Gender becomes a significant player in Othello because it serves as a catalyst for Othello's eventual breakdown. Iago brings the matter of sex into the play during the first scene as well. He is quick to tell Roderigo that he will win the affection of Desdemona - eventually when she suffers disappointment from Othello. Iago and Brabantio establish a perception about women that is unflattering. Women are seen as little more than objects and property - notions that establish male dominance. An example of how women are disparaged early in the play occurs when Desdemona's father experiences difficulty believing that she could ever make a wise decisions regarding marriage. Her elopement, he says, is the result of "spells and medicines bought of mountebanks" (I. iii. 61), obviously employed by Othello. When mentioning Brabantio and Iago, we cannot overlook the scene where Iago uses the image of the marriage bed to provoke Desdemona's father, stating, "Even now, now, very now, an old black ram / Is tipping your white ewe" (I.i.89-90). It is significant to recognize how the role of women is juxtaposed through the character of Emilia. Emilia is aware of her place in society but she is more shrewd about it than her Desdemona. In her response to Desdemona's question regarding faithfulness, she asks, "who would not make her husband a cuckold to make him a monarch?" (IV.iii.73-4). However, she realizes her place in a world of men, noting, "They are all but stomachs and we all but food; / They eat us hungerly, and when they are full / They belch us" (III iv 100-2). In this passage, the gender role in Othello is summed...
While Othello cannot change what he looks like, he can change how he responds the certain ideologies of the society in which he lives but he does not. He views women as things that cannot be trusted - the only explanation for his outrageous behavior and tendency to believe Iago before even approaching his wife for any kind clarification for the events that have unfolded. Iago has no real proof but it does not matter because he is a man. Iago has earned Othello's trust already by feigning to care for him and this outweighs anything Desdemona might say.
The relationship between race and sex is extremely significant when considering all of the factors at work in Othello. The issue of race and the matter of gender are introduced early in the play because they are dominant themes that directly affect Othello's behavior. As an outsider, Othello is a strange man in a strange land. He is never completely accepted and the one person with whom he thinks he has a relationship is only out to destroy him. When Othello begins to unravel, he becomes self-conscious and begins to think that his looks might be what drove Desdemona away. Desdemona represents the gender issue, which turns out to be the reason for her demise. Her own husband does not think enough about her to ask her what actually happened with the handkerchief, illustrating how women are perceived as less than their male counterparts are. Race and gender issues hold hands in this play, as they serve as equally destructive tools.
Works Cited
Shakespeare, William. Othello. Kenneth Muir, ed. New York: Penguin Books. 1968.
