Shakespeare’s presentation of women is representative of the strictly patriarchal society of Elizabethan times, and all the characters’ reactions to the female characters in this play are shaped by the society that they are in. Shakespeare emphasizes the mistreatment of women through Emilia’s awareness of her oppression as a ‘common woman’ who does not have the benefit of a higher social status. Moreover, he uses women’s status as a lower class and the otherness that is pushed onto them by their society, with a reduced reputation and branding of whore that, for example, Desdemona receives. This allows Shakespeare to criticise the oppression pushed onto women, and also allows him to explore the ways that women have learnt to live life around the boundaries that men set for them. He defies conventions of women in domestic tragedies by painting them as victims instead of enemies. This positive portrayal is an effective way to criticise societal structures without it being obvious enough to cause outrage.
Shakespeare utilizes the changes in the characterization of Othello, throughout the play, and the extensive dialogue from Iago, as the dominant men throughout, to demonstrate how women are alienated by Elizabethan society. This includes how the external view of a woman is based largely upon stereotype as an oppressed group. Shakespeare, as a man writing about women, would have had to base his characters on the women he had met and on stereotypes. Ania Loomba believes that 'women and black people are "others" in this society.' This interpretation uses women’s presentations in Othello as a lower class which allows these women to be easily degraded and leads to their unfortunate downfall at the hands of their husbands. The symbolisation in the dialogue for Iago is often degrading, towards both his wife and Desdemona, a woman of a presumably higher class of wealth than himself through marriage. In Act 1 Scene 1, he refers to Desdemona when he accuses Othello of theft to her father: "Look to your house, your daughter and your bags!" This is demonstrating how men have possession over women, first by their fathers before marriage, and by using a list as such, Shakespeare creates a dehumanizing image of women being equal to just her father’s worldly possessions, perhaps in criticism of this particular custom. It is also symbolic of forcing women to stay in the domestic sphere due to the house and bags being domestic items. Iago also appears to treat his wife with similar language in Act 2 Scene 1: "To suckle fools and chronicle small beer" is colloquial to the time and it also symbolises the role Emilia must take up as a reasonably working-class housewife, reusing old hops to make ‘small beer’, a short-lasting, weak larger; a much less valuable and importantly domestic form of beer, popular among the working class at the time. This is paired with the term ‘suckle’ perhaps referring to breastfeeding and the role a woman must take for her husband as the mother of his children. Attacking the women around him, to a modern audience, would paint him as a villain, however, to the Elizabethan audience, this may not have been the case, and may have instead, been an example of comic relief at the expense of women. Shakespeare doesn’t just make use of Iago to attack women verbally with his dialogue, but also uses Iago as the antagonist that ‘poisons’ the protagonist, Othello’s, mind and personality through manipulation. With this, Othello changes with time in Cyprus, and so does his dialogue as a result, including the way he is shown as treating his wife. He appears to go from Desdemona being his "captain's captain" in Act 2 Scene 1 to "[Striking her] Devil!" in Act 4 Scene 1. This contrast and stark change in his language not only represents the reach that Iago’s manipulation has had but also of the way that men can easily fall to misogyny and anger if their wives lose any remaining positive reputation. “Captain’s captain” is definite praise by putting a woman above himself as a well-regarded general and important man to the state, placing her as one of very high status, as if she is a Duke, whereas “Devil!” puts her below even the lowest of creatures, and as a misdirected cause of all his problems. “[Striking her]” stands out due to it being among one of very few stage directions.
Honesty is an overarching theme in the play that affects everyone, including the women and their downfall. Marriages are built upon trust, honesty and love; Othello and Desdemona’s being no different. Whereas honesty is used in the literal sense for the expectation of men, it has multiple meanings for women’s expectations in the patriarchal society. The prop of the handkerchief is the material form of a “nuptial agreement” or wedding promise, also being able to represent the wedding sheets that they have yet to consummate their marriage with. This is supposed to be displaying the sanctity of marriage and Desdemona’s purity as a maiden, however, it is instead used as a weapon against not only her honesty but also her virginity. By association, this closely links her downfall and branding of being a whore to this symbol of purity, which is incredibly ironic. Emilia is also impacted by the theme of honesty over the handkerchief, but instead of the prop being symbolic of her tragic downfall, it is instead her actions involving it cause both her own and Desdemona’s: Emilia "to the advantage… took't up " in Act 3 Scene 3, showing her to be, to some, little more than a common, lying thief. This act of dishonesty is linked to her sexuality shortly after, in the same scene when dialogue between herself and her husband occurs: “Do not you chide… I have a thing for you.” This is an innuendo, painting the handkerchief and its retrieval as if it’s a sexual favour for her husband that he has had to “woo” her with affection for. Othello uses the word “honest”, not only for proclaiming Iago’s innocence (“This fellow’s of exceeding honesty,”), but also his own wife’s innocence and purity or maidenhood in Act 3 Scene 3. Her chastity, stemming from the word chaste, meaning honest, appears to be rather important to Othello, due to its repetition. The fact she is said to come from Venice, the “pleasure capital of Europe, especially in its sexual tolerance.” in Honningman’s words, is Othello’s possible need to clarify to himself that she is honest, unlike the stereotypical woman from that area. It may also explain the way that Shakespeare paints him as being rather preoccupied with her maidenhood, and why he has quite a bit of dialogue referring to him having not consummated his marriage yet, but still being desperate to do so. Marrying this pure woman and having sex with her would make her honest to him, as a way of taming her from her stereotype. “The purchase made, the fruits are to ensue: that profit’s yet to come ‘tween me and you." in Act 2 Scene 3 is a good example of Shakespeare’s use of both innuendo and symbolism of female fertility with “fruit”. It also explores how Desdemona and her body is portrayed as a good to be “purchased” and presumably makes any heirs simply a “profit” to be made from that purchase. This paints her as a prostitute or a whore even before Iago has begun to override his love for Desdemona with manipulation. This brings up the topic of the Madonna-Whore complex, a Freudian concept where men paint women as needing to be both perfectly pure and ‘intact’ but still willing to provide sexual pleasure for men whenever they want. This concept can be built upon by considering Toril Moi and Judith Butler’s interpretations of femininity. They believe that when one is born female, societal expectations are placed upon her, in the form of gender roles and stereotypes. Both the Madonna-Whore complex and the majority of silencing, oppressive roles being curated and policed by men, make it so women need to act as feminine as possible to avoid ostracisation. Shakespeare as a man creates women that are seen to be somewhat limited to this complex as one of their roles, representing how men do this to a systemic level, both in Elizabethan times and, arguably in modern times as well.
The main way women are presented in Othello is as tragic victims; collateral damage from the feud between their husbands, taking many aspects of various tragedies as a part of this. Ruth Vanita argues that “Most domestic tragedies’ presentations of the torture… of the guilty wife were intended as a warning to women.” Othello appears to be an exception for this, however, as the women in this play are presented as being ‘good wives’ for the most part, by being obedient and loyal to their husbands. Neither of the women is guilty of any crime or discretion. This conflict is between the men alone, making these women tragic victims. Dramatic irony is utilized by Shakespeare in Act 3 Scene 4 when Desdemona asserts that Othello is “true of mind”. This elicits sympathy from both a past and modern audience for Desdemona, and it also causes the audience to feel pity for her true and pure feelings of love; an aspect of the Aristotelian tragedy, a common influence during Elizabethan and Jacobean tragedies, and a cause of Catharsis. She is presented as naive here, and as an innocent tragic victim of Iago’s scheme as the villain to emphasize the severity of the machinations, and to cause a greater catharsis than would have been otherwise. In the same scene, we see Emilia’s monologue expressing frustration and possible authorial intrusion through it, particularly through the phrase: "Do we not have affections/desires for sport and frailty as men have?" The frustration here is directed towards the differing societal standards for men and women, by Shakespeare, where men are allowed to do as they please, however, women are ostracised for the same behaviours, for example in the case of affairs. Emilia is further victimised in the play due to her role as a catalyst for the conflict between Othello and Iago: "If it not for some purpose of import,/Give't me again. Poor lady, she'll run mad when she shall lack it." She has been manipulated by her husband to cause distress and heartbreak, and she is portrayed as feeling deep guilt for what actions she has committed, without the fault being truly her own. This short soliloquy allows the audience to finally gain some personal insight into her true feelings, after her predominant silence. This is significant as the first major piece of characterisation that Shakespeare provides for her is that of kindness and empathy for her fellow woman. Structurally, men completely dominate the play, with huge amounts of the text being dedicated to the men alone, particularly Iago, whose soliloquies appear as Senecan tragedy, and when the actresses for the women are present on stage, they sometimes just stand there and look pretty, present, but absent in practice, representing one of the roles that they must conform to survive.
Overall, Shakespeare's presentation of women in Othello is that of being a restricted class, oppressed by stereotypes and patriarchal society to create submissive women that men can use. It may be through catharsis that an audience would gain enjoyment through the loss of power these women experience. It is very much shown to be a negative construction that forces women to act in certain ways, fulfil the roles men want them to, creating entrapment for women in unhappy marriages and I believe Shakespeare to be criticising this through the presentation of the women in this play.
