Representation of Women and Class in Shakespeare’s Othello

Abstract

Shakespeare’s plays reflect his society by imitating events that shaped the socio-economic, historical and political development of the Elizabethan era. This study examines the representation of women and class in the tragic play; Othello. Shakespeare juxtaposes male and female characters to understand their roles seeking to understand the complexities that shapes gender and class in society. He lived in a patriarchal society where women were subjugated, relegated, and oppressed. They were only good as daughters or wives; Shakespeare in some of his plays creates strong female characters that exhibit a new perspective in the representation of women who break away from the norm by their actions or inactions in Elizabethan England. The theory used for the analysis is New Historicism which seeks to reveal and challenge the depiction of women and class during the reign of Queen Elizabeth the first. New historicism is a practice of interpreting texts in their historical context or concerning the time and place in which they were written according to Greenblatt. Women and class have often been misrepresented in Shakespeare’s time but in his play Othello, they are found to break down the shackles of patriarchy to make choices and stand by it.