Women's Role in Othello and Portrayal of Gender Dynamics

Role of Women in Shakespeare's Othello

Othello by William Shakespeare depicts a society that is run in a patriarchal way, where men were theoretically ‘Top of the Food Chain’. Women were treated as if they were possessions something that they could show off and flaunt rather being equally human and capable of duties performed by men. Every single women's role in Othello in the Elizabethan era was expected to follow the commands of men including, fathers, brothers, husbands, etc. This creates the perfect frame for the most reliable character of Desdemona, who goes through many trials to satisfy the emotions of her love. Shakespeare has written Desdemona to fit the era and she is a prime example of this when looking at her relationships between Barbantio and Othello.

The father-daughter relationship between Barbantio and Desdemona is a perfect example of what it would be like in the Elizabethan Era. In the play, we see the expectation that have been placed on Desdemona that she must be obedient and faithful to the men in her life, this is further explained In the text when Barbantio is being told by Iago and Rodrigo that his daughter has been put under a spell by a Moor to fall in love with her “Even now, now, very now, an old black ram Is tupping your white ewe. Arise…. Or else the devil will make a grandsire of you. Arise, I say!” (Othello 1.1 90-93) when Barbantio is told this it assures him that Desdemona is his property or in this case his white ewe, a representation of her purity a juxtaposition from the image of a moor.

Desdemona's Dilemma in Othello

In Act 1 Scene 3, Barbantio has just challenged Othello on the use of witchcraft which leads to Desdemona standing up to her father exclaiming “My noble father, I do perceive here a divided duty…. You are the lord of duty... But here's my husband, and so much duty as my mother showed to you, preferring you before her father,” (1.3.208-218) This Quote is the first time Desdemona speaks in the play and it truly shows her thoughtfulness, because she does not give up her respect for her father for her loyalty to Othello but instead acknowledges that her duty as a women is divided.

In this scene Desdemona seems like she is powerful yet powerless at the same time, Powerful by standing up to her father and humiliating him Infront of the venetian senate whilst also sacrificing her power to Othello by giving him her hand in marriage a symbol of her giving over the baton of possession from Father to husband. Barbantio now betrayed by his own daughter is filled with emotion stating ‘my particular grief/ Is of so flood-gate and o’erbearing nature/ That it engluts and swallows’ other sorrows’ (I.3.57–9). Brabantio’s sense of loss is profound. The intense emotion described in this speech foreshadows Othello’s outrageous emotions later on in the play.

Works Cited

1. Shakespeare, William. Othello. Edited by Barbara A. Mowat and Paul Werstine, Folger Shakespeare Library, 2009.