The characters Emilia and Desdemona in Shakespeare's Othello illustrate the distinction between that of an ordinary, respectful woman and that of a woman who dares to challenge the sexism of her time. But before drawing parallels between these two characters, we must know the story itself. Consumed by jealousy, a soldier in the Venetian army, Iago, takes revenge on his superior Othello for appointing an inexperienced man, Cassio, as lieutenant in his place, and for allegedly sleeping with his wife, Emilia. In Iago's fit of vengeance, he manipulates everyone around him in subtle ways, and as a result, he pits them against each other and ends up having Othello murder his own wife and Iago himself. even to murder Roderigo, until his plot is finally revealed, and he is sentenced to death. As a postcolonialist piece of writing, Shakespeare's Othello highlights key gender and racial disparities, beliefs, and inequalities experienced during its Renaissance staging. The gender aspect is shown through the characters Emilia and Desdemona, the two women and wives in the story. To be more specific, Desdemona in the story acts as the common and faithful wife – an ideal representation of the traditional values ​​of the time in which the story takes place – while Emilia acts as the rebellious and skeptical woman who does not is not afraid to defend human rights. her beliefs and herself as a whole. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Desdemona is, wholeheartedly, a representation of the ideal woman in terms of the stereotypical gender beliefs of her time. One quote in particular from Desdemona highlights her gender-related beliefs. The quote comes from a conversation about the role of women in society and infidelity between Desdemona and Emilia, and it reads: “Good night, good night. God sends me such uses, not to separate evil from evil, but to repair evil! (Shakespeare 4.3.80-81). Desdemona, after responding to Emilia's argument that women should essentially be strong-willed, says this quote to show that she strongly disagrees with what she says and will learn not to follow the actions of the resistant women that Emilia had declared. This shows that she remains committed to the societal norms of a woman and will behave accordingly, that is, she will be obedient, submissive and unassuming. By conforming to society in this way, she refuses to rise from the role of subordinate when she has the potential to make a difference. However, this role as a submissive and subordinate woman proves to be Desdemona's downfall, as later in the story she refuses to resist being murdered by her own husband and she even blames herself for his death to defend her husband . This excerpt clarifies Desdemona's situation as an inferior and abused woman (the subaltern) in the story: Desdemona is the classic, battered wife. Davidson summarizes this profile as follows: “Victims may exemplify society's old image of the ideal woman – submissive, religious, non-assertive, accepting of whatever the husband's life brings” (1978: 51). Furthermore, although her past may indicate some independence, the battered woman often views the man as superior and despises herself as inferior (Deats 36). Although Desdemona remains within her traditional, colonialist realm of thought of patriarchal society, Emilia presents herself as the champion of a more radical approach: that of an independent and resilient woman. Emilia is the opposite of Desdemona. Although Desdemona is friends with Emilia, Emilia contrasts sharply with her. The quotefollowing clearly represents Emilia's beliefs towards women and her role as a woman, and is spoken regarding her resistance to being silenced by her husband for exposing his evil plot to manipulate everyone and cause destruction: “'Twill out, it will come out. — Do I have peace? No, I will speak as liberally as the north. Let heaven and men and demons, let them all cry shame upon me, and yet I will speak” (Shakespeare 5.2.231-234). This quote shows that she is willing to stand up for herself despite the beliefs of the time that women should vehemently obey their husbands and should not interfere in a man's affairs. To expand on this quote, “When Iago orders Emilia to return home, he is addressing “old” Emilia, a wife who was psychologically his slave, who would do anything to please him, because she had learned as a 'wife obedience; she was his property. But at this point, the “new” Emilia has abandoned her conventional wifely behavior and broken away from her self-imposed constraints. Additionally, unlike Desdemona, she is more of herself than society desires, and although she dies at the hands of her husband like Desdemona, she dies knowing that she ultimately stood up to him. Alas, Emilia can be seen as essentially the feminist heroine of the story. She exposes her husband's malicious plot and clings to his beliefs as an independent and free woman even after his death. However, her triumphant but tragic end resulted in a situation similar to that of Desdemona. Although Desdemona and Emilia mirror each other, they still have certain similarities that illustrate the continuing plight of the suppression of women by men, regardless of the type of woman. Both women obeyed their husbands, whether at one point or throughout history. For most of the story, Emilia remained as faithful to her husband as Desdemona. Desdemona showed her loyalty throughout the story through her constant expressions of affection towards him and her acceptance of his abuse and orders; Emilia showed her loyalty by stealing Desdemona's handkerchief off the ground to give to her husband Iago, as ordered, and continuing her husband's plan by lying to Desdemona about the whereabouts of her handkerchief lost. Emilia is more surprising in this case because, despite explicitly expressing her progressive beliefs about the roles of men and women, she is still obliged to follow her husband's orders, imposed by the strict socio-cultural traditions and beliefs that govern her. surround in his time. . Essentially, the world in which the story takes place (Venice and its territories) is a patriarchal society in which “women must see themselves as “other” and man as principal or “subject”; banish ideas of self-sovereignty; rely on economic independence to ensure freedom; and renounce difficult societal models” (Dash 249). Due to this patriarchal culture in place, Desdemona and Emilia were coerced and reduced to subordinate positions. Additionally, another similarity, Desdemona and Emilia were murdered by their own husbands. At first glance this may appear only as a very physical similarity that falls outside the bounds of idealistic thought and proper Shakespearean criticism; however, one should note the significance and symbolism posed by the murderous husbands in the story. Throughout the story, Desdemona and Emilia are constantly dictated to and have their voices suppressed by their own husbands. As the story progresses, so does the evidence of gender-based abuse, until the abuse finally culminates with the.