Othello (Blog 2)

In Act II of Othello by Shakespeare, we see more of Iago's horrible manners and views of woman when he speaks to Desdemona, Othello's wife. It is evident in his speech that Iago has a sexist view towards woman and degrades them. After Desdemona talks to Iago about different types of woman, she asks what the ideal woman to him is and he responds by saying, "To suckle fools and chronicle small beer" (II.i.158). In other words he only cares that they clean and cook and no more. In his opinion, woman who are smart and beautiful are smart enough to use their beauty to what they want. Woman who are smart but ugly are intelligent enough to find a guy who is as ugly as her. Woman who are dumb and beautiful will cause men to fall in love with her because men like dumb girls. For those woman who are both dumb and ugly, Iago says that they play the same game that woman who are smart and beautiful. Iago had no charming words for woman and seemed to only degrade their existence.