‘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
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
