Shakespeare's Othello: themes and analysis

¶ … Poetry of Othello

Emilia is the person speaking, and she is the wife of Iago. She is speaking to Desdemona, and she is discussing the faults of men, and how they tend to blame them on women. Desdemona replies that one must not counter bad with bad, thus reiterating the meaning of the play.

Emilia.

But I / do think / it is / their hus / bands' faults

If wives / do fall. / Say that / they slack / their duties

And pour / our trea / sures in / to for / eign laps;

Or else / break out / in pee / vish jeal / ou sies,

Throwing res / traint upon / us; or / say they / strike us,

Or scant / our form / er hav / ing in de / spite

Why, we / have galls; / and though / we have / some grace,

Yet have / we some / re venge. / Let hus / bands know

Their wives / have sense / like them. They see, / and smell,

And have / their pal / ates both / for sweet / and sour,

As hus / bands have. / What is / it that / they do

When they / change us / for oth / ers? Is / it sport?

I think / it is. / And doth / af / fec tion / breed it?

I think / it doth. / Is't frail / ty that / thus errs?

It is / so too. / And have / not we / affec tions?

De sire / for sport? / and frail / ty? As / men have?

Then let / them use / us well; / else let / them know,

The ills / we do, / their ills / in struct / us so.

IV, iii, 89-106)

The pervasive sound of this passage is strident and dissident, just as Emilia is crying out against the wrongs men perpetrate against women, and the unfairness of life where men are strong and women are supposedly weak. Shakespeare breaks up the rhythm of the speech by using consonants and vowels that break unnaturally, such as "palates," and "affection." These are difficult words to split, and the break up the evenness of the speech, adding interest and a sense of tempo that might not have occurred with other words. This is a harsh and rough passage because Emilia is discussing thoughts that are not always spoken aloud, and so, they sound rough coming off her tongue.

The diction of this passage is extremely poetic, but also simple and straightforward. Since Emile is a lesser character, she does not speak with the grandness of Othello, yet, her thoughts are clear and coherent, and the diction and rhythm of her words add to their meaning, and to their importance in the play. Her thoughts were the thoughts of many women of the time - essentially that a bad man could drive a good woman to evil. She acknowledges the weakness of women, but blames it on the folly of men. The diction, with its unique blending of syllables and rhythm, epitomizes the differences between Othello and Desdemona - the differences that will lead Desdemona to allow miscommunication to continue. The miscommunication and misunderstanding leads to Othello's downfall, and can be traced to speeches like this in the play, that seem innocuous, but have hidden meanings that lead to misunderstanding and tragic miscommunication.

The images of this speech are quite important, for they suggest the difficulties women faced, and that they recognized they had the same needs and wants as men, but men refused to acknowledge it. The theme of Othello is the downfall of the tragic hero, and here, Emilia seems to be setting Desdemona up to eventually create Othello's downfall. As Emilia creates the evocative image of a good woman driven to evil by her husband, Desdemona counters not to react to evil with evil, but ultimately does not follow her own advice.