{"id":8152,"date":"2025-08-22T14:18:26","date_gmt":"2025-08-22T04:18:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/oxley-college\/?post_type=article&p=8152"},"modified":"2025-08-22T14:18:26","modified_gmt":"2025-08-22T04:18:26","slug":"i-am-bound-to-speak-women-in-othello","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/oxley-college\/article\/i-am-bound-to-speak-women-in-othello\/","title":{"rendered":"‘I am bound to speak’: women in Othello"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Year 11 English Advanced students have been refining their discursive writing and critical thinking skills through their exploration of William Shakespeare’s ‘Othello’. Here, Kaitlyn S & Ollie R share their thoughts on how female character fare alongside the ‘Moor of Venice<\/em>.’<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

The Daughters of Eve<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey that mean virtuously and yet do so, The devil their virtue tempts, and they tempt heaven.\u201d (Othello, 4.1)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe serpent deceived me, and I ate.\u201d (Genesis 3:13)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve heard the story countless times, like a droning, repeated message over a public announcement: \u201cEve ate the apple and convinced Adam to join her, so Eve is evil, and she is the reason we humans are punished.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But why blame one tempter and not the other?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eve was tempted first, and yet when Adam gave into temptation, he was not villainised the same. Surely, the serpent should be blamed, and not Eve, or Adam should be blamed the same as Eve for giving into the temptation and eating the apple. Why is it that only the woman is punished, villainised, and blamed for all the sins to come?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I remember reading Genesis for the first time, and my bafflement at the punishments dealt out by the \u201call-loving\u201d God to the offending parties. For Adam, he was sentenced to toil for his living from then on, and the serpent was cursed to be hated above all other creatures and travel along the ground all its life. Both uncomfortable, humiliating penalties, certainly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But for Eve? \u201cI will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.\u201d Genesis 3:16.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Desdemona and Eve are nearly one in the same: they are both wives to men valued above them simply for being men, and they are women whose actions, influenced by a manipulator, lead to the downfall of both them and their husbands. The difference lies upon which ear the serpent whispered into: Eve\u2019s, or Othello\u2019s. Iago, the serpent, manipulated Othello into believing his wife had committed sins against him, and this drove him to his course of action. In this, it is not the fault of the Eve, but the Adam, and yet the blame still falls to the woman and the outcome is the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The culture of victim-blaming is so prevalent in society. They say, What was she wearing? Did she toy with him? Are you sure she didn\u2019t want it? At school, in the workplace, walking down the street, there is the ever-present thought that something bad may happen, that the lone woman may make a wrong glance or wear a skirt just an inch too short, and soon be facing the tempted man. Women are the daughters of Eve, blamed for a man\u2019s actions time and time again, rather than it being acknowledged that the man made his <\/em>choice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I feel like no matter how many times I say it \u2013 1 in 5 \u2013 it falls on deaf ears. I\u2019ve sat in classrooms, surrounded by boys I spend six hours a day with, listening to them disregard those numbers or be genuinely baffled they are true. Disregard and ignorance lies at the heart of the continued culture of sexual assault around the world, and beneath that lies the biased passing of blame onto one party. Surveys from last year say that in Australia, 24% of those surveyed believed that rape reports were often made by women who had led a man on and then had regrets. 25% of those surveyed believed that if the man was sexually aroused, he may not have realised the woman was not consenting. And 10% of those surveyed said that women sometimes say \u2018no\u2019 when they really mean \u2018yes.\u2019 These statistics are terrifying to any woman, because it is clear that becoming a statistic is not a small chance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reading Othello, <\/em>I could not help but feel no pity for the tragic hero. His actions were his own, no matter Iago\u2019s poisonous words. Desdemona\u2019s fate was unjust and undeserved, and I can\u2019t help but wonder if the people of Shakespeare\u2019s Biblical time drew the parallel to Eve. Did they question their perspective? Did they reconsider their views on who was to blame?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think not. Perhaps, for a moment, a flicker of doubt tried to move them, cast some small light on a discarded notion, but was inevitably snuffed out by centuries of shaming and societal teachings. The woman should not have stepped out of place. The woman should not have incited the man\u2019s wrath. Desdemona and Eve\u2019s stories give the same warning: women who step out of line get punished.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am and am surrounded by the daughters of Eve. Generation after generation of persecuted daughters bridges the centuries between Eve and I, and thousands more will come to pass, yet I feel her injustices as my own. I have not yet been shamed for another\u2019s actions, but I have seen it for others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I can only hope, one day, I\u2019ll get see it stop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kaitlyn S, Year 11<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

All Eyes on Emilia<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I was younger, my mum worked behind the scenes at a local theatre. She wasn\u2019t in the spotlight, never on stage, but she knew everything. Who had stage fright. Who forgot their lines. Who was secretly dating the lighting guy. She had this quiet way of observing people, watching the show unfold both on and off the stage, and somehow, she always knew how it would end before anyone else did. I didn\u2019t realise it then, but she taught me that the person who sees everything not necessarily the loudest, not the hero or the villain might be the most important one of all. That\u2019s how I feel about Emilia in Othello<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019re taught to focus on the men, Othello, Iago, Cassio, as if the tragedy belongs to them. But what if the play\u2019s true centre isn\u2019t the general or the villain, but the woman standing at the edge of the stage, watching it all unfolds with clear eyes? What if Emilia, often overlooked, is the beating heart of Shakespeare\u2019s tragedy?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the start, Emilia walks a difficult line. She\u2019s both a servant and a wife, pulled between loyalty to Desdemona and obedience to Iago. She doesn\u2019t have the power to command armies or manipulate dukes, but she does have the power to see what others don\u2019t or won\u2019t. She notices the cracks in Iago\u2019s mask. She suspects the rot beneath his charm. And unlike most of the characters, she grows. She changes. She acts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s especially compelling is how Shakespeare builds her arc. In early scenes, Emilia seems complicit. She finds Desdemona\u2019s handkerchief and gives it to Iago, not realising the destruction it will cause. It\u2019s a small act, but in tragedy, small acts have seismic consequences. And yet, when she realises what Iago has done, how he\u2019s used her, lied to her, and destroyed Desdemona, she doesn\u2019t stay silent. She does what no one else has dared to do: she speaks the truth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her final scene is electric. Surrounded by men, threatened by her own husband, she says what must be said. \u201cYou told a lie, an odious, damned lie.\u201d She exposes Iago. She vindicates Desdemona. And she does it knowing it will likely cost her life. In a play full of manipulation and deceit, Emilia\u2019s honesty is radical. It\u2019s revolutionary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What fascinates me is how contemporary Emilia feels. Even now, women are often told to be quiet, to be agreeable, to stand by their partners no matter what. Emilia breaks that rule. She\u2019s not perfect, she\u2019s flawed, human, sometimes frustrating, but she finds her voice. And in doing so, she becomes something Shakespearean women rarely get to be, the moral compass of the play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a way, Emilia is the only character who sees everyone clearly. She sees Iago for what he is. She sees the pressure Desdemona faces. And she sees Othello not as a hero or villain, but as a man twisted by insecurity and manipulated emotion. She speaks up not because she wants glory, but because she\u2019s had enough. Enough of being silent. Enough of watching women suffer. Enough of the lies that men tell to protect their pride.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s a line Emilia says that still hits hard: \u201cLet husbands know \/ Their wives have sense like them.\u201d It’s quietly revolutionary. In four hundred years, that line hasn\u2019t aged a day. She challenges the double standards of her world, and ours. And her voice, though it\u2019s silenced in the end, echoes far beyond the play\u2019s final act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we study Othello<\/em>, we often treat Emilia as a supporting character. But what if the real tragedy is that we\u2019ve misread the play? What if Othello<\/em> isn\u2019t just about jealousy or manipulation or honour, but about how women see what men can\u2019t, and are punished for telling the truth?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s why I think Emilia is the main character. Not because she\u2019s in the most scenes, or has the most lines, but because she changes the story. She shifts it. She reveals its core. And in a play filled with silence, secrets, and miscommunication, she becomes the one voice we should all be listening to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just like my mum in that theatre, never on stage but quietly holding the story together, Emilia watches. Learns. Speaks. And in the end, she may not survive the play, but she owns its truth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ollie R, Year 11<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Year 11 English Advanced students have been refining their discursive writing and critical thinking skills through their exploration of William Shakespeare’s ‘Othello’. Here, Kaitlyn S & Ollie R share their thoughts on how female character fare alongside the ‘Moor of Venice.’ The Daughters of Eve \u201cThey that mean virtuously and yet do so, The devil […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":8301,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","article_category":[19],"article_tag":[],"class_list":["post-8152","article","type-article","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","article_category-features"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/oxley-college\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/8152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/oxley-college\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/oxley-college\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/article"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/oxley-college\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8152"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/oxley-college\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/oxley-college\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"article_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/oxley-college\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article_category?post=8152"},{"taxonomy":"article_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/oxley-college\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article_tag?post=8152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}