Emilia Flashcards
(4 cards)
How is Emilia presented in the play ‘Othello’?
Emilia is a strong, defiant woman who will not be silenced by any man. She represents rebellion against the renaissance ideal of women through a Patriarchal lens despite her supposed lack of agency as a woman.
“Let heaven and men and devils, let them all, all, all cry shame against me, yet I’ll speak”
Emilia, Act 5, Scene 2
AO1: syndetic list and epizeuxis
AO2: the syndetic list shows how Emilia’s defiance has reached a peak as her confession to Iago’s actions are spilling out despite whatever celestial punishments may await her.
AO3: Patriarchy and Renaissance ideals of the perfect woman
AO5: Loomba
“it is thought abroad, that ‘twixt my sheets/He has done my office”
Iago: Act 1, Scene 3
AO1: Past participle verb - “done my office”
AO2: implies a sexual affair between Othello and Iago’s wife Emilia who goes unnamed until Act 3 (clear that Iago distains his wife for this supposed rumour and does no value her as anything other than a sex object)
AO3: women in ‘Othello’ and Renaissance society being seen only as sex objects
AO5: Coleridge - “motiveless malignity”
“You shall not write my praise.”
Emilia - Act 2, Scene 1
AO1: Defiant tone and imperative sentence
AO2: Emilia defies her husband - unlike Desdemona who threw her life away for Othello - and demands he do things for her in defence of her reputation (this does not work as she is merely a woman)
AO3: Women in Renaissance Society
