Othello Themes: Love & Relationships
- Created by: mhannah
- Created on: 27-04-18 01:08
View mindmap
- Othello Themes: Love & Relationships
- Double standards
- Codes of conduct for men and women are very different in this play, as they were in Shakespeare'ssoceity
- Bianca's vulnerable status as "strumpet" reminds us of the double standard
- Men toy with and discard women as they choose
- Iago's succesful vilification of Desdemona is they key example of this
- Iago uses the double standard to his advantage when he blackens Desdemona's name
- The masculine code of honour is threatened by the idea of active female sexuality, so Iago destroys Othello by making the hero believe his chaste wife has strayed
- Iago's succesful vilification of Desdemona is they key example of this
- Codes of conduct for men and women are very different in this play, as they were in Shakespeare'ssoceity
- Gender & power
- The example set by Desdemona shows that male-female relationships are the focus of conflict in this play; they are about opposition and power
- Throughout the play, we further see power struggles between couples and their friends:
- Iago competes with Desdemona for Othello's ear
- Desdemona and Emilia defend themselves against their husbands' suspicions
- Bianca tries to assert her rights as Cassio's mistress
- Couples
- Initially, Desdemona and Othello stand apart from the other couples because they have a harmonious relationship; no disillusionment or dissatisfaction
- For Cassio and Bianca, this is an unequal match between a "customer" who feels limited affection and a "bauble" whose genuine love makes her unhappy
- Emili and Iago are a chilling match; marriage has made Emilia cynical about male-female relationships
- she knows she is merely "food" for Iago, acceptable until she disobeys him and refuses to be silent, at which point her husband tries to kill her
- The misogyny of Iago casts a dark shadow over Othello's relationship with Desdemona, which seems so full of optimism and delight at the start of the play
- Othello and Desdemona love each other harmoniouslybecause of the differences they perceive in each other
- A love triangle?
- Iago's repsonses to the feminine reveal a mixture of fear and loathing
- Part of his contempt for Othello is located in the fear that Desdemona has power; Iago has been sidelined
- mocking references concerning Desdemona being Othello's "genera;" show that he cannot bear the fact that a women exerts influence
- Iago despises Othello for giving into love, which he sees as a feminine, unworthy emotion
- Iago loathes the idea of a man being in thrall to a woman, believing Othello is weakened and trapped by love
- Iago responds to this love between Othello and Desdemona by denigrating Desdemona and making her voice seem unreliable
- Iago's fake love-- "I am yours forever"-- destroys Othello's real love
- Othello begins to exert his masculine power in an overbearing way ay because he believes Desdemona has begun to assert herself sexually
- To any Renaissance husband, this is unacceptable
- We may see the events of Act IV and V as an attempt by Othello to reassert his own power over Desdemona
- Because of this, we come to associate masculine love with violence; Iago's misogyny triumps
- Iago's repsonses to the feminine reveal a mixture of fear and loathing
- Double standards
Comments
No comments have yet been made