Othello: the indisputable sexism Shakespeare's tragic play, Othello, presents sexism as normal – initially from Brabantio and Iago, and finally from Othello. In this essay we explore the events and severity of sexism in the drama. In "Historical Differences: Misogyny and Othello" Valerie Wayne implicates Iago in sexism. He is one who is almost incapable of having any other perspective on women than a sexist one: Iago's concern that he cannot do what Desdemona asks implies that his contempt of women was sincere and easily produced, while praise requires work and inspiration from a source beyond himself. Its insufficiency is even more surprising because elsewhere in the play Iago appears as a master rhetorician, but as Bloch explains, "the misogynistic writer uses rhetoric as a means of renouncing it and, by extension, woman." (163)The noble general also succumbed to his elder's sexist comments and insinuations, thus developing a reprehensible attitude towards his beautiful and faithful wife. Angela Pitt in "Women in Shakespeare's Tragedies" comments on the sexist treatment reserved by the Moor to Desdemona: Desdemona therefore has some rather serious defects as a wife, including having her own will, evident even before marriage. This does not mean that she deserves the terrible accusations thrown at her by Othello, nor does she in any way deserve her death, but she is partly responsible for the tragic action of the play. Othello's behavior and growing jealousy become more understandable if we remember what Elizabethan husbands could expect from their wives. (45)In the opening scene, as Iago expresses his hatred for General Othello for his choice...... in the center of the card ......reasons to the same extent, or even greater, than the men; and that men are driven by passion more than women. The tables turn on sexism right at the climax of the drama! WORKS CITED Jorgensen, Paul A. William Shakespeare: The Tragedies. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1985. Pitt, Angela. "Women in Shakespeare's Tragedies." Readings on tragedies. Ed. Clarice Swisher. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1996. Reprinted from Shakespeare's Women. Np: np, 1981.Shakespeare, William. Othello. In Electric Shakespeare. Princeton University. 1996. http://www.eiu.edu/~multilit/studyabroad/othello/othello_all.html No lines nos.Wayne, Valerie. "Historical Differences: Misogyny and Othello." The question of difference: materialist feminist criticism of Shakespeare. Ed Valerie Wayne. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 1991.