Emilia Flashcards
(11 cards)
How is Emilia presented towards the start of the play?
She wants to please Iago and is subservient to him, despite an abusive relationship; she is a contrast to Desdemona, the strong, self-assured and confident wife
What evidence is there to portray Emilia at the start of the play? (1)
- II, i - Iago publicly humiliates her in front of Des/Cas/Cypriot officers “Alas she has no speech” says Desdemona when Emilia silently takes her husband’s insults that she is a scold. Language of negation.
What evidence is there to portray Emilia at the start of the play? (2)
- III, iii - She allows herself to be used by her husband as a tool in his plant to destroy Othello. She betrays Desdemona to win her husband’s favour - stealing handkerchief, without knowing why Iago wants it, “I nothing but to please his fantasy”, language of negation. He calls her his “foolish wife” which is ironically correct here - but not in the way he means it - she lives in an abusive relationship
What evidence is there to portray Emilia at the start of the play? (3)
Yet she should not have taken the handkerchief from Desdemona as she knew her mistress “so loves the token” she will “run mad” when she finds it gone. This is a significant factor in the tragedy that then unfolds
How is Emilia presented later on in the play?
However, and perhaps unconvincingly she reverses roles with Desdemona in Act 3 becoming astute, self-assured, as Desdemona becomes submissive and naive
What evidence is there to portray Emilia later on in the play? (1)
In III, iv.100, Men “eat us hungerly, and when they are full/they belch us out” - she sees straight through Iago, describing him even using the same sort of grotesque imagery he does.
She shows insight when she declares men are jealous. ‘Tis a monster/Begot on itself, born on itself’ - echoes almost word for word Iago’s “green eyed monster”
What evidence is there to portray Emilia later on in the play? (2)
In IV, ii. She shows she is perceptive “The Moor’s abused by some most villainous knave” (dramatic irony here, though, as she herself has been abused by a villainous knave without realising it)
What evidence is there to portray Emilia later on in the play? (3)
In IV, iii, Emilia shows a feminist’s understanding of male sexual jealousy. Desdemona can’t believe wives could be unfaithful, yet Emilia tells her that “it is their husband’s faults/if wives do fall”, she understands that men’s “peevish jealousies” create the infidelities they fear, “The ills we do, their ills instruct us so”
How is Emilia presented at the end of the play?
She becomes a heroine
What evidence is there for the portrayal of Emilia towards the end of the play? (1)
Standing up to Othello, in a way she has never done with her husband: “I care not for thy sword; I’ll make thee known” V, ii.165 - incredibly brave. She seeks to reveal - Iago to conceal. Crucial link her to theme of appearance and reality. She is the one who sees through the deceit to reveal the truth
What evidence is there for the portrayal of Emilia towards the end of the play? (2)
In V, ii, tells Montano and Gratiano of what Othello has done and how her husband put him up to it. “I am bound to speak”/ “Good gentlemen, let me have leave to speak” - her last words, ironically considering how when we first met her Desdemona said “alas she has no speech” (Could be conclusion in essay)
