Contradictory Characterisations of Women in Shakespeares Othello Essay

Contradictory Characterisations of Women in Shakespe ares Othello Othello opens with a discussion between two men concerning the fate of a very beautiful charwoman named Desdemona. One of the men is distraught, having tried to win her love but miserably failed, and the other agrees that she is quite a prize. A prize is not just a name for Desdemona, as her humanity is lost somewhere along the way and she ceases to be anything but a prize to be won. Both men are angry and want to seek revenge against the man who won her, slandering Desdemonas name in the process. Their superior and rival, the man who won Desdemona, is none other than Othello. Othello has prove the two men inferior, obtaining what they could not. The two other mistreated women in the play are Emilia and Bianca, all three viewed as nothing more than objects of lust. Desdemona was born(p) from a high-class Venetian family Emilia is a servant Bianca is a whore, incidentally a word that Desdemona refuses to use. Altho ugh they all belong to completely different classes, they are all abused by men and become the objects of their sex... ...rk Penguin Books, 1968. Neely, Carol. Women and Men in Othello Critical Essays on Shakespeares Othello. Ed. Anthony G. Barthelemy Pub. Macmillan New York, NY 1994. (page 68-90) Shakespeare, William. Othello. In The Electric Shakespeare. Princeton University. 1996. http//www.eiu.edu/multilit/studyabroad/othello/othello_all.html No line nos. Wayne, Valerie. historical Differences Misogyny and Othello. The Matter of Difference Materialist Feminist Criticism of Shakespeare. Ed Valerie Wayne. Ithaca, NY Cornell University Press, 1991.