The treatment of women

Quote

Act/Scene

Analysis

“She has deceived her father, and may thee” (Brabantio to Othello)

Act 1

Scene 3

Dramatic irony

“Foul thief, where has thou stowed my daughter?” (Brabantio to Othello)

Act 1

Scene 3

Accusing tone; women treated as the property of men; likening of women to objects that can be ‘stolen’ or claimed by other men

“You are... devils being offended, players in housewifery, and hussies in your beds” (Iago)

Act 2

Scene 1

Metaphor; plural nouns that suggest this applies to all women

“When I love thee not,/ Chaos is come again” (Othello)

Act 3

Scene 3

Foreshadowing when Othello becomes so angry towards Desdemona, that chaos and death occurs – a weakness Iago exploits

“They are all but stomachs, and we all but food” (Emilia)

Act 3

Scene 4

Metaphor

“Subtle whore... and yet she’ll kneel and pray” (Othello)

Act 4

Scene 2

Contrast of whoredom and religion to signify Desdemona’s appearance of purity; adoption of Iago’s derogatory language emblematic of how he has corrupted the play itself

“Are you not a strumpet?... I took you for that cunning whore of Venice / that married with Othello” (Othello)

Act 4

Scene 2

Third person voice to further distance himself from Desdemona; harsh pejorative attacks on Desdemona’s virtue

“I have not deserved this” (Desdemona)

Act 4

Scene 1

Defiant tone

“Whate’ver you be, I am obedient” (Desdemona)

Act 4

Scene 3

Definitive statement about the true nature of women in the play.

“It is their husbands’ faults / If wives do fall” (Emilia)

Act 4

Scene 3

Reinforcing the dichotomy between roles of men and women

“This is the fruit of whoring” (Iago)

Act 5

Scene 1

Pejorative language