Sydney Tu

English 12 | Mr.Gango

Period 6

9 April 2018

Othello: Seeing with the Feminist Perspective

In the tragedy entitled, “Othello”, William Shakespeare entices the audience by stirring

drama and conflict among close friends, loved ones, and enemies. Othello, the Moor and general

of the Venetian army, becomes manipulated by his ensign, Iago. He provokes Othello to plot

against his own second in command, Cassio, and beloved wife, Desdemona. In doing so, Othello

becomes submerged in a violent mirage as Desdemona attempts to determine the purpose behind

her husband’s ill-actions. Her struggles to regain Cassio’s reputation and connection with her

husband can be best understood with the feminist critical lens. This perspective helps analyze the

hierarchy of power, the effects of a patriarchal society, and the inferior views towards women

throughout the play.

The story itself is mainly broken down into male dominated roles. In the Venetian city,

the Duke, the general, and second in command, to list a few, were all male figures that assumed

some control among territory or citizens. Women had more minor positions such as Emilia, who

was Desdemona’s maid/servant. She was asked to steal her dear friend’s handkerchief without

knowing the real plot her husband has in mind. Iago shortly dismisses Emilia away as he takes

ownership of the token. Feminism allows the audience to realize that the females in the story

were merely used to succumb to a bigger evil, the males’ desires.

On the other hand, Desdemona, being the daughter of a senator and a recently wedded

wife to Othello, does have some power and authority. This can be seen through her resistance to
obey her father or her ability to comfort and calm Othello as a contrasting partner. However, her

words to some extent had no longer any meaning nor had an effect on her husband’s mind.

Nearing the end of the classic, Othello confesses to Desdemona about his irrational belief that

she gave his precious handkerchief to Cassio. Desdemona refutes truthfully that she had no part

in the act, but Othello refuses to accept reality and murders her anyways. Even Emilia’s life was

taken in cold blood shortly after when she began arguing with Iago over Othello finally opening

his eyes to his slaughter. Using the feminist ideology, the audience is able to grasp that the play

not only hints at the cult of domesticity, but it also forces barriers upon Desdemona as to fulfill

her husband’s needs and nothing more. She was there when Othello needed her company, but

she was easily ignored and disposed of once Iago came into the picture. It becomes much easier

to accept that Desdemona was really in a fixed position. Her untainted truth does not surpass

Iago’s effect made up of his string of lies fed to Othello. Yet, it becomes sickening to see Othello

succumb to it as a male himself.

Moreover, the feminist perspective reveals the gender gap of the play. The story mainly

emphasizes Othello’s journey of becoming manipulated as the female characters made some

appearances only to add onto the pressure and advance the plot. For instance, there were often

soliloquies where Iago speaks of his evil plan while Othello reacts to his actions afterwards. To

illustrate, Othello goes into an epileptic state as soon as he realizes that Desdemona was involved

in “adultery”, and Iago confirms this as progress towards his scheme with an aside. The

complexity of character building for females remains minimal and stereotypical. During one

scene when Othello was set aside as a spectator, Iago talks to Cassio about his relationship with

Bianca, his jealous lover. Cassio laughs in hysteria as to show that she was more of a nuisance.

This further hints that women were definitely treated poorly throughout the play. The scene then
reverts the focus back to Othello becoming enraged, as he was thinking that Cassio was poking

fun at Desdemona instead, as to establish the importance of his dominance.

Given so, the play “Othello” does prove to be quite complicated. Being able to use a type

of critical lens, as in the feminist perspective, enables the audience to catch on to the purposes

behind character interactions and comprehend the story better. To view the world of literature

through the feminist lens, the audience can see that there seems to be always a tension among

opposite genders where one often assumes their superiority over the other. Feminist views can be

found underlying the plot as male dominance take charge to rid or mistreat women in the story,

whether through betrayal or through abuse.