The Gender Roles and its Effects on Society in Othello and The Duchess of Malfi

The Renaissance period was known as the rebirth in the European cultural in the 14th to 17th century. It started as a cultural movement in Italy, this period was known as the golden age which so many people started to study and learn ancient Greece and Rome. The Renaissance period was known for its drama plays, which they are all known as tragedy plays, and they will always have a sad endings, for example the plays Othello and The Duchess of Malfi. This period also known for its misogyny, Women in this period were treated badly they did not have their rights and they were treated as objects, they were ruled by men there job was to be good housewife's. In this essay I'm going to talk about how women were treated by men and how it reflected the society.

The tragedy play Othello was written by William Shakespeare in 1603. The play represent many issues in that society (Elizabethan) and that time for example like racism, the difference in the social classes but our main topic is the misogyny (women in that time were really treated in bad way, simply they did not have there rights). The play Othello showed to us how the female characters did not have any opinion or any decision in their life like for example men decided every thing. For the character Desdemona and her relationship with her father, he treated her as an object that he owned, also when she married Othello he did not accept her marriage to him 'I pray you, hear her speak. If she confess that she was half the wooer…'. Both Desdemona and Emilia were treated as objects when they got married, which they did not use the word marriage in the play they used the word 'purchase'. Iago was known for his misogyny, through the whole play he frequently made offensive comments about women both in privet and in soliloquies. For him the women whom in the play are untrustworthy and sexually deviant. He made his plan against Othello and Rodrigo for his own sake, he turned Othello against his love of life Desdemona by accusing her of cheating her husband, in my opinion I think chooses this kind of plans because he know that women in that time if you accused them with this kind of scandal the husband or any men that are related to the women they will not believe the women even if she was right or she did not so that thing because of her social place in that time, which that is the same thing that happened to Desdemona and Othello. Iago hateful vocabulary he called both Desdemona and Emilia as 'whores'. For Desdemona she accepted all the hatful words from her father, Iago and finally Othello whom he killed her, she just did not do anything about all of this she accepted her fate.

The Duchess of Malfi was written by John Webster and was published in 1623. The play was written based on true story in 1513 in Malfi which had the same story as the play. From Othello to The Duchess of Malfi many, from Desdemona and Emilia to The Duchess and her mid Cariola, we can see how female characters unfortunately were treated! They simply did not have any rights as we do now, the men ruled them and torture them. The duchess for me she was the female whom treated in a very bad way, she was tortured mentally and physically just because she made the decision of getting married to someone she loved after the death of her first husband! You can imagine how women were treated in that time, which now we can simply choose the one that we want or love to get married with! The Duchess suffered a lot by her two brothers, which they were known for there to there sister when they knew she got married to someone else and in the same time he is not from their social layer. For her mid Cariola she suffered in the play because she knew about her marriage and kept it secret and also because she till the end of her life was protecting The Duchess 'Hence villains, tyrants, murderers. Alas, what will you do with my lady?..'. Ferdinand the Duchess brother, the killer of his sister, early modern wolfman was known for his misogyny he vilified the Duchess as 'notorious strumpet' and 'purge her infected blood'. Both the brothers made plans with Bosola against her, she told Ferdinand '…You are very cold I fear you are not well after your travel..'.

To sum up, Desdemona and The Duchess are very different characters but share the same story, both they were hated by men and treated in a bad way and led to there down fall, the difference is Desdemona accepted her fate and did not say anything about the claims about her cheating. For the Duchess she was known as strong lady she did what she want by getting married to Antonio, but the two brothers did not accepted that and killed her. Finally throughout the ages women suffered a lot from the society they were treated as objects, slaves and did not have any right, the position that we as ladies have it now was because of there bravery, we as women have to be one hand and plan for the best future for the ladies of future.