THE CHARACTER OF EMILIA
EMILIA’S KEY CHARACTERISTICS
The Jaded housewife:
• Her bitterness towards her husband nally manifests in her scene with Desdemona in A4S3, as
her hostility and distrust of all men becomes clear. Her cynical view of marriage, a result of her
bleak experience with it, contrasts sharply with Desdemona’s idealistic union with Othello at the
start of the play; as Desdemona’s faith in Othello starts to wane, Emilia is there to empathise
and attest to the many failings of holy matrimony.
The jilted lover:
• Despite Iago’s mistreatment of her and his obvious disinterest in her, Emilia seems eager to
please him. Part of her loyalty and obedience may come from her duty to him as his wife, but in
her sole soliloquy, she explains, ‘I nothing but to please his fantasy’; suggesting there is a part
of her that still craves a ection and attention from her husband.
• As a result, for the rst half of the play, Emilia appears to be pathetically submissive to her
husband’s desires, doing as he wishes without asking for justi cation. She appears to be just
another pawn in Iago’s master plan, and we perhaps may even view her as complicit in it.
• You may believe she has repressed her suspicions of her husband, or that she truly doesn’t
suspect him until it is too late. Either way, it is only once the full extent of Iago’s wickedness
comes to light that Emilia is able to reject him. Even then, she has to ask Othello multiple times,
‘My husband?’(A5S2) before she accepts the terrible truth. We can see that she holds some
a ection or love for Iago that has blinded her to his true nature.
The loyal friend:
• When Othello’s mood sours and Desdemona loses her assertive spirit, Emilia steps up to defend
her friend. She isn’t afraid to defy men, her ‘superiors’, to do so, telling Othello, ‘I durst, my lord,
to wager she is honest, lay down my soul at stake’ (A4S2), when all he wants to hear is that his
wife is guilty of adultery.
• Similarly, she challenges her husband’s dismissal of Desdemona’s tears, saying, ‘would it not
make one weep?’, (A4S2). She is willing to risk her own safety to stand up for her friend, and
this is put to the test in the nal scene of the play. Alone, confronted with her friend’s murder,
and knowing that Othello is dangerous and capable of murdering her, too, she still chooses to
raise the alarm: ‘help! help! ho, help! The Moor hath killed my mistress’ (A5S2). She dies so that
she can clear Desdemona’s name of guilt; as she dies, she requests, ‘lay me by my mistress’
side’ (A5S2), choosing her friendship over her marriage once and for all.
The Martyr:
• Emilia is killed because she is unfazed by authority and isn’t afraid to speak out against
injustice. Frequently, she tells men truths they don’t want to hear, such as telling Othello that his
wife is honest, and in the end, she pays the price with her life.
• Her dying words, ‘so speaking as I think, I die, I die’, (A5S2), suggest she has sacri ced her life
for truth and honesty, as Shakespeare welcomes the comparison to a martyr; someone who is
killed for the sake of a greater cause.
The voice of reason:
• Emilia remains a pragmatist throughout the play, even as everyone around her descends into
delusion and panic. Her cynical, long-su ering view of the world makes her singularly astute
and wise, to the point that she is able to predict the whole plot of the play: ‘I’ll be hanged if
some eternal villain, to get some o ce, have not devised this slander’ (A4S2).
RELATIONSHIPS
Iago and Emilia’s relationship:
• Emilia’s alleged a air: when Iago cites Othello’s alleged a air with Emilia as cause for his fury,
we are led to believe Iago cares enough about his wife to be hurt by her in delity. Shakespeare
sets it up to seem like Iago intends to ght for his wife, but as he continues to plot and conspire,
it’s clear he cares more about his pride and masculinity than her.
ff fffi ff fi ffi fi fi ff ff fi fi fi
, • Scapegoats: Emilia is a scapegoat to him, someone to blame for his problems, and an easy
target: he takes out his anger and misogyny on her, and as his dutiful wife, she is to take it
quietly.
Emilia and Desdemona’s friendship:
• Subverting societal standards: supposedly, Emilia is Desdemona’s maid or servant, but it is
clear the two are close friends. Their friendship de es traditional structures of class, showing
that love can successfully transcend social barriers. Parallels are drawn between the two
women’s marriages; their husbands, by the end of the play, are both driven by sexual jealousy
and anger.
• The power of female solidarity: the women pledge allegiance to each other over their
husbands, and lay next to each other in death. This shows the power of female solidarity.All of
this means that the sororal bond between Desdemona and Emilia is likely the truest, most
honest relationship out of all those in the play. Their conversations lack the mind games and
ulterior motives of other exchanges.
• Male corruption: the only deceit comes when Emilia steals the handkerchief for Iago, and
therefore, one can argue that the only treachery in their relationship is man-made. Shakespeare
argues that female solidarity is threatened only by external, male in uence, which taints the
purity and love of female friendship.
Emilia and Othello:
• The peculiar dynamic: Emilia and Othello’s relationship is founded on the traditional duality of
master and servant. Othello is Emilia’s superior, not just as a man but as a high-ranking military
o cer, and we see this in Emilia’s deferential treatment of him. However, at the same time,
Emilia has access to Othello’s private life by way of her friendship with Desdemona. Most of
Othello’s ‘subjects’ don’t have access to this knowledge, and as Emilia passes judgement on
Othello’s private character, their dynamic strays away from the traditional.
• Othello’s hatred of women: Othello, never seems to pay attention to Emilia until it serves him.
He goes to her and asks about Desdemona’s relationship with Cassio because he is seeking
third-party validation. When Emilia refuses to give him what he wants, he gets angry and
dismisses her testimony for the simple reason that she is a woman who isn’t telling him what he
wants to hear.
KEY THEMES
Presentation of femininity/misogyny:
• She symbolises a progressive future free from conservative restrictions. Her mere existence and
identity threaten the hegemony of white masculinity, and so she is silenced by her oppressors.
Female solidarity within patriarchal societies:
• Shakespeare uses the sororal bond between Desdemona and Emilia to illustrate the importance
of solidarity between women in a patriarchal society. The relationship between the two of them
is the only one in the play to endure until the very end, making it the purest, truest form of love
we see; as well as the only we see between women.
• Though the two women are of di erent social classes, their friendship transcends rank; similarly,
they both are murdered by their husbands, showing that women are equal in the face of
domestic violence.
The female perspective of cuckoldry:
• Shakespeare presents us with an unconventional, radical perspective on Desdemona’s alleged
adultery through the character of Emilia. Whereas Desdemona has the traditional, expected
reaction of blaming herself for Othello’s treatment of her, Emilia condemns Othello and men as a
whole for their fragile pride. This would have been particularly shocking for Shakespeare’s
contemporaries, as Jacobean England revered masculinity as the infallible authority.
• Emilia’s approach to cuckoldry and adultery is pragmatic, which contrasts with the irrational fear
and humiliation with which men react to being cuckolded. When Desdemona asks her, ‘wouldst
thou do such a deed for all the world?’, Emilia responds, ‘the world’s a huge thing; it is a great
price / For a small vice’ (A4S3).
ffi
ff fi fl
EMILIA’S KEY CHARACTERISTICS
The Jaded housewife:
• Her bitterness towards her husband nally manifests in her scene with Desdemona in A4S3, as
her hostility and distrust of all men becomes clear. Her cynical view of marriage, a result of her
bleak experience with it, contrasts sharply with Desdemona’s idealistic union with Othello at the
start of the play; as Desdemona’s faith in Othello starts to wane, Emilia is there to empathise
and attest to the many failings of holy matrimony.
The jilted lover:
• Despite Iago’s mistreatment of her and his obvious disinterest in her, Emilia seems eager to
please him. Part of her loyalty and obedience may come from her duty to him as his wife, but in
her sole soliloquy, she explains, ‘I nothing but to please his fantasy’; suggesting there is a part
of her that still craves a ection and attention from her husband.
• As a result, for the rst half of the play, Emilia appears to be pathetically submissive to her
husband’s desires, doing as he wishes without asking for justi cation. She appears to be just
another pawn in Iago’s master plan, and we perhaps may even view her as complicit in it.
• You may believe she has repressed her suspicions of her husband, or that she truly doesn’t
suspect him until it is too late. Either way, it is only once the full extent of Iago’s wickedness
comes to light that Emilia is able to reject him. Even then, she has to ask Othello multiple times,
‘My husband?’(A5S2) before she accepts the terrible truth. We can see that she holds some
a ection or love for Iago that has blinded her to his true nature.
The loyal friend:
• When Othello’s mood sours and Desdemona loses her assertive spirit, Emilia steps up to defend
her friend. She isn’t afraid to defy men, her ‘superiors’, to do so, telling Othello, ‘I durst, my lord,
to wager she is honest, lay down my soul at stake’ (A4S2), when all he wants to hear is that his
wife is guilty of adultery.
• Similarly, she challenges her husband’s dismissal of Desdemona’s tears, saying, ‘would it not
make one weep?’, (A4S2). She is willing to risk her own safety to stand up for her friend, and
this is put to the test in the nal scene of the play. Alone, confronted with her friend’s murder,
and knowing that Othello is dangerous and capable of murdering her, too, she still chooses to
raise the alarm: ‘help! help! ho, help! The Moor hath killed my mistress’ (A5S2). She dies so that
she can clear Desdemona’s name of guilt; as she dies, she requests, ‘lay me by my mistress’
side’ (A5S2), choosing her friendship over her marriage once and for all.
The Martyr:
• Emilia is killed because she is unfazed by authority and isn’t afraid to speak out against
injustice. Frequently, she tells men truths they don’t want to hear, such as telling Othello that his
wife is honest, and in the end, she pays the price with her life.
• Her dying words, ‘so speaking as I think, I die, I die’, (A5S2), suggest she has sacri ced her life
for truth and honesty, as Shakespeare welcomes the comparison to a martyr; someone who is
killed for the sake of a greater cause.
The voice of reason:
• Emilia remains a pragmatist throughout the play, even as everyone around her descends into
delusion and panic. Her cynical, long-su ering view of the world makes her singularly astute
and wise, to the point that she is able to predict the whole plot of the play: ‘I’ll be hanged if
some eternal villain, to get some o ce, have not devised this slander’ (A4S2).
RELATIONSHIPS
Iago and Emilia’s relationship:
• Emilia’s alleged a air: when Iago cites Othello’s alleged a air with Emilia as cause for his fury,
we are led to believe Iago cares enough about his wife to be hurt by her in delity. Shakespeare
sets it up to seem like Iago intends to ght for his wife, but as he continues to plot and conspire,
it’s clear he cares more about his pride and masculinity than her.
ff fffi ff fi ffi fi fi ff ff fi fi fi
, • Scapegoats: Emilia is a scapegoat to him, someone to blame for his problems, and an easy
target: he takes out his anger and misogyny on her, and as his dutiful wife, she is to take it
quietly.
Emilia and Desdemona’s friendship:
• Subverting societal standards: supposedly, Emilia is Desdemona’s maid or servant, but it is
clear the two are close friends. Their friendship de es traditional structures of class, showing
that love can successfully transcend social barriers. Parallels are drawn between the two
women’s marriages; their husbands, by the end of the play, are both driven by sexual jealousy
and anger.
• The power of female solidarity: the women pledge allegiance to each other over their
husbands, and lay next to each other in death. This shows the power of female solidarity.All of
this means that the sororal bond between Desdemona and Emilia is likely the truest, most
honest relationship out of all those in the play. Their conversations lack the mind games and
ulterior motives of other exchanges.
• Male corruption: the only deceit comes when Emilia steals the handkerchief for Iago, and
therefore, one can argue that the only treachery in their relationship is man-made. Shakespeare
argues that female solidarity is threatened only by external, male in uence, which taints the
purity and love of female friendship.
Emilia and Othello:
• The peculiar dynamic: Emilia and Othello’s relationship is founded on the traditional duality of
master and servant. Othello is Emilia’s superior, not just as a man but as a high-ranking military
o cer, and we see this in Emilia’s deferential treatment of him. However, at the same time,
Emilia has access to Othello’s private life by way of her friendship with Desdemona. Most of
Othello’s ‘subjects’ don’t have access to this knowledge, and as Emilia passes judgement on
Othello’s private character, their dynamic strays away from the traditional.
• Othello’s hatred of women: Othello, never seems to pay attention to Emilia until it serves him.
He goes to her and asks about Desdemona’s relationship with Cassio because he is seeking
third-party validation. When Emilia refuses to give him what he wants, he gets angry and
dismisses her testimony for the simple reason that she is a woman who isn’t telling him what he
wants to hear.
KEY THEMES
Presentation of femininity/misogyny:
• She symbolises a progressive future free from conservative restrictions. Her mere existence and
identity threaten the hegemony of white masculinity, and so she is silenced by her oppressors.
Female solidarity within patriarchal societies:
• Shakespeare uses the sororal bond between Desdemona and Emilia to illustrate the importance
of solidarity between women in a patriarchal society. The relationship between the two of them
is the only one in the play to endure until the very end, making it the purest, truest form of love
we see; as well as the only we see between women.
• Though the two women are of di erent social classes, their friendship transcends rank; similarly,
they both are murdered by their husbands, showing that women are equal in the face of
domestic violence.
The female perspective of cuckoldry:
• Shakespeare presents us with an unconventional, radical perspective on Desdemona’s alleged
adultery through the character of Emilia. Whereas Desdemona has the traditional, expected
reaction of blaming herself for Othello’s treatment of her, Emilia condemns Othello and men as a
whole for their fragile pride. This would have been particularly shocking for Shakespeare’s
contemporaries, as Jacobean England revered masculinity as the infallible authority.
• Emilia’s approach to cuckoldry and adultery is pragmatic, which contrasts with the irrational fear
and humiliation with which men react to being cuckolded. When Desdemona asks her, ‘wouldst
thou do such a deed for all the world?’, Emilia responds, ‘the world’s a huge thing; it is a great
price / For a small vice’ (A4S3).
ffi
ff fi fl
