Female Characters in 'Othello'
- Created by: xelario
- Created on: 16-05-19 12:15
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- Female Characters in Othello
- Jacobean stereotypes of Venetian Women
- female sexuality as a corruptive force, blaming women, sexism
- 'licentious wantons' - T Coryat
- sexualisation: Iago uses vulgar language about Emilia
- 'her tongue she oft bestows on me'
- paradox of women punished for their sexuality -Tennenhouse while also stereotyped that way
- 'open their quivers to every arrow' - Coryat
- 'Venice was famed for its... reputation' -Brockbank
- Shakespeare's choice of setting highlights female identity
- female sexuality as a corruptive force, blaming women, sexism
- Sexism
- "Characters divide into virgins and saints or whores and devils" - Marian Cox
- male inability to view women as multi-dimensional beings
- tendency to diminish women into one category so as not to afford them power
- 'damn her, lewd minx!' - Othello on Desdemona
- female characters display the highest moral values in the play
- Honigmann calls D the 'strongest, the most heroic person in the play'
- her unending loyalty-'Nobody. I myself' before dying
- confident in her morality 'a guiltless death I die'-self-awareness which men do not recognise
- counterargument: she is passive in the extreme and ultimately allows her husband to defeat her
- Emilia defends her mistress 'she was heavenly true!' against Othello
- Honigmann calls D the 'strongest, the most heroic person in the play'
- "despite female characters often expressing themselves with startling sharpness...they are seen as duplicitous"
- "Characters divide into virgins and saints or whores and devils" - Marian Cox
- women as tragic characters
- Desdemona's integrity and loyalty in the face of opposition is admirable
- 'her nature is infinitely sweet and her love absolute' - Bradley
- adds to complete tragedy of play, her suffering and the chaos which ensues
- 'they are loves I bear to you' (Othello asks her to repent for her sins)
- 'her nature is infinitely sweet and her love absolute' - Bradley
- Desdemona's integrity and loyalty in the face of opposition is admirable
- Jacobean stereotypes of Venetian Women
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