Male Dominance or Female Elegance

We all can agree that Shakespeare has always had a way with creating different roles for males and females. Look back on Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet and even Othello—who died first? Exactly, a woman. What does he mean by this, who knows, but we do know that woman always seem to get the short end of the stick when it comes to Shakespeare. We see men represented as dominant figures, honored by the society surrounding them. Women are presented to be honored by their beauty and grace—obeying their husbands and following orders.

In Othello, we start out by learning Desdemona is a beautiful young woman who is honored by many other men for her loveliness. Desdemona is married to the famous, General Othello, who is highly regarded by many. Shakespeare gives Othello this really long monologue explaining all he has been through—which, may we add, is very impressive. So, now we have this very positive look on Othello, but what do we really know about Desdemona? She is beautiful, betrayed her father, and went and married Othello with knowing him for a very short amount of time. Not exactly a great way to be presented.

Let’s switch characters for a second and talk about Iago and Emilia. Throughout the whole play, Iago has this incredibly brilliant, impressive plan. For awhile, it is just him and Roderigo—of course, we don’t really think anything of it. Roderigo doesn’t fully understand what he got himself into, and we are just blown away at how Iago’s plan is playing out. But when Emilia jumps into play, and she picks up the handkerchief and gives it to Othello, we can’t stand her! We think things like, “how could she do that, she’s a backstabber, and now we pretty much hate her for her betrayal”. Even though, what Iago was doing was way worse than the one thing Emilia did. Shakespeare just has a way with making us understand things in certain ways.

Cheating. Isn’t it crazy that cheating goes all the way back to “Shakespeare Times?” What was really interesting though is, Iago suspected Emilia cheated on him with Othello and Othello suspected Desdemona cheated on him with Cassio. Why is it only men suspecting their wives are unloyal? Why isn’t it the other way around? These women have total trust in their husbands, and the if the husbands suspect their wives are cheating they just want to kill them. Shakespeare also has the men talking terribly about their wives. Othello several times in the play says things like, “Ay, let her rot and perish and be damned tonight, for she shall not live” (Act 4 Scene 1, lines 200-201). Desdemona never says one rotten word to Othello. Othello even continues with, “I will chop her into messes” (Act 4 Scene 1, line 219)! He even strikes her at one point during the play. What is hard to understand, is how someone could think and say such horrible things when he hasn’t even spoken to his wife to find out if it is 100% true that she cheated on him.

Shakespeare even had Desdemona and Emilia talking about cheating on their husbands. Desdemona questions, “Dost thou in conscious think—tell me, Emilia—that there be such women do abuse their husbands in such gross time” (Act 4 SCene 3, lines 67-69)? We are given evidence here that Desdemona would never do such a thing to her beloved Othello, but yet Othello still wants her dead. We also see Bianca who is known as Cassio’s “strumpet” or “whore” in the play. Women are represented as “strumpets” while men are represented as brilliant schemers and killers.

The gender roles in Othello are quite interesting. Shakespeare gives us so many to think about. Why he does it still remains an important question. It does add a certain flame to the storyline; it draws attention to important factors he wants us to see. Maybe Shakespeare's gender roles were the start of many more in literature throughout the years. Maybe gender roles is what makes literature great.

Iago and Emilia More Threatening Than They Look?

We knew at the very beginning of Othello that Iago was absolutely brilliant.  His performance was breathtaking throughout the whole play. Don’t be fooled though, we can all agree we hated Iago once or twice throughout the play—maybe it was the hatred held towards him that made us love him more. All of Iago’s schemes and lies weren’t 100% his doing. If it wasn’t for his wife Emilia and that darned handkerchief— the drama would have never unfolded like it did. What’s a Shakespeare play without drama?

When proposed with the question, “Who is to blame for the tragic outcome of this play?”, Iago’s name should come immediately to mind. First of all, can we please take note of how impressive it was how he constantly maintained his “Honest Iago” status? Brilliant! We can all agree that at the beginning of the play, we didn’t understand Iago’s strange, evil methods. First we saw him side with Roderigo on winning Desdemona, and then we saw him all buddied up with Othello. Then of course that shocking line where Iago tells Roderigo, “I have told thee often, and I retell thee again and again, I hate the Moor” (Act 1 Scene 3, lines 407-409). As rightly so, we considered Iago evil. Who wouldn’t? The guy is betraying his best friend because Othello gave Cassio the Lieutenant position and he has suspicion that Emilia cheated on Iago with him. What ever happened to confronting someone with your concerns?

Iago’s scheming leads him to all the places he wants to go. He is on good terms with Othello, and pretty much everyone else around him. Everyone admires him, especially for his honesty (wink). One person in particular admires him so much, that she would do anything to gain his attention. Emilia, his dear wife stoops to a whole new level. The famous Handkerchief scene finally comes into play! So, before this scene happens, Iago plants the idea that Desdemona is cheating on Othello with Cassio into Othello’s head. When Iago goes to “spy” and find out more information about the matter, he just happens to run into some good luck. Emilia happened to be an innocent bystander when Desdemona dropped her handkerchief when trying to sooth Othello. Emilia recalls how her “wayward husband hath a hundred times Wooed me to steal it” (Act 3 Scene 3, lines 336-337). Emilia is desperate for Iago’s attention, so without even considering why Iago wanted her to steal it, she picks it up and gives it to him. Unfortunately for Emilia, after handing over the prized possession, Iago shows no appreciation. Instead he snatches it away and tells Emilia, “I have use for it. Go, leave me” (Shakespeare, line 368). Emilia, of course doesn’t even realize the catastrophe she just created.

Without Emilia picking up the handkerchief, the accusation of Desdemona cheating on Othello would have never really progressed because of the lack of evidence Iago would of had. Iago plants the seed and Emilia waters the roots causing the flower (plan) to grow. The two worked as a team, whether Emilia knew it or not—she betrayed both Desdemona and Othello. Just as Iago wanted, Othello loses his mind. Once again, Iago helps this situation by constantly confronting Othello with the issue. When Othello tells Iago, “Get me some poison, Iago, this night. I’ll not expostulate with her lest body and beauty unprovide my mind again. This night, Iago” (Act 4 Scene 1, lines 223-225), Iago jumps right in with, “Do it not with poison. Strangle her in her bed, even the bed she hath contaminated” (Act 4 Scene 1, lines 226-227). WHOA! The fact that he can say something like that to Othello, and have Othello listen to him, supports the fact that he has the whole plan under control. He even moves on to having Roderigo fight with Cassio, and stabs Cassio without Cassio knowing it was Iago. Let’s not forget Roderigo’s death either! Are you impressed yet? Come on, give the guy some credit, that is pretty sneaky!

Even though Iago and Emilia didn’t luck out in the end, they are 100% to blame for the tragic outcome of this play. They do deserve an applause though, because come on, their whole performance was pretty darn impressive. We do also have to give some credit to the handkerchief, because without it, all this drama and tragedy wouldn’t have happened.

Some Tricks of The Trade

I COULD start by telling you how reading Shakespeare is simple, understandable, quick to learn, and fun. By doing that though, I would be telling a lie. Moment of truth: I hated Romeo and Juliet and I hated Hamlet. You know how when you were younger and your parents always told you to never say the word hate, because it was unnecessary and you should never show hatred toward anything? Well, I hated reading Shakespeare, and I was very firm on the those feelings. I didn’t understand a sentence I read, and then when I reached the end and everyone was dead, I was so confused. When I tell you that I found some tricks that will actually make you understand what you are reading and enjoy it, I mean it and who knows, you might even become a Shakespeare expert!

The first thing I started out doing was reading super, super slow. Now, mind you it will take a lot more time, but when you are first starting your Shakespeare experience or reading a new book of his, reading slow makes a huge difference with the information you are obtaining. Even now, after I have become a better Shakespeare reader, I still read slowly because when you read faster, I just think you can’t catch everything that is happening and then you don’t appreciate reading it. After I read slow, I would reread, and reread again. Each time I reread, the more I understood. It is time consuming, but so beneficial! 

While reading a play, let alone Shakespeare, one thing that always threw me off were the lines. I always wanted to read line by line instead of sentence by sentence. When you read line by line, you don’t fully gather and understand what you’re reading. Sentence by sentence makes it a lot easier and a lot more understandable. A sentence flows better while reading, and you have a better time comprehending the meaning of the play.

I am not one of those readers that can zip through a book, play, or article and give you this long summary on what happened, the characters represented and the meaning behind it. It takes me time and a lot of work. So when it came to reading Shakespeare, it wasn’t a piece of cake, unfortunately. I appreciate literature, so of course I want to know the characters, the feelings, the storyline, and the meaning behind what I am reading. So, with reading slow, reading sentence by sentence, and rereading, I also started reading aloud. When you read aloud you are reading slow, but it also helps you visualize what is happening. I get more into a reading, and understand it so much better because I feel like I am actually in the play, or book. When reading in my head, I find myself often getting distracted. I start thinking about other things, and then by the time I focus back on the book I am completely lost.

I always thought the worst of Shakespeare. I hated reading his work because I wasn’t obtaining the information and I wasn’t understanding what was even happening! After reading more of him and uses these little tricks, I actually appreciate his work! I understand what is happening, and I actually enjoy reading him now. I am sure you are thinking there is no way you could possibly enjoy reading Shakespeare, but I promise you, take these tricks and try again. You might surprise yourself!