Essay Tough Love in William Shakespeare’s play, Othello

In William Shakespeare’s tragic play, Othello, Desdemona asserts, â€Å"‘wouldst thou do such a deed for all the world?’† (4.3.76). During a friendly banter, Desdemona asks Emilia this very question; would she cheat on her husband to help him become monarch and have power over all the world? She quietly replies that she would only in secret, but only for her husband’s own good. This question plays an essential role throughout Othello because Emilia is first accused of cheating on her husband. Additionally, she is obsequious towards Iago because of her female role and responsibility as a wife. As a result of being so obedient, she later steals the highly valued handkerchief because her husband desired it. Shakespeare utilizes Emilia to portray†¦show more content†¦Additionally, Emilia’s adverse view on marriage and her husband matches Iago’s unfavorable view on women and marriage being less than enjoyable. Demonstrating her disr egard for marriage, Emilia declares, â€Å"‘they are all but stomachs, and we all but food; they eat us hungerly, and when they are full, they belch us’† (3.4.104-60. By saying this, she is showing knowledge and experience with the relations of men and women and the cruel manner they treat each other. Emilia verbalizes how men only use women to get what they desire, and disregard them when they cannot be expended to any further extent. In the play, Iago uses Emilia to seize Desdemona’s handkerchief, his treasured article of Desdemona’s as a gift of love from Othello. After gaining possession of the handkerchief, he wants to present evidence of Othello’s wife cheating on him. The final result of the stolen handkerchief is death of multiple people including Emilia, Desdemona, and Iago. Emilia’s thoughts and sayings pertaining to marriage, if taken seriously, could have prevented numerous deaths. Although a minor character, Shakespeare implements Emilia, and her decisions to remain silent or voice her opinions, to establish his storyline and eventually tie it all together into a tragic play. Emilia’s choice to remain silent as the other characters spoke helped drive the play’s action because of her unforeseen insight on the dilemma aboutShow MoreRelatedOthello : William Shakespeare s Othello2542 Words   |  11 Pages3 March 2015 Othello Introduction Shakespeare is the second most quoted writer in the English language – after the various writers of the Bible. Many of Shakespeare’s ideas for the play Othello came from a collection of tales written by Giraldi Cinthio. In Othello the character of Iago acts as the prominent main character throughout the play, even though he plays the role of the antagonist to the other central characters in the comedy Iago is the tragic hero. 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