Desdemona, in common with Emilia and Bianca, suffers abuse at the hands of powerful men asserting their traditional role of power in Elizabethan society. Her father misjudges and then rejects her; Roderigo seeks to commit adultery with Desdemona; Iago uses her cruelly in his plot for revenge; and her husband Othello ignores her statements of innocence and then silences her.
“My daughter is not for thee; and now, in madness, Being full of supper and distempering draughts”. This shows Brabantio’s rejection of Desdemona after he discovers that she has married Othello.
Othello also abuses Desdemona and asserts his power over her, especially shown through dramatic devices such as the stage direction ‘smothers her’ in Act 5 Scene II.
This would be a very dramatic event on stage to appeal to the Elizabethan desire for tension. Desdemona fights valiantly to keep her life until the end, yet ultimately Othello silences her. Her last words can be interpreted as her taking control of her own fate, protecting her husband or even just the words of a powerless figure acting out her role of the innocent victim. “And have you mercy too!” This illustrates her loving and loyal nature as she begs for her life.
Emilia plays a similar role to that of Desdemona regarding her submission to her husband’s will.
She steals the handkerchief that Othello gave to Desdemona under her husband’s bidding.
“What will you give me now For that same handkerchief?” The fact that Iago obtained this handkerchief was crucial in allowing him to convince Othello that Cassio was cheating with Desdemona. This means that in Emilia’s loyalty to her husband and Elizabethan conventions, she has unknowingly betrayed her closest friend Desdemona.
However, despite helping Iago execute his plot, she finally denies his will by revealing his plot and in so doing, challenges Elizabethan ideas of women.
“Tis proper I obey him, but not now”. This goes against the Protestant view of the time that women were expected to follow the dictates of their husbands without complaint. Emilia disobeys Iago’s command to go home and carries on for which she is killed by her husband. This is similar to the fate of Desdemona in that for both Emilia and Desdemona, their one betrayal of the important men in their lives cost them their lives, even though they were totally loyal otherwise.
This also continues the theme of women being abused in Othello as Emilia is used by Iago firstly to get the handkerchief of Desdemona that was vital to his plan, and then he kills her for her one betrayal just as Desdemona is repeatedly abused despite only one incident that was considered wrong.
As the play progresses we see the changing roles of Desdemona and Emilia. Whereas Desdemona becomes less assertive in the second half of the play, Emilia’s role becomes more independent and important. Emilia is sharp-witted and the energetic defender of Desdemona, voicing the audience’s outrage at the treatment Desdemona receives. For example when she jumps to defend her against Othello’s accusations,
“I durst, my lord, to wager she is honest”. This shows her telling Othello what the audience is most probably thinking in Desdemona’s defence.
Emilia’s language is usually straight-talking and down to earth as in the following quotation where Emilia is telling Desdemona about men’s true nature:
“Their wives have sense like them: they see and smell… And have not we affections,
Desires for sport, and frailty, as men have? “
The different styles of language in ‘Othello’ are am important part of the play’s power to hold and move the audience. Another example of this is the use of soliloquy. In ‘Othello’ Shakespeare allows his male characters to use this devise much more than the females, thus emphasising their power and importance.
Bianca, the third female character is shown to have both similarities and differences with Desdemona and Emilia. She is portrayed as the least of the three main women in the social hierarchy. Whereas Desdemona is seen as an innocent caste bride, and Emilia is cast as a down-to-earth, matron figure, Bianca is the prostitute.
This is indicated when Cassio answers
“I marry her? What! A customer!” This would have been interpreted as a dramatic, if slightly irrelevant, revelation by the audience as Elizabethans were strongly opposed to prostitution. However, despite this, Shakespeare does generate some sympathy for the character of Bianca through her self defence,
“I am no strumpet, but of life as honest
As you that thus abuse me.”
All of this is in keeping with the innovating and challenging times in which Shakespeare wrote. It was the time of the Renaissance and the Reformation in which the emphasis was on individual conscience. The audience would have welcomed this individual thinking as it did not reinforce traditional values but perhaps would have made them question and examine the beliefs, assumptions and politics upon which their Elizabethan society was founded.
Bianca was similar to the other female in characters in that she was used and abused by the male characters. For example when Cassio orders her, “Go to, woman!
Throw your vile guesses in the devil’s teeth.” Her relationship with Cassio is less idealistic than that of Desdemona and Othello but she is still a genuine and loving partner. “Save you, friend Cassio!” This demonstrates her fond affection for Cassio even if it is not an ideal relationship.
Ironically, despite Bianca’s position in the lowest social standing of the three main women, she is the only surviving woman of the play.
To conclude, there are both similarities and differences in the roles of the three main female characters in ‘Othello.’
Desdemona is the heroine, Emilia the earthy matron and Bianca the prostitute.
They suffer at the hands of powerful men in their society, but all exhibit admirable qualities of loyalty and commitment despite this. Two of the women are destroyed by the end of the play and masculine power seems on the face of it to triumph. But this masculine power is not condoned by Shakespeare. All three women are in fact portrayed as having an inner strength which shows itself right up to the moment of death in the case of Desdemona.
I feel overall that the similarities are more striking and memorable than the differences between the roles of the three main female characters in ‘Othello.’
