Othello reveals the Disempowerment of Women

William Shakespeare’s Othello reveals the disempowerment of women in the patriarchal society existing in the Elizabethan era. Though the female characters of Othello were subordinate to the men, the women pose a threat to the patriarchal society. This threat of women is that they are a weakness to the men of the play, their beliefs differ from the norm of their society and women are an unknowing source of havoc. Although modern day society is still patriarchal, women have been allowed more rights and authority.

Throughout the play it is revealed that women are the weakness of and therefore a threat to men. Although women of this era were to be submissive to men, they did have a small degree of power over them. Michael Cassio mentions this when Montano enquires about Desdemona. Cassio replies,

She that I spake of, our great captain’s captain, (II.i.74)

This is an example of the view Cassio has on wives – that they are the only people that can have full control of a man. Essentially this reveals the threat women pose as wives to the patriarchal society as they can exercise some control over their husbands and therefore having some control of the society. He also implies that Desdemona has authority over Othello whilst being the stereotypical Venetian woman; silent, obedient and chaste.

This power of women over men goes to the extent that men die from their loss of Desdemona. It is made known in the last act that Brabantio had died of grief for his daughter’s elopement; Gratiano says this to the corpse of Desdemona, blaming her for her father’s death:

…thy father’s dead…pure grief

Shore his old thread in twain… (V.ii.203-204)

The grief of the loss of his daughter weakened Brabantio to the point of death, which ...

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...women have positions in political leadership. Even in Australia there are women in high places including: Julia Gillard, the Deputy Prime Minister; Quentin Bryce, the governor general and Anna Bligh, the Queensland premier . This threatens the male-driven society, as increasing numbers of women are elected into leadership, weakening the patriarchy.

Male dominance of the patriarchal society depicted in Othello was subtly challenged by the female characters. Women being weaknesses and sources of havoc threaten the patriarchal society and though unsuccessful, society has changed to become more tolerant to the female gender and allow for women to have mostly the same careers as the male gender even to the point of leading a country or a state. The threat women pose to patriarchal society is still current but not as subtle as it was in the Shakespearean play, Othello.