Othello -- the Tragedy of

Othello -- the Tragedy of Gender Divisions, the Tragedy of War Othello" is more of a play about the breakdown of communication between men and women than it is a play about race. The play depicts a military society where men and women essentially speak different languages, and exist in states of constant incomprehension and even hatred.

Men such as Othello see women as either angels or devils, and Iago uses Othello's wife Desdemona as a weapon against the general in his revenge, rather than sees her as a unique human being with her own thoughts, feelings, and desires.

Othello is guilty of the same crime of male egoism himself, when he takes Desdemona's supposed transgression as a violation of his status and masculinity rather than trusts in the innate goodness of a woman who gave up everything, including her family, to marry a man of a different race. This equation of the female body with male honor is seen early on in the play, as well as the difficulty for men and women to communicate effectively.

Desdemona's own father cannot see that his daughter is falling in love with Othello, even though he saw it happen before his very eyes, in his own house.

Brabatino says his daughter must be seduced by Othello's witchcraft because she was: "A maiden never bold;/of spirit so still and quiet, that her motion/Blush'd at herself; and she, in spite of nature,/of years, of country, credit, every thing,/to fall in love with what she fear'd to look on!" (1.3) When Brabatino learns that there was no witchcraft afoot, it is he, rather than Iago, who places the first seeds of doubt in Othello's mind about Desdemona's potential future transgressions: "Look to her, Moor, if thou hast eyes to see:/She has deceived her father, and may thee" (1.3).

Iago uses Othello's lack of experience with women (as Othello is a military general who has spent most of his life, by his own admission "...little bless'd with the soft phrase of peace" and "...little of this great world can I speak, / More than pertains to feats of broil and battle,") as a way of swaying Othello's opinion against his new wife (1.3).

But even though his misogynistic phrases are clearly designed to serve a purpose when speaking to Othello, even when he has no ulterior motive (as much as Iago may be said to speak honestly, or speak his heart during the course of the play) Iago spouts women-hating rhetoric to his wife and Desdemona (1.3).

Of his own wife he says: "Come on, come on; you are pictures out of doors,/Bells in your parlors, wild-cats in your kitchens,/Saints m your injuries, devils being offended,/Players in your housewifery, and housewives' in your beds" (1.4). This cruel treatment of Emilia no doubt explains Emilia's own hatred of men: "But I do think it is their husbands' faults/if wives do fall...Then let them use us well: else let them know,/the ills we do, their ills instruct us so" (4.3).

The reaction of Desdemona's father, Iago's misogyny, and Emilia's general condemnation of men shows that all of the hyper-militarized society is bent upon striking a distinction between men and women, female frailty and male honor, without really considering female individuality and the potential for women to do good after they become sexualized in marriage. Desdemona must beg to follow her husband, and not remain behind "a moth of peace" because women are regarded as extraneous to the war effort (1.4).

Even when he loves Desdemona the most, right after he has married her, Othello is willing to immediately go to war, because his entire world and social status revolve around war.

Society is so divided between men and women, male and female duties and obligations, that the simple and innocent act of Desdemona making an appeal for Cassio becomes tainted with sexuality, partly because of Iago's prompting and his machinations, of course, but also because all actions in society are seen in black and white terms -- Desdemona is either wholly innocent and unable to be charmed by Othello in her father's view, or so sexual that she is immediately looking for another man on her wedding-night.

Iago paints for Othello not simply a negative picture of Desdemona, but of an entire society where men are cuckolded: "that cuckold lives in bliss/Who, certain of his fate, loves not his wronger...I know our country disposition well; / in Venice they do let heaven see the pranks/They dare not show their husbands; their best conscience/Is not to leave't undone, but keep't unknown" (3.3).

Iago, ironically, even uses the fact that Desdemona loved and married the Moor against her chastity, echoing Brabatino's rhyme: "She did deceive her father, marrying you" (3.3). However, Iago adds a terrifying, seemingly strange reading of Othello's wooing with words of Othello's military deeds: "And when she seem'd to shake and fear your looks, / She loved them most" (3.3).

In other words, women really crave a strong military man who is violent towards their bodies, rather than a tender and loving man who is respectful of their honor, and if they do not have a violent man, they will seek this male violence through infidelity.

This suggestion is belied by Emilia's misery, as she cries out against the injustice "say they strike us" and uses male oppression as a justification for her own possible or simply imagined infidelity to Iago: "have not we affections, / Desires for sport, and frailty, as men have?" (4.3). In response to Emilia, Desdemona makes a plea, not based in the rhetoric of gender but humanity.

This makes her unique of almost all of the characters in the play, as even Cassio shows a lack of respect towards a woman who loves him, Bianca, simply because she is a prostitute. "...heaven me such uses send, / Not to pick bad from bad, but by bad mend!" says Desdemona, in other words, let me heal rather than turn against my husband in vengeance, as Emilia counsels me to do.

(Emilia's vengeance makes her a good 'match' for Iago, even though she is basically a positively portrayed character in the way that she exposes her husband's plot at the expense of her life -- the play suggests that an endless economy of revenge simply breeds more violence.) However, Desdemona's pacific attitude ultimately cannot heal a society that.