¶ … Shakespearean plays which mirror the dramatist's idea that it is the right of a woman to choose her own husband, without meeting her father's wishes in the matter. The drama "Othello" and the romantic comedy" The Merchant of Venice" are examples. In all three works, Shakespeare has contradicted the perceived roles that women play in the 17th century society through his portrayal of Desdemona, Portia and Jessica. Desdemona, the heroine in "Othello" is a young, white Venetian beauty and debutante in the Venice society. She is the joy and the pride of her father, Brabantio, a wealthy Venetian senator. Brabantio wishes his daughter to marry any of the wealthy, handsome Venetian men that everybody in her societal class expects her to marry. Instead of meeting the expectations of her societal surrounding, Desdemona decides to elope with Othello who is an older black man and clearly an outsider to Venetian society. In doing so, Desdemona not only defies her father's expectations that she becomes the wife of a white man of his choice. Her move is also an affront at a society that largely disapproves of interracial marriages. In this way, Desdemona's relationship with Othello speaks to the play's concerns with sixteenth century attitudes about sex, gender, and race. When her husband is deployed to Cyprus in the service of the Republic of Venice, Desdemona decides to accompany him. There, her husband is manipulated by his ensign Iago who successfully makes him belief that Desdemona committed adultery. This deception leads eventually in the last act to the effect that estranged spouse Othello murders Desdemona. Desdemona is at times portrayed as a submissive character, most notably in her readiness to take credit for her own murder. In response to Emilia's question, "O, who hath done this deed?" Desdemona's final words are, "Nobody, I myself." Farewell. Commend me to my kind lord. O, farewell" [V.ii....
133-134]. But there also other parts of the play where her
character comes out with conviction and
authority. Examples for this character traits are her first
speech ("My noble father, I do perceive here a divided duty" [I.iii. 179-180] and her fury after Othello strikes her ("I have not deserved this [IV.i.236]. In the
comedy "The Merchant of Venice," Portia and Jessica, are the main female objects of
love. As Desdemona in "Othello," both women have fathers trying to take control over the vast majority of their actions including to choose the man that they are to marry. But this seems to be where the similarities between the three women end. In Elizabethan times, men were regarded as the dominant and more important group in society, whereas women were stereotyped as less intelligent, weak, dependent and in general inferior to men. Shakespeare however created a strong, dominant significant female role in his portrayal of the character of Portia. Portia is not only wealthy but also very intelligent, eloquent, witty, sharp-tongued and bilingual. She speaks three
languages, that of
French, Latin and Italian clearly emphasizing her
intelligence as well as ability. As a result, she comes across as more intelligent and powerful than any of the male characters of the play (Halyard 1). Shakespeare allows Portia to use
rhetoric of
law in Act 1 Scene 2 which further documents her intellectual greatness which - together with her high self-esteem, intelligence and art to manipulate other people (the latter shown in Act 3 Scene 2) - places her as an instrumental character to the development of the play.…
