Othello: the Feminine Perspective Essay -- Othello essays

Othello, Shakespeares tragic drama, has much to say about women and the attitudes of social groups and individuals towards them. Lets examine, from the top down, from the general to the lower ranks, these outlooks on women and other feminine considerations. Kenneth Muir, in the Introduction to William Shakespeare Othello, explains the Moors blind ig no.ance of his won wife Iago begins his lure on the following morning, and he is able to exploit Othellos relative ignorance of his wife. This ignorance is only partly due to the fact that they have had no chance of living together. It is due to a number of other factors. Othello comes of royal have but he has won for himself a place of distinction in the service of the Venetian state by his military prowess. He confesses the one-sidedness of his be (I.3.86-7) little of this great world can I speak to a greater extent than pertains to feats of broil and battle. . . . (32) The violence against women in this drama is unpalatable for much of the audience. A.C. Bradley, in his book of literary criticism, Shakespearean calamity, describes the violence against the heroine as a ejaculate against the canons of art To some readers, again, separate of Othello appear shocking or however horrible. They think if I may formulate their objection that in these parts Shakespeare has sinned against the canons of art, by representing on the stage a violence or viciousness the effect of which is unnecessarily painful and rather sensational than tragic. The passages which thus ground offence are probably those already referred to that where Othello strikes Desdemona (IV.i.251), that where he affects to treat her as an inmate of a house of ill-fame (IV.i... ...ies. Ed. Clarice Swisher. San Diego Greenhaven Press, 1996. Reprint from Literature. N. p. Random House, 1986. Gardner, Helen. Othello A Tragedy of Beauty and Fortune. Readings on The Tragedies. Ed. Clarice Swisher. San Diego Greenhaven Press, 1996. Reprint from The Noble Moor. British Academy Lectures, no. 9, 1955. Heilman, Robert B. Wit and Witchcraft an Approach to Othello. Shakespeare Modern Essays in Criticism. Ed. Leonard F. Dean. Rev. Ed. Rpt. from The Sewanee Review, LXIV, 1 (Winter 1956), 1-4, 8-10 and azimuth Quarterly (Spring 1956), pp.5-16. Muir, Kenneth. Introduction. William Shakespeare Othello. New York Penguin Books, 1968. Shakespeare, William. Othello. In The Electric Shakespeare. Princeton University. 1996. http//www.eiu.edu/multilit/studyabroad/othello/othello_all.html No line nos.