the daughter. Roderigo even calls Desdemonaââ¬â¢s action a ââ¬Å"revoltâ⬠against paternal authority: ââ¬Å"Your daughter, if you have not given her leave, /à I say again, hath made a gross revolt [. . .] .â⬠Upon verifying the absence of his daughter from the home, Brabantio exhorts all fathe... ...view, LXIV, 1 (Winter 1956), 1-4, 8-10; and Arizona Quarterly (Spring 1956), pp.5-16. à Mack, Maynard. Everybodyââ¬â¢s Shakespeare: Reflections Chiefly on the Tragedies. Lincoln, NB: University of Nebraska Press, 1993. à Muir, Kenneth. Introduction. William Shakespeare: Othello. New York: Penguin Books, 1968. à Neely, Carol. "Women and Men in Othello" Critical Essays on Shakespeare's Othello. Ed. Anthony G. Barthelemy Pub. Macmillan New York, NY 1994. (page 68-90) à à Shakespeare, William. Othello. In The Electric Shakespeare. Princeton University. 1996. http://www.eiu.edu/~multilit/studyabroad/othello/othello_all.html No line nos. à Wayne, Valerie. ââ¬Å"Historical Differences: Misogyny and Othello.â⬠The Matter of Difference: Materialist Feminist Criticism of Shakespeare. Ed Valerie Wayne. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1991.
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