The Role of Emilia and Changes in Her Character during the Course of the Play - Essay Example

? The Role of Emilia and Changes in her Character during the of the Play of the English Literature ic and Modern) of the Concerned Professor 4 April 2013 Discuss the role of Emilia. How does her character change during the course of the play? Though in the Shakespearian play Othello, Emilia happens to be a minor character, she plays an important role, especially in the latter half of the play. Emilia is introduced to the readers’ right in the first Act, when she is instructed to serve as a woman in waiting and as a companion to Desdemona in the absence of Othello. Emilia as a character presents a marked contrast to her mistress Desdemona in terms of temperament, general attitude towards life, moral breeding and demeanour. Irrespective of her innate vulgarity and stupidity, Emilia eventually turns out to be a person who is good at heart and extremely loyal to her mistress. It goes without saying that only a minuscule of Shakespeare’s minor characters turn out to be as distinct as Emilia, and only towards a few of the Shakespeare’s minor characters, the feelings of the audience evince a marked shift towards the end of the play. Till the very end of the play, Emilia keeps the expectations of the readers in a suspense and apprehensive state, and it is only when the play comes to its end that the readers are able to grasp the actual gravity of Emilia’s essential character and her true and sincere intentions (Hall 2006). It gets amply clear to the readers that Emilia more or less happens to be a woman of the world who evinces little pretensions regarding her chastity and innocence. The character of Emilia comes out as being markedly straight forward and unscrupulous when it comes to practical affairs. Her experience and conclusions about the world as it is and the corrupt practices rampant in it is really vast. She happens to be a woman who is blunt and blessed with shrewdness that edge towards the cheaper side of the human personality (Hall 2006) . Moreover, Emilia is shown to be a woman who is willing to do anything so as to please her husband. That is why she secretly steals the handkerchief of Desdemona and passes it on to her husband Iago, though Emilia is shown to be least capable of guessing as to what use Iago will put that handkerchief to (Hall 2006). Moreover, when Emilia finds Desdemona panicked at the loss of her handkerchief, Emilia though being a sincere and loyal follower, decides to play dumb and chooses to remain quiet about the handkerchief. Perhaps, some of the readers may think that Emilia being a woman of the world chooses to attach a scarce importance to a petty thing as a handkerchief. Yet, some readers may also construe that Emilia kept quiet about the handkerchief because she did not want to give away her husband. Yet, it is only near the end of the play that the readers are furnished with enough material to conclude that had Emilia been able to visualize the tragic consequences that were to follow the loss of the handkerchief or the mischief that her husband had wrought around that handkerchief, she would have taken but little time to reveal the truth regarding the handkerchief (Hall 2006). When she comes to know of the misunderstanding augmenting between Othello and Desdemona, she continues to stay under the impression that Othello is jealous of Desdemona owing to some other reason. Whether the lost handkerchief could be the cause of trouble between Othello and Desdemona scarcely comes to her simple and unsuspecting mind. Yet, it also does need to be mentioned that barring the stealing of the scandalous handkerchief, Emilia throughout the play is scarcely seen to be wanting in her sincerity and devotion to her mistress (Sadowski 2003). Though in the early sections of the play Emilia comes out as being regular, simply bereft of the capacity for imagination, many a times cheap and vulgar, quiet unscrupulous when it comes to the petty affairs, nowhere in the play Emilia evinces a heart that is outright evil and dark (Sadowski 2003). Emilia could scarcely imagine that Iago will use the handkerchief stolen by her to work out a dark plan that will lead to such sorrow and grief. Even, near the end of the play, when Desdemona dies, she fails to bring to mind the handkerchief stolen by her, and it is only when she perceives the handkerchief in Cassio’s hand that Emilia is able to make a sense of the things and the truth falls on her consciousness like a bolt (Sadowski 2003, p. 216). Otherwise, Emilia is genuinely good at heart. Throughout out the play Shakespeare never shows Emilia doing anything wicked or base while harbouring negative intentions. As a matter of fact, Emilia is totally oblivious of her husband’s plan till the very end, as are the other characters in the play. There is no denying the fact that Emilia does comes out as being quiet an experienced women, when it comes to the ways of the world, she simply could not bring forth the conclusion that her husband Iago is planning to ruin the otherwise happy relationship of Othello and Desdemona and that he has used her to pursue that evil cause (Sadowski 2003). Her conversation with Iago as she surrenders the handkerchief to her pursues as follows: “EMILIA What will you do with’t, that have you been so earnest To have me filch it? IAGO Why, what’s that to you? EMILIA If it be not for some purpose of import Give’t me again. Poor lady, she’ll run mad When she shall lack it. IAGO Be not acknown on’t I have a use for it. “ (III:iii: 316-322) Emilia being essentially good a heart, is simply not able to construe as to what use for that handkerchief does Iago has and ends up thinking that perhaps Iago has taken a fancy for that handkerchief and will no way do anything mischievous with it. Perhaps a little more crooked thinking on the part of Emilia would have made her realize the truth, but she simply not wrought in the cast that shaped Iago and hence is totally incapable of thinking about matters in such a dark way (Sadowski 2003). Simply speaking, Emilia though being vulgar and sometimes cheap is yet not that alert and sharp in a negative way. It is much later in the play when Othello eventually murders Desdemona that she is able to blurt out “Villainy, villainy, villainy! I think upon’t, I think I smell’t, O villainy! I thought so then: I’ll kill myself for grief! O villainy, villainy!” (V:ii: 187-190) As she brings to fore an exposes the mischief of her husband who later on kills her also. In the play, Emilia comes out as being cynical perhaps because of her relationship with her husband Iago. Surprisingly, it is Emilia who turns out to be the first person to guess that somebody is telling Othello false and evil words regarding Desdemona (O’Dell 2007) “The Moor’s abused by some most villainous name. Some knave, notorious knave.” (IV: ii: 143-145) Yet, it is a pity that Emilia totally fails to calculate that it is her husband who is executing such villainous things. It is only owing to the innate guilelessness and simplicity of Emilia that she totally fails to make out the connection between the stolen handkerchief and the villainy contrived by her husband against her mistress and her husband (O’Dell 2007). Still, eventually it is the Desdemona’s handkerchief stolen by Emilia that turns out to be the pivot around which revolves the entire villainy and conspiracy marking the play. Emilia, whom the audience least expect to be the person capable of doing any harm to her mistress, end up being the person whose one act committed in good faith and negligence brings upon so much ruin and calamity in the lives of Othello and Desdemona (O’Dell 2007). Though, Emilia does understand the relevance and importance of the handkerchief for Desdemona, in the initial stages of the play when she steals that handkerchief, she comes out as being more loyal to Iago than towards Desdemona. In a way the act of stealth committed by her in a spirit of rawness and prankishness, to a large extent makes the readers believe that perhaps Emilia is of the same grain as her husband Iago (McEvoy 2005, p. 209). That in the profession of her love for Iago, she will eventually go to any extent to aid and support his plans. Yet, by the end of the play, the readers’ perceptions regarding the character of Emilia take a marked shift as she professes her loyalty and sincerity towards her mistress. When Othello yells that he killed Desdemona because she was false towards him and had an affair with Cassio, and cites the missing handkerchief as the testimony to his claims- two conflicting loyalties come to haunt the heart of Emilia, one the loyalty towards her husband Iago and second the loyalty towards her fallen mistress Desdemona (McEvoy 2005). However, eventually it is Emilia’s loyalty towards her dead mistress that commands her conscience and her address finally brings the blame to land on Iago’s head: “O thou dull Moor, that handkerchief thou speak’st of I found by fortune and did give my husband, For often, with a solemn earnestness More than indeed belonged to such a trifle- He begged of me to steal’t.” (V: ii: 223-227) This amply testifies to the fact that Emilia was certainly innately raw, stupid and vulgar, yet she was indeed good at heart. The falsehood that eventually leads to the death of Desdemona could be attributed to Emilia only in a slight and knave manner, and it was never her true intention that such calamity should strike her mistress, irrespective of her loyalties towards her husband Iago. At this instance when the real good within Emilia begins to unravel, Iago makes a threat to her and orders her to hold her tongue. However, Emilia scarcely cares to heed to the one final command of Iago and goes on to utter the truth that places the blame for the calamity fairly and squarely on the head of Iago. It is this eventual and true goodness of Emilia that finally vindicates any wrong that she had mistakenly committed out of naivety and foolishness and brings to fore the essential goodness of her heart and her sincerity and loyalty towards her dead mistress (Bloom 2007, p. 87). Besides, the truth uttered by Emilia also vindicates once and for all the innocence and chastity of her mistress Desdemona (Bloom 2007, p. 87). The striking thing is that though Iago is well endowed with an in depth knowledge of the human nature and inner recesses of the human heart, he failed to gauge the essential character of his wife Emilia and seldom doubted that it is Emilia who will finally reveal his primary complicity in setting the discord and doubt between Othello and Desdemona (Hansen 2009, p. 44). In the final instance Iago silences Emilia forever by stabbing her to death. It was the only possible way that he could restrain the truthful Emilia from making utterances that would have lead to serious repercussions for him. In her final stages, Emilia leaves the world by uttering her heart rending words to Othello: -Moor, she was chaste, she loved thee, cruel Moor, So come my soul to bliss as I speak true! So speaking as I think, alas, I die. (V: ii: 247-249) So there is no denying the fact that during the final stages of the play, Emilia is certainly able to rescue the doubts lurking over her uncouth, unscrupulous and raw character by evincing her loyalty towards her mistress who happened to be chaste and pure. The final words uttered by Emilia in a way happens to be the last confession of a truthful and devout Christian and the readers eventually come to the conclusion that her act of unravelling the actual villainy and cunning of her husband Iago totally vindicates her character and absolves her of all the act of guilt that she committed in her good natured innocence. Reference List Bloom, H 2007, William Shakespeare’s Othello, Chelsea House, New York. Hall, JL 2006, Othello, Greenwood Press, Westport, CT. Hansen, C 2009, Woman as Individual in English Reniassance Drama, Peter Lang, London. McEvoy, S 2005, Shakespeare, Routledge, London. O’Dell, L 2007, Shakespearian Characterization, Greenwood Press, London. Sadowski, P 2003, Dynamism of Characters in Shakespeare’s Mature Tragedies, University of Delaware Press, Newark, DE. Shakespeare, W 2009, Othello, Penguin, London. Read More