‘Typically, men control women.’
In light of this view, examine how Shakespeare presents male attitudes towards women in this
passage and elsewhere in the play. (23/25)
Shakespeare’s ‘Othello’ arguably transcends the norm of a Jacobean play through what one might
perceive as proto-feminist depictions of women – dynamic and versatile. Circling a motif of
deceptive appearances, he conveys the foolery and misconceptions that construct derogative
stereotypes, proving in the final tragedy that in believe such base notions, we reduce ourselves to
mere primitive forms.
The idea that men control women is perhaps inherently linked to marriage and relationships.
Shakespeare’s period of Jacobean conventions prioritised the health and content of men, following a
strict and rigid patriarchy. Women of merit and will were lawfully wedded ‘to obey’ their husbands
and, as represented in the smothering of Desdemona by her husband Othello, suffocated and stifled
without freedom. Whilst Desdemona and Othello first demonstrate a kind of equality in their
marriage, Othello invites her to speak before the court, regarding her voice as valid as his own,
Othello soon descends into a caricature of the base, black savage that dominates the weak woman.
As foreshadowed in the animalistic imagery of Iago that is dominated by the binary colours of racial
and religious prejudice, ‘an old black ram is tupping your white ewe’, ‘your daughter is covered in a
barbary horse’, ‘the devil will make a grandsire out of you’, these predictions of dominance
supplanting passivity are realised.
Jacobean convention certainly supported inequitable relationships between men and women –Iago’s
cold and pragmatic mind, although in a jovial, social setting, describes the common attitude of a man
towards his wife. not seeing the martial union as a powerful promise before God, he describes the
nature of this ‘frail vow’ as two beings existing separately – far from the ‘one flesh’ and ‘marriage of
true mindes’ which Desdemona first shared with Othello. In his speech he repeats the possessive
pronoun ‘your’, placing wives in rigid positions, far from their husbands. ‘Bells’, ‘portraits’, and ‘wild-
cats’, unfavourable presents the typical woman, from a male perspective, as an empty vessel
capable only of producing irritable and repetitive noise that is of no value, expected to be silent and
composed, attractive and silent as a ‘portrait’, and her opinions and grievances as petty and
insignificant as the fights of ‘wild-cats’. Shakespeare therefore uses Iago to comment on the
restrictive nature of a woman’s existence. This is further compounded in the play by other
patriarchs, namely Brabantio, who declares the impossibility of Desdemona’s individuality and
sexual choices, and cannot fathom why she has ‘run from her guardage to the sooty bosom of such a
thing as thou’. Additional lexis of imprisonment may also be found in Othello’s metaphor of a female
hawk, ‘haggard’, who is leashed to his heart be ‘jesses’. Perhaps Shakespeare’s deliberate portrayal
of vivid women serves to emphasise the terrible nature of their control by men, and exacerbate their
suffering.
However, women such as Desdemona and Emilia are able to radically exert some control. The
freedom that Desdemona first enjoys, when Othello’s mind is not yet ‘poisoned’ by the ‘medicine’
and ‘pestilence’ of Iago, he elevates her to a higher position, ‘O, my fair warrior!’. Whilst the
possessive ‘my’ might indicate a lack of freedom, it is in fact equal, as she also declares to also
possess Othello – ‘my dear’. An imbalance may be perceived in their addresses – Othello promotes
her beauty and strength; whilst she bestows on him a smaller compliment. Holding Desdemona with
this reverence, she certainly influences him to such insanity as ‘goats and monkeys!’. The control he
suffers is of a jealous nature derived from his own acts of idolatry, worship, and insecurity. Driven by
an uncertainty, internalised racial prejudice, he himself becomes confused at the notions of a
,virtuous goddess (‘Diane’) doting on his ‘black, begrimed face’. No longer assured in his beliefs that
she is honest, ‘my life upon her faith’, her fond and apparent flirtatious behaviour with Cassio allows
‘chaos (to) come again’. Thus, one might observe an element of control in the power she wields. Yet
this idea is undermined by the naivety and selfishness of Othello – whilst she assures him of her love,
optimistically hoping they ‘should increase’, he is enraptured in the belief that they will never
achieve ‘another comfort like this’. Once able to complement her without jealous notions (‘you shall
be well desired in Cyprus’), he now fears the admiration she may attract – ‘O the curse of marriage,
that we may call these delicate creatures ours and not their appetites’. Therefore, Shakespeare
depicts the control that Desdemona possesses over her husband to be of his own permission.
One might observe that Othello’s initial grandiose exclamations of love to Desdemona appear earlier
in the wider tragic arc of the play, and perhaps most significantly, in public. Shrouded by insecurities
concerning his own place and security in Venetian society, his performance of courtly behaviours
and romantic declarations, eloquently delivered in poetic blank verse, may simply exist as an
attempt to suit his love to convention. When removed from the civilised society that is familiar to
Desdemona, and the object of Othello’s desires as an outcast, Othello finds himself divided between
military and marital duty. Tension rises with catalysts of miscommunication, misconceptions, heat,
and the confining city walls of Cyprus, aggravating Othello’s insecurities and subsequent increasing
savage rage. It may be suggested that Desdemona was merely a construct of Venetian society that
Othello took advantage of in order to align himself further with white civility – when he believes that
she has betrayed him, he becomes vulnerable to the racial prejudices surrounding him, and reacts
violently with control, cruelty, and violence.
Perhaps Othello’s romantic endeavours might be less overwhelming if he followed the pragmatic
and cool natured example of Iago. Rather than submitting to greater ‘sweet Powers’ such as Fate and
Time (‘we must obey Time’), he should reject the enchantments of women all together. Iago’s
soliloquy of Act 1 Scene 3 shows that he has chosen privately to separate himself from women –
using them only as opportunities to ‘Put money in thy purse’. He repents the ‘blood and baseness’ of
human nature, believing that to submit to lust, ‘a guinea hen’ (prostitute), would be to become as
primitive as a ‘baboon’. Through the metaphor of his body as a garden, ‘to which (his) will is the
gardener’, Shakespeare presents not a man controlling a woman, but a man who has rose above
even the control of men – a deviant and advantageous villain who regards anyone feeble enough to
forget that ‘we have reason to cool our raging motions, carnal stings, and unbitted lusts’ as a pawn
that might be manipulated: ‘I’ll set down the pegs that make this music’. Through his perverted
images of ‘super-subtle Venetians’ and ‘cunning whores of Venice’, a further male attitude that
women, if sexual, are unnatural and ‘violent’, he is able to provoke Othello to ‘push away the
handkerchief’ that symbolises the stability, clarity, and sanity that Desdemona brings.
To conclude Shakespeare explores several male attitudes towards women – perhaps most notably
his own. That despite conventions of passive women, he observes them as dynamic and bold –
characters such as Emilia are capable of rebellion. This is contrasted with the basic and
underdeveloped image of Iago’s fantasy wife, who is restricted to a silent, attractive, objectified
obedience. He diminishes also the patriarchy’s stereotype of a sexual woman, arguably showing that
these ‘hot and young, sweating devils’ are not to be feared, but trusted. Therefore, he presents
women as a modern audience might also perceive them – spirited, flawed and strong, fighting the
prejudice and oppression of men who attempt to control them, and this is able to elevate the final
feelings and catharsis of pity and fear, when Desdemona is diminished – ‘put out the light’ – by the
hands of Othello.
, ‘Paradoxically, texts present jealousy as a destructive force existing within the deepest love.’
In light of this view, discuss how Shakespeare presents Othello’s feelings for Iago in this extract
and elsewhere in the play.
Shakespeare’s exploration of the deepest and most intrusive kinds of love arguably exists most
prevalently in the relationship of Othello and Iago – their earliest occurrences of fraternising in the
play reveal an intimate and spiritual connection which engages Othello’s cultural naivety and Iago’s
passionate confliction and destructive intentions that lead to a jealous deterioration of rationality.
Perceived as brotherly, or even homosexual, this bond is crucial in Othello’s reduction to a state of
compliance to Iago’s suggestions, manipulated and ‘led by th’ nose as asses are’ towards his tragic
demise. However, it could be argued that Othello’s deepest love exists for Desdemona; her beliefs
and loyalty are prized primarily by Othello, elevating her as a symbol of godly divinity that will inspire
the most spiteful jealousy and bring the heaviest sense betrayal and destruction. Alternatively, one
could argue that the greatest destructive force in the play is not the jealousy triggered by Iago’s
‘poison’ or the corruption of Desdemona’s virtue, but the jealousy that manifests from his underlying
insecurities of alienation form civilised society.
Iago’s role in aggravating Othello’s internal and primitive jealous nature is central to the tragic
structure of the play. Acting as the antagonist to Othello’s tragic heroism, Iago represents a morally
corruptive figure who threatens the rationality and civility of men, instilling and evoking fear from
the audience, and pity towards the demise of Othello. Iago’s dual nature (‘by Janus’) is apparent to
the audience, as they have previously observed his plosive and repulsive speech directed towards
the purpose of ridiculing and ruining Othello in the opening scene of the play, conducted in the
malevolent darkness of a street in Venice; as explicitly stated in the line ‘I do hate the Moor’ and
through the perverted and mocking animalistic imagery that draws on the supposed savage and
bestial nature of Othello’s race (‘black ram’, ‘barbary horse’, ‘devil’), his feelings are truthfully
hateful. Driven by his overwhelming desire to destroy Othello’s reputation, he undertakes the role of
a faithful friend and servant to Othello, gaining an intimate trust that allows him to plant intrusive
thoughts of betrayal and jealousy: ‘I’ll set down the pegs that make this music’.
The extract clearly demonstrates the intense bond existing within Othello to be built upon trust and
respect. Although their relationship is imbalanced as Othello ranks higher in status as a General,
their discourse reveals Othello’s feelings towards Iago to be respectful and appreciative, Iago’s
nature as an Ancient serves to persuade Othello that he is a man of honour, honesty, and valued
advice. Shared lines between the pair (‘And so she did. /Why go then’, ‘From Jealousy! / Why, why is
this?’) create a fast-paced and dramatic dialogue, but also reveal an intimate understanding and
familiarity of each other, as they are able to achieve a high level of synchrony and harmonisation of
thought. Consulting his treasured confidante, Othello divulges his greatest insecurities of jealousy
and alienation from society (‘from mine own weak merits will I draw / The smallest fear’), and thus
places himself and his mentality in the devious, scheming hands of Iago, who often draws upon his
advantage as a native white Venetian, ‘I know our country disposition well’, to exert influence over
Othello’s insecurity and isolation. Frequent instructive imperatives across Iago’s speech (‘receive’,
‘look’, ‘observe’, ‘wear’) confirms Iago’s dominant role as a manipulative puppeteer with the ability
to direct Othello’s actions and behaviour, pushing his mind closer to insanity and life towards its end,
under the pretence of friendship and good will. Referring to Othello in the extract as a member of
his ‘tribe’, unifying their persons under the same duty and heritage, Iago conveys his acceptance of
the Moor, despite alienating features of colour and background. Bound by the ‘love and duty’ he
In light of this view, examine how Shakespeare presents male attitudes towards women in this
passage and elsewhere in the play. (23/25)
Shakespeare’s ‘Othello’ arguably transcends the norm of a Jacobean play through what one might
perceive as proto-feminist depictions of women – dynamic and versatile. Circling a motif of
deceptive appearances, he conveys the foolery and misconceptions that construct derogative
stereotypes, proving in the final tragedy that in believe such base notions, we reduce ourselves to
mere primitive forms.
The idea that men control women is perhaps inherently linked to marriage and relationships.
Shakespeare’s period of Jacobean conventions prioritised the health and content of men, following a
strict and rigid patriarchy. Women of merit and will were lawfully wedded ‘to obey’ their husbands
and, as represented in the smothering of Desdemona by her husband Othello, suffocated and stifled
without freedom. Whilst Desdemona and Othello first demonstrate a kind of equality in their
marriage, Othello invites her to speak before the court, regarding her voice as valid as his own,
Othello soon descends into a caricature of the base, black savage that dominates the weak woman.
As foreshadowed in the animalistic imagery of Iago that is dominated by the binary colours of racial
and religious prejudice, ‘an old black ram is tupping your white ewe’, ‘your daughter is covered in a
barbary horse’, ‘the devil will make a grandsire out of you’, these predictions of dominance
supplanting passivity are realised.
Jacobean convention certainly supported inequitable relationships between men and women –Iago’s
cold and pragmatic mind, although in a jovial, social setting, describes the common attitude of a man
towards his wife. not seeing the martial union as a powerful promise before God, he describes the
nature of this ‘frail vow’ as two beings existing separately – far from the ‘one flesh’ and ‘marriage of
true mindes’ which Desdemona first shared with Othello. In his speech he repeats the possessive
pronoun ‘your’, placing wives in rigid positions, far from their husbands. ‘Bells’, ‘portraits’, and ‘wild-
cats’, unfavourable presents the typical woman, from a male perspective, as an empty vessel
capable only of producing irritable and repetitive noise that is of no value, expected to be silent and
composed, attractive and silent as a ‘portrait’, and her opinions and grievances as petty and
insignificant as the fights of ‘wild-cats’. Shakespeare therefore uses Iago to comment on the
restrictive nature of a woman’s existence. This is further compounded in the play by other
patriarchs, namely Brabantio, who declares the impossibility of Desdemona’s individuality and
sexual choices, and cannot fathom why she has ‘run from her guardage to the sooty bosom of such a
thing as thou’. Additional lexis of imprisonment may also be found in Othello’s metaphor of a female
hawk, ‘haggard’, who is leashed to his heart be ‘jesses’. Perhaps Shakespeare’s deliberate portrayal
of vivid women serves to emphasise the terrible nature of their control by men, and exacerbate their
suffering.
However, women such as Desdemona and Emilia are able to radically exert some control. The
freedom that Desdemona first enjoys, when Othello’s mind is not yet ‘poisoned’ by the ‘medicine’
and ‘pestilence’ of Iago, he elevates her to a higher position, ‘O, my fair warrior!’. Whilst the
possessive ‘my’ might indicate a lack of freedom, it is in fact equal, as she also declares to also
possess Othello – ‘my dear’. An imbalance may be perceived in their addresses – Othello promotes
her beauty and strength; whilst she bestows on him a smaller compliment. Holding Desdemona with
this reverence, she certainly influences him to such insanity as ‘goats and monkeys!’. The control he
suffers is of a jealous nature derived from his own acts of idolatry, worship, and insecurity. Driven by
an uncertainty, internalised racial prejudice, he himself becomes confused at the notions of a
,virtuous goddess (‘Diane’) doting on his ‘black, begrimed face’. No longer assured in his beliefs that
she is honest, ‘my life upon her faith’, her fond and apparent flirtatious behaviour with Cassio allows
‘chaos (to) come again’. Thus, one might observe an element of control in the power she wields. Yet
this idea is undermined by the naivety and selfishness of Othello – whilst she assures him of her love,
optimistically hoping they ‘should increase’, he is enraptured in the belief that they will never
achieve ‘another comfort like this’. Once able to complement her without jealous notions (‘you shall
be well desired in Cyprus’), he now fears the admiration she may attract – ‘O the curse of marriage,
that we may call these delicate creatures ours and not their appetites’. Therefore, Shakespeare
depicts the control that Desdemona possesses over her husband to be of his own permission.
One might observe that Othello’s initial grandiose exclamations of love to Desdemona appear earlier
in the wider tragic arc of the play, and perhaps most significantly, in public. Shrouded by insecurities
concerning his own place and security in Venetian society, his performance of courtly behaviours
and romantic declarations, eloquently delivered in poetic blank verse, may simply exist as an
attempt to suit his love to convention. When removed from the civilised society that is familiar to
Desdemona, and the object of Othello’s desires as an outcast, Othello finds himself divided between
military and marital duty. Tension rises with catalysts of miscommunication, misconceptions, heat,
and the confining city walls of Cyprus, aggravating Othello’s insecurities and subsequent increasing
savage rage. It may be suggested that Desdemona was merely a construct of Venetian society that
Othello took advantage of in order to align himself further with white civility – when he believes that
she has betrayed him, he becomes vulnerable to the racial prejudices surrounding him, and reacts
violently with control, cruelty, and violence.
Perhaps Othello’s romantic endeavours might be less overwhelming if he followed the pragmatic
and cool natured example of Iago. Rather than submitting to greater ‘sweet Powers’ such as Fate and
Time (‘we must obey Time’), he should reject the enchantments of women all together. Iago’s
soliloquy of Act 1 Scene 3 shows that he has chosen privately to separate himself from women –
using them only as opportunities to ‘Put money in thy purse’. He repents the ‘blood and baseness’ of
human nature, believing that to submit to lust, ‘a guinea hen’ (prostitute), would be to become as
primitive as a ‘baboon’. Through the metaphor of his body as a garden, ‘to which (his) will is the
gardener’, Shakespeare presents not a man controlling a woman, but a man who has rose above
even the control of men – a deviant and advantageous villain who regards anyone feeble enough to
forget that ‘we have reason to cool our raging motions, carnal stings, and unbitted lusts’ as a pawn
that might be manipulated: ‘I’ll set down the pegs that make this music’. Through his perverted
images of ‘super-subtle Venetians’ and ‘cunning whores of Venice’, a further male attitude that
women, if sexual, are unnatural and ‘violent’, he is able to provoke Othello to ‘push away the
handkerchief’ that symbolises the stability, clarity, and sanity that Desdemona brings.
To conclude Shakespeare explores several male attitudes towards women – perhaps most notably
his own. That despite conventions of passive women, he observes them as dynamic and bold –
characters such as Emilia are capable of rebellion. This is contrasted with the basic and
underdeveloped image of Iago’s fantasy wife, who is restricted to a silent, attractive, objectified
obedience. He diminishes also the patriarchy’s stereotype of a sexual woman, arguably showing that
these ‘hot and young, sweating devils’ are not to be feared, but trusted. Therefore, he presents
women as a modern audience might also perceive them – spirited, flawed and strong, fighting the
prejudice and oppression of men who attempt to control them, and this is able to elevate the final
feelings and catharsis of pity and fear, when Desdemona is diminished – ‘put out the light’ – by the
hands of Othello.
, ‘Paradoxically, texts present jealousy as a destructive force existing within the deepest love.’
In light of this view, discuss how Shakespeare presents Othello’s feelings for Iago in this extract
and elsewhere in the play.
Shakespeare’s exploration of the deepest and most intrusive kinds of love arguably exists most
prevalently in the relationship of Othello and Iago – their earliest occurrences of fraternising in the
play reveal an intimate and spiritual connection which engages Othello’s cultural naivety and Iago’s
passionate confliction and destructive intentions that lead to a jealous deterioration of rationality.
Perceived as brotherly, or even homosexual, this bond is crucial in Othello’s reduction to a state of
compliance to Iago’s suggestions, manipulated and ‘led by th’ nose as asses are’ towards his tragic
demise. However, it could be argued that Othello’s deepest love exists for Desdemona; her beliefs
and loyalty are prized primarily by Othello, elevating her as a symbol of godly divinity that will inspire
the most spiteful jealousy and bring the heaviest sense betrayal and destruction. Alternatively, one
could argue that the greatest destructive force in the play is not the jealousy triggered by Iago’s
‘poison’ or the corruption of Desdemona’s virtue, but the jealousy that manifests from his underlying
insecurities of alienation form civilised society.
Iago’s role in aggravating Othello’s internal and primitive jealous nature is central to the tragic
structure of the play. Acting as the antagonist to Othello’s tragic heroism, Iago represents a morally
corruptive figure who threatens the rationality and civility of men, instilling and evoking fear from
the audience, and pity towards the demise of Othello. Iago’s dual nature (‘by Janus’) is apparent to
the audience, as they have previously observed his plosive and repulsive speech directed towards
the purpose of ridiculing and ruining Othello in the opening scene of the play, conducted in the
malevolent darkness of a street in Venice; as explicitly stated in the line ‘I do hate the Moor’ and
through the perverted and mocking animalistic imagery that draws on the supposed savage and
bestial nature of Othello’s race (‘black ram’, ‘barbary horse’, ‘devil’), his feelings are truthfully
hateful. Driven by his overwhelming desire to destroy Othello’s reputation, he undertakes the role of
a faithful friend and servant to Othello, gaining an intimate trust that allows him to plant intrusive
thoughts of betrayal and jealousy: ‘I’ll set down the pegs that make this music’.
The extract clearly demonstrates the intense bond existing within Othello to be built upon trust and
respect. Although their relationship is imbalanced as Othello ranks higher in status as a General,
their discourse reveals Othello’s feelings towards Iago to be respectful and appreciative, Iago’s
nature as an Ancient serves to persuade Othello that he is a man of honour, honesty, and valued
advice. Shared lines between the pair (‘And so she did. /Why go then’, ‘From Jealousy! / Why, why is
this?’) create a fast-paced and dramatic dialogue, but also reveal an intimate understanding and
familiarity of each other, as they are able to achieve a high level of synchrony and harmonisation of
thought. Consulting his treasured confidante, Othello divulges his greatest insecurities of jealousy
and alienation from society (‘from mine own weak merits will I draw / The smallest fear’), and thus
places himself and his mentality in the devious, scheming hands of Iago, who often draws upon his
advantage as a native white Venetian, ‘I know our country disposition well’, to exert influence over
Othello’s insecurity and isolation. Frequent instructive imperatives across Iago’s speech (‘receive’,
‘look’, ‘observe’, ‘wear’) confirms Iago’s dominant role as a manipulative puppeteer with the ability
to direct Othello’s actions and behaviour, pushing his mind closer to insanity and life towards its end,
under the pretence of friendship and good will. Referring to Othello in the extract as a member of
his ‘tribe’, unifying their persons under the same duty and heritage, Iago conveys his acceptance of
the Moor, despite alienating features of colour and background. Bound by the ‘love and duty’ he
