Two interpretations of Othello: a feminist reading, and a reading based on class and power

Essay by redlaurenHigh School, 11th grade September 2004

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Shakespeare's tragedy Othello has been brought to the stage hundreds, thousands of times with many different interpretations and readings due to its vast history of literary debate and analysis. Its thematic concerns are expansive and open to interpretation: they range from tragedy, love, power, jealousy, trust, class and race, and the actions of its characters often provoke controversy and harsh criticism, from Othello's "fatal flaw" of envy, to Desdemona's trivial persistence and Iago's sinister and deadly plotting. Modern audiences, too, have certain expectations and ideas about the play, and it is vital, when producing a play like Othello to take these expectations into consideration. For these reasons, I am proposing two potential readings, or interpretations of the play, a feminist reading and a reading based on the themes of class and power.

FEMINIST READING

A feminist reading would give voice to the play's three female characters: Desdemona, Emilia and Bianca (the play's only female survivor), provoking sympathy within the audience for them and portraying them as the true victims of the avoidable tragedy.

A feminist reading stems from the fact that in Shakespeare's times, women, whether married or not, fell roughly into two categories: that of a fair, innocent and virgin, or a cuckolding whore. A feminist reading also recognises that it is the men's deplorable attitudes in regard to women and gender that in part caused the tragedy, for instance, Othello's response to Emilia insistence that Desdemona is honest, "She says enough; yet she's a simple bawd/That cannot say as much" (Act 4 Sc 2). The three focus scenes here are Act 1 Scene 3, Act 4 Scene 3 and Act 5 Scene 2. Attention must also be paid to Bianca, who plays an unknowing role in Othello's jealousy. She receives Desdemona's handkerchief from Cassio...