Emilia’s Role in ‘Tragedy Othello’

‘Tragedy Othello' is a play written by William Shakespeare. Focusing on Emilia, whose origin dates back to a 1565 tale known as Un Capitano Moro, we find that the character's description got stated as honest and relatively young. She is a wife to Othello’s ensign, Iago. Emilia is an attendant to Othello’s wife, Desdemona. As much as Emilia is considered a minor character in the play, her role and actions have gotten massively appreciated by many of the play’s audience. She stands up to her husband who had continuously manipulated her into helping him commit all his evil plans and exposes him for who he was

Emilia’s role in the play

Emilia gets portrayed as Desdemona’s handmaiden. Her first appearance in the play gets seen at the time whereby she comes ashore in Cyprus together with her husband, Desdemona, and Roderigo. Othello had previously allowed Emilia to accompany his wife as her attendant during her trip to Cypress. She is observed to be briefly having a chitchat with her companions before taking off the stage(Shakespeare, 2014, p.119). In the next scene, Casio asks Emilia to give him a little time to have a brief conversation with Desdemona. Emilia agrees to Casio’s request and stays there throughout the time that Cassio and Desdemona are conversing (Shakespeare, 2014, p.119). It is at this juncture that Emilia picks up Desdemona’s handkerchief which had fallen off from Desdemona without her notice. Since Iago had been pestering her about stealing the scarf, she decides to keep it. Emilia later gives hands the tissue over to Iago who then uses it against Othello’s wife with false claims of her immoral character.

During the next scenes, Emilia and Desdemona still stay close together despite Emilia’s betrayal that was not known to Desdemona. Emilia remains to act innocent and insists on not having seen the handkerchief or anyone that might have taken it. When Othello inquires the whole matter from Emilia, she tells him, with absolute surety, that Desdemona is incapable of committing any immoral acts, much less adultery (Shakespeare, 2014, p.119). She is seen to be discussing matters related to matrimony and infidelity with Desdemona. Emilia states that she would do anything for her husband to make him happy, and if committing adultery were to be one of those things, then she would go through with it. (Shakespeare, 2014, p.119). It is in Emilia’s view of marriage that husbands are to be held accountable for their wives’ actions. She insists that absolute respect should be a critical factor in marriage.

Emilia briefly appears in scene one of part 5 whereby she is seen to be hulling abuses at Bianca after she gets wind of Bianca’s alleged indulgence in Cassio’s attack. She goes on to tell Othello all about the death of Roderigo and Cassio’s attempted murder. (Shakespeare, 2014, p.119). Iago, Montano, and Gratiano quickly appear when Emilia calls for help. When Emilia comes to learn that Iago had told Othello that Desdemona was having an affair with Cassio, she is eaten up by her guilt and quickly accuses her husband of his immoral act that led to the death of an innocent person. (Shakespeare, 2014, p.119). Emilia's husband threatens her for exposing him in public and kills her at the first chance he got. Emilia dies while singing a song that used to be sung by Desdemona which described her love for Othello.

At the beginning of the play, Emilia portrays herself as a woman who is submissive to her manipulative husband, Iago. However, as the narration comes to its ending, Emilia gains confidence and decides to divulge her all of her companion’s iniquities to everyone since she had come to know him for the scoundrel he is. From previous scenes, we see Emilia doing everything that Iago requires of her (Melvin, 2016, p.79). She did all this despite the very fact that Iago never treated her as warmly as a husband should his wife. Emilia goes to the extent of stealing a handkerchief that belonged to Desdemona, Othello’s wife; so that Iago could use it as tangible proof that Desdemona was an unfaithful wife. We can easily comprehend that Emilia’s actions are all aimed at pleasing Iago especially in a part where she states ‘…nothing but to please his fantasy…' She, however, becomes penitent when Iago shows no sign of appreciation towards Emilia for the favor she had done for him. She then realizes that she had betrayed her friend Desdemona and utterly regrets her actions. It is at this juncture that Emilia attempts to make peace with her past wrongdoings by exposing her husband for the villain he is and as a result achieve her morality despite the bitterness she felt concerning her matrimony.

It comes to a certain point as the play comes to an end whereby Emilia displays a rather strong criticism with regards to men considering the Jacobean audience of Shakespeare's era. She blames men for their wives' failure. She furthers to state that men are responsible for continuously misleading their wives. It is however unfortunate that at the time, women have no voice since the society is particularly male-dominated (Melvin, 2016, p.79). Iago believed that Emilia was completely trustworthy and it never crossed his mind that she would one day betray him. Irony sets in at the point where Emilia discloses all of Iago’s faults to the public. Iago had been the cause of a large number of deaths(Melvin, 2016, p.79). Iago had poor judgment since he had just assumed that Emilia was always going to be faithful to him and not once could she betray him. However, the opposite happens, and Iago ends up being exposed by the one person he trusted most. His Immorality also contributed to his utter failure.

Furthering this case study on the stolen handkerchief, Emilia, who is a rather quiet character in nature, brings out her versatile style by actually proceeding with Iago's demands. As stated earlier, Emilia had always wanted to please Iago who asks her to steal Desdemona’s handkerchief given to her by her husband, Othello. Emilia goes on with her husband’s scheme and picks the tissue dropped by Desdemona. Upon realization of the plot, Emilia denies the accusations lodged against her which explicitly stated that her act was that of theft(Melvin, 2016, p.78). The incident triggers Othello’s suspicions of the possibilities of his wife’s supposed adulterous character. It is clear that he takes the handkerchief was sufficient and tangible proof of the same. He even continues to refer himself as a ‘cuckold.’ As a result of these built up angry emotions, Othello ends up killing his innocent wife who was suspected to be having an affair with Cassio.

Iago had previously heard rumors which held that his wife had been having an affair with Othello. This made him bitter, and as a result, he decided he would avenge Othello. This is where the whole ‘handkerchief incident' begins(Shakespeare, 2014, p.119). However, later on in the play, Emilia confesses to stealing the handkerchief. She proceeds to say that Othello proved himself to be a rather foolish person for actually believing in Iago’s lies concerning his wife’s alleged adulterous acts(McCoy, 2013, p.15). As a result, Othello realizes that Iago was not a trustworthy person who would go to any depths to get what he wants for himself and the fact that Othello himself had a naïve personality.

I think Emilia's silence about the handkerchief was a complete act of betrayal of Desdemona; who ironically had complete trust in her. Her efforts to impress her unappreciative husband resulted in the death of her friend. More proof of Emilia’s betrayal gets seen from the scene where Emilia denies her act of stealing Desdemona's handkerchief and continues to pretend to be her most loyal friend. This gets seen from the view where Desdemona and Emilia are observed to be conversing on issues related to marriage and infidelity.

Emilia’s silence about the handkerchief is unforgivable. This is so because if she were to speak up about it, then Iago’s plot would have been identified earlier and Desdemona’s apparent death would have gotten evaded. In her defense, however, I would say Emilia loved her husband as a wife should and for that matter, she stood by what she believed in: that marriage could only stand firm when there exists mutual respect between the married partners.

Analysis

Emilia’s role in the play is that of a minor character. However, she portrays herself to be a much stronger opinionated woman contrary to Desdemona who is a romantic. Emilia can get termed as a disrespectful and a particularly smart woman with regards to men and marriage-related matters. An evident illustration of this is her conversation on the same with Desdemona in scene 3 of part 4 of the play.

From the beginning of the play, Iago devices mean with which he could manipulate Emilia who was close friends with Desdemona. He mainly asks her to steal the handkerchief that Othello gad gifted Desdemona and proceeds to use it against her lodging claims of Desdemona’s acts of infidelity. Although Emilia does not agree to go through with Iago’s request at first, she felt that she owed the favor to her husband, but she does not know what Iago would do with it(McCoy, 2013, p.13). In the event of Emilia’s lies to Desdemona, it is only natural for her to experience a divided responsibility as the situation forces her to choose between her husband and her friend. She wants Iago, her husband due to her ignorance concerning Iago’s terrible schemes until the last scene of the play.

There are two instances in the play whereby Iago suspects Emilia of having an affair with both Othello and Cassio. There is hardly any proof of these suspicions in the narration whatsoever. Emilia is seen to have criticized Othello regarding the death of Desdemona, which got executed by Othello himself and calls him a ‘fool’ for actually believing in Iago’s claims of her wife’s infidelity(McCoy, 2013, p.12). When she finally learns of her husband’s wrongdoings, she is remorseful and for that reason chooses to disclose her husband’s gross dishonesty that sadly leads to the death of her best friend. In so doing, Iago threatens to kill her and proceeds to stab her. Emilia's death takes place during the final act.

Works cited

McCoy, R. C. (2013). Othello and the Stakes of Tragedy.  Faith in Shakespeare ,  2 (33), 82-112. doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199945764.003.0004

Melvin. (2016). Othello and Domestic Tragedy: The Critical Reception.  Shakespeare, Othello and Domestic Tragedy ,  22 (3), 78. doi:10.5040/9781472555465.ch-003

Shakespeare, W. (2014). The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice.  The Oxford Shakespeare: Othello, the Moor of Venice ,  33 (6), 191-192. doi:10.1093/oseo/instance.00000011