Female Roles in OthelloA variety of roles feature women in William Shakespeare's tragic drama Othello. In this essay we look at female characters and their roles. One of the key roles of the drama's heroine, Desdemona, is to support the general. David Bevington in William Shakespeare: Four Tragedies asserts the hero's dependence on Desdemona: Othello's most tortured speeches (3.4.57-77, 4.2.49-66) reveal the extent to which he identifies the apparently treacherous woman from whom he so dependent for happiness with his mother, that she gave Othello's father a handkerchief and threatened him with losing his love if he lost it. (226)A different role for the heroine appears at the beginning of the play. Iago convinces Desdemona's rejected suitor, Roderigo, to accompany him to the home of Brabantio, Desdemona's father, in the middle of the night. Once there the two wake up the senator by shouting loudly about his daughter's escape with Othello. This is the initial reference to the role of women in the play: the role of the young wife. Iago's obscene references to the senator's daughter present a second role for the woman: that of illicit lover. The father's attitude is that life without his Desdemona will be much worse than before; without her he foresees “nothing but bitterness”. Here we see another role or function of women in the drama: that of comforter for the elderly. Brabantio is the old father, and he hates to lose the comforting services of his Desdemona. Othello expresses his feelings to Iago regarding his relationship with the senator's daughter, saying I love the gentle Desdemona, I would not have my free, unhoused condition put into c... .... middle of paper .... .. the falseness of emona. At this point Emilia becomes a beacon of light and truth; contradicts Iago: “You are as rash as fire, in saying / That she was false: Oh, she was heavenly true!” and accuses him of lying and of having caused the murder: "And your complaints triggered the murder." Emilia's extraordinary interrogation and her husband's condemnation cost her dearly; she is thus absolved of her previous collaboration with Iago and ends on a note of innocence. We thus see that women's roles are many and varied - and are fundamental to the positive development of history. WORKS CITED Bevington, David, ed. William Shakespeare: Four Tragedies. New York: Bantam Books, 1980.Shakespeare, William. Othello. In Electric Shakespeare. Princeton University. 1996. http://www.eiu.edu/~multilit/studyabroad/othello/othello_all.html No lines n..