Othello Act II

Othello
William Shakespeare

The second act includes further stereotyping and comments regarding specific gender roles, which was probably very common in the time period.  Iago is the main culprit in this situation because he has some pretty interesting views of women and their roles in marriage.  This is demonstrated by his actions toward and concerning his wife Emilia, who he often seems to ignore and even dislike.  Even though she only speaks several times in Act II, Emilia comes off as a normal, polite women, yet Iago claims she is "pictures out of doors" (Shakespeare, II.i.109).  He also talks about the four different types of women and offers compliments for each type.  These are hilarious, but on a deeper level, they explain the real thoughts of Iago who believes all women manipulate men.  I think that maybe Emilia either tricked him, or maybe her father or something.  Well, she seems nice and polite, so I don't know about her having manipulated him, but we'll see.  We don't know anything about Iago's father, but maybe his home as a child influenced his views of women and their roles in life--making babies and keeping households.  That was also funny, but kind of a serious problem because some people unfortunately still hold similar beliefs.