Word Count 971

Dione Ho-Stone

Professor Hudder

English 1302

16 February 2017

Women of Othello

It seemed as if no matter how sincere the truth of the words that came out of my mouth, I

was not to be believed in. I remember the hurt in my voice of how many times I spoke the words

of it is not true to him, to the one I thought who trusted me. You see, someone I thought to

have been a good friend to me went around trying to bring me down, and what is most clear in

my memory is the distinctive anger of confusion as to why someone would spread countless lies

for no benefit of themselves. To this day, I do think of other ways I could have made myself

seem more believable, but who was that boy to believe? myself or one he called his brother?

They were friends, as close as one could be, yet it just so happened that a messy love

triangle started when two friends liked one girl; me. This concluded with one being my friend

and another my lover. Though this sounds like a messy beginning everything was well, until it

seemed that the friend was jealous his friends happiness and started to place lies in anyone who

would listen about me. I was unaware that what happens in the movies and teenage books of love

triangle drama was pretty much happening to me. Maybe it was my nave- way of thinking that

no one I was acquainted to would want to tear anyone down or take away happiness, so every

day I never dwelled on what others would think and believed in the good of everyone. As
 Word Count 971

expected, after the damage was done, a person stepped up to call out the truth and that love

triangle was broken all around and forgiveness was asked for but never granted.

Reading Othello I naturally did think of myself, and It angered me concerning Othellos

willingness to listen to his friend and not who he so-call loved as it angered me jow my

situation played out. My life on her word Othello kept repeating, which obviously should mean

that her faithfulness in love meant a lot to him, yet it shows that once he heard rumors of her

unfaithful actions with another man, he slowly deteriorates without ever consulting Desdemona

until his mind was clear that the best way make his world okay again was to kill her. The point

that Othello did not believe Desdemona says that though the Renaissance era is full of love and

honesty, words have the capability to do much damage. Shakespeares types of women are based

on how they are viewed in society, and, compared to the men of Othello women have a much

different way of presenting themselves.

In Othello, Desdemona was seen coming from an elite society of Venetians, her father was a

wealthy man and part of the senate. In those times, women of that high society were kept heavily

guarded along with their families. And women in the Shakespearean era had much more limited

rights than they do today, they did not have freedoms such as to speak out of place, and when

married, women would just be loyal for their husbands only as one fault in that would bring them

a life of shame from others and be branded a whore.

With Emilia, Iagos wife, who was not from an elite venetian family, therefore her social

status in the play is not high. Her role of her speaking of the unfairness of women to men on the

murderous day of both her and her lady Desdemona, where she says No, I will speak as liberal

as the north: Let heaven and men and devils, let them all, all, all, cry shame against me, yet I'll

speak. (Act 5 scene 2 ) Like Desdemona, Emilia gets caught up in her husband Iagos schemes,
 Word Count 971

as she does as she is told to steal a precious handkerchief that was Desdemonas from Othello,

and without knowledge of the reasoning behind her actions it results in the corruption of

Othellos mind. For the end of Emilia, she reveals the truth of her husbands actions and as she

spoke out of place, she was soon murdered after by nonetheless Iago.

Women of Othello do experience the most tragic endings than the men, each being killed by

their husbands they were so faithfully tied to. Emilia, to be married to a man that uses lies and

cheats for his own personal gain and have no choice but to do as she is told. Desdemona who is

completely left out Iagos scheme, is branded a whore by lies and though she pleads to her

husband Othello, he does not believe her. Both of these women ended up dead by wrong

reasoning and ultimately by getting caught up in a tick that they did not intend to be in. the

women of this play are what the Shakespearean society wanted them to behave as, bound to their

husbands and never acting out of place.

Watching Othello, though in the Old English language, the women of Othello spoke in the

same context as I did, but for me in a much less extreme situation. With the beautiful Desdemona

pleading the truth to a man who did not listen, and ultimately resulted in her wrongful murder.

And the lady maid of Desdemona, Emilia, who was also Iagos wife, brought loyalty and spoke

the truth of the unfairness of women to men, which also resulted in her murder by her husband as

she spoke out of place. Recalling Desdemona makes me bethink of my history, as well as Emilia,

in how I had the voice to face the lies and ending that turmoil. I am truly a woman of Othello.