1. OTHELLO SHAKESPEARE

2. ASSIGNMENT  Examine the ways Shakespeare reveals the treatment of women in ‘Othello’.  Examine the ways Duffy reveals the treatment of women in ‘Havisham’. You may refer to other poems also.  What is your response to the pieces of literature you have read? Make links between the ways the writers have considered and presented the treatment of women.

3. WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE  William Shakespeare was born in Stratford upon Avon in 1564.  The popularity of Othello (written around 1604)  Othello is one of Shakespeare's most popular plays. There are all sorts of reasons for this but perhaps the main one is that the basic story still strikes a chord with modern audiences.  We see what happens when a man, Iago, is passed over for promotion. He is determined to get revenge and starts to manipulate everyone around him.  Iago's general, Othello, is tortured by jealousy and one small item, a missing handkerchief, leads to distrust, broken friendships, murder and suicide.

4. OTHELLO…THEMES Jealousy… Hypocrisy… Passion… Prejudice… Revenge…

5. JEALOUSY  Jealousy was viewed as something irrational and linked to the deadly sin of envy.  It was viewed as a sudden infection against which there was no prevention or cure.  It was thought of as eroding trust and it dissolved the bonds holding together marriages, families and social frameworks.  Being jealous could let in evil and chaos and it was a state greatly feared by Shakespeare’s audiences.

6. PLOT  Othello is a general, a military leader, in Venice  But he is an outsider because he is from another country— and of another race.  At the same time, the men in the army under Othello can’t be trusted.  Iago pretends to be Othello’s friend, but secretly resents him for passing him over for promotion.  But he also suspects an affair between Othello and his wife Emilia  Iago is determined to get revenge  He decides to attack Othello in his most vulnerable spot…  his love for Desdemona.  Othello talks to Desdemona and then attacks and kills her.  However, Emilia, Iago's wife, realises Desdemona is innocent and that her husband is guilty.

7. IMPORTANT DRAMATIC TERMS  Dramatic irony Shakespeare also makes use of dramatic irony, which is when the audience knows something which characters in the play do not. For instance, we know that Iago wants the handkerchief as evidence of Desdemona having an affair. However, even Emilia, who has picked up the handkerchief, has no idea he is using it for this reason.  A soliloquy (from Latin solo "to oneself" + loquor "I talk") is a device often used in drama when a character speaks to himself or herself, relating thoughts and feelings, thereby also sharing them with the audience…(Thinking out loud)

8. TYPES OF CHARACTERS IN OTHELLO  Venetians  Most are noblemen and women (Brabantio, Desdemona, Roderigo)  Also, there are the nobles’ servants (Emilia)  Some are soldiers (Cassio, Iago)  Others are part of Venetian government (the Duke)

9. TYPES OF CHARACTERS (CONT’D)  Moors (Othello)  Black nomadic people of the northern shores of Africa  They are believed to have converted to Islam in the 8 th century…but Othello is a Christian

10. MOORS (CONT’D)  Othello is a Moor  Discriminated against because of his race (black)  Othello has been accepted in some ways because he is a Christian and a military genius  Yet his marriage to Desdemona reflects the prevailing view toward interracial marriage.

11. IAGO  Iago is one of Shakespeare’s most sinister villains, often considered so because of the unique trust Othello puts in him, which he betrays while maintaining his reputation of honesty and dedication.  Shakespeare contrasts Iago with Othello’s nobility and integrity.  Iago is a malcontent – he has a bitter and cynical view of the world around him.

12. CULTURE AT THE TIME…THE WIFE’S STATUS  A woman was first the property of her father, and then, when she married: her husband.  Most women were housewives, and few women had jobs.  Poor and middle class wives were kept very busy doing housework and looking after children, and upper class women were kept busy organising and supervising the servants in big houses, and running their husbands' estates or businesses if they were away.  Marriages were usually arranged, except for the poorest people. Women usually brought with them a dowry (money from their family) into the marriage. Like a transaction  A wife had to obey her husband. This was believed to be ordained by both God and nature, so few dared to challenge it.  A woman was expected to be a virgin until marriage, then to submit completely to her husband's sexual needs.

13. EVIL WOMEN! The men in “Othello” have differing views of women – from Othello who idolizes his wife (Desdemona) to Iago who sees love as "merely a lust of the blood and a permission of the will“. The attitudes of the audience at the time are likely to have been varied too. In the Elizabethan times there was a long and well established tradition in the Church of what we would now call misogyny – women were distrusted simply because they were women. At the time it was assumed that women would cheat – it was part of their nature!

14. THE CUCKOLD Any man whose wife cheated on him (without his knowledge) was known as a cuckold. The word derives from “cuckoo” – the bird known for laying their eggs in another’s nest. It was highly undesirable to be considered a cuckold. All of the community would find out about it and it was considered a public humiliation. Cuckolds were often described as having horns – a hangover from the days when a cuckold was forced to parade around his town wearing antlers as a sign of his wife’s infidelity.

15. OTHELLO NOTES AND RESOURCES  These notes are only a selection of ideas, so make sure you add your own points as well. When writing the essay focus clearly on Shakespeare’s portrayal of the treatment of women, but don’t forget to include plenty of points about language and about how the fact that it’s a stage play is important.

16. HOW WOMEN ARE REVEALED…  Women as Possessions/Objects To his conveyance I assign my wife’ (I.3.283) To Othello...‘use Desdemona well’ (I.3.288). The word ‘use’ seems to connote the phrase ‘look after’, but also supports the Venetian expectation of women. Othello’s ‘loving’ words to Desdemona in Act II: ‘Come, my dear love,/The purchase made, the fruits are to ensue’ (II.3.8-9). Marriage is described as an act of ‘purchase’ Iago’s desire for revenge on Othello is, in part, dictated by his view of women as possessions. He believes that ‘it is thought abroad that ‘twixt my sheets/He’s done my office’ (I.3.381-2), In revenge for Othello’s supposed act, Iago wishes to be ‘evened with him, wife for wife’ (II.1.290). By sleeping with Desdemona, he believes that they will then be equal. The feelings of Desdemona and Emilia are completely disregarded in his plotting. The women are merely objects to be used in order to further his own desires.

17. WOMEN AS SUBMISSIVE  Desdemona herself declares that ‘I am obedient’ (III.3.89), continuing to obey Othello’s orders from the early ‘happy’ phase of their relationship through to the later stages of his jealous ravings.  She appears to have completely accepted her role as subordinate and obedient wife.  Emilia also indicates that she is aware of her ‘proper’ role in society. When revealing Iago’s plotting at the end of the play, she states that ‘Tis proper I obey him, but not now’ (V.2.195).  Bianca expresses a similar sentiment, consoling herself when Cassio spurns her by arguing that ‘I must be circumstanced’ (III.4.199): she feels compelled by the laws of society to be ‘circumstanced’ - to ‘put up with it’ - implying that she has no other choice.

18. WOMEN CAN BE POWERFUL  Emilia argues that women are physically no different to men: ‘Let husbands know, Their wives have sense like them; they see and smell, And have their palates both for sweet and sour As husbands have’ (IV.3.92-5) Women also suffer from the same ‘affections,/Desires for sport, and frailty’(IV.3.100) as men. (EQUAL?) ‘They eat us hungerly [men], and when they are full,/They belch us’ (III.4.101-2). Emilia suggests that men are brutish and simplistic, unable to control their desires with logical thought. It is perhaps ironic that the actions of Iago and Othello in this play confirm her arguments.

19. WOMEN AS ‘WHORES’  Othello’s fear of Desdemona’s sexuality erupts into slanderous abuse on a number of occasions. He refers to her as ‘whore’ (III.3.356), a ‘subtle whore’ (IV.2.20) and a ‘cunning whore’ (IV.2.88), in addition to multiple references to her as a ‘strumpet’  Bianca is described by Iago as a ‘housewife’ (IV.1.95) and ‘strumpet’ (IV.1.97), although there is no evidence to suggest that she actually is a prostitute.  Iago goes on to compound this stereotype by suggesting that all women are not as they appear. He seems to believe that all women are, essentially, ‘wild-cats’ (II.1.109) and ‘housewives’ (II.1.111). All three women of the play are accused of prostitution and inappropriate sexual conduct, yet it appears that none of them are guilty.

20. WORKSHOP  TKAM  1 ST & 3 RD Person narratives  Next week, writing up Othello essay  Make notes and you can come early from 4pm. I will be here to help you.  Monday 2.3.15 10.00 am in 4F-19  Thursday 5.3.15 10.30 in 4F-29  Friday 6.3.15 1.00 in 4F-18  Monday 9.3.15 1.00pm in 4F-06  Friday 13.3.15 9.00am in 4F-06