An important question that I posed in my blog post was if the play of Othello agrees with the way Iago speaks about women throughout the whole play? I feel that this is an important question because I feel like it is a hidden issue throughout this whole play. Iago has spoken negatively about plenty of women including his own wife. I do believe that it is accepted by the play to a certain extent. Women are viewed as people who are powerless cheaters that can’t make their own decisions. From the very beginning, Desdemona is questioned about her decision to marry Othello by her father, Roderigo and Iago. Her own father was convinced that she was put under a spell from Othello to make her love him. That shows that women are powerless and are susceptible to magic and are unable to choose who she loves.

Also, the play only has three female characters: Desdemona, Bianca and Emilia. All three women are very important to the story as a whole but not one in a positive way. It shows how Shakespeare feels about women and marriage. Iago is clearly a villain and he has to be in all aspects of the play so that is why he speaks of women in such a derogative way. Also, I feel that Iago feels superior to women and that is why he speaks on him the way he does.

All women are casted as unfaithful. Even if they were not that is what the main view of women is. Emilia is rumored to have slept with Othello according to Iago and Desedomona is manipulated by Iago to believe she has had an affair with Cassio. Bianca is the last woman in this play and she is a prostitute. She falls in love with Cassio you see that once he gets wounded. It seems that the only power that women have is their sexuality. “if the general camp,/Pioneers and all, had tasted her sweet body,/So I had nothing known”(page 143, lines 397-400) You see that Othello is infatuated with her sexuality. They are viewed as temptresses throughout this play. Other than that they are viewed as possessions and weak.

The most powerful thing I have seen from a woman throughout this whole plays is from Emilia. She is the one that unfolds and tells everyone how Iago is to blame for all of this tragedy. I would have never predicted that the antagonist’s wife would be the one that will tell all about Iago. She was very loyal to Iago throughout the whole play but she put that aside because she knew what was right.

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