Ganguly, Swati. “The Turn of the Shrew: Gendering the Power of Loquacity in Othello.” Multicultural Shakespeare: Translation, Appropriation, and Performance, vol.9, no. 24, 2012, pp.1-13.
SUMMARY
Ganguly’s claim is informed by many other scholars’ work, but focuses primarily on the enigma of Iago and Emilia. Although each section has its own claim, of sorts, throughout she argues that Iago and Emilia defy gender conventions. Ganguly pulls from our critical authors from week two: Neely and Woodbridge. She also references other authors and their claims about Iago, Emilia, and Desdemona. In doing so, Ganguly focuses on where their readings “fell short” or missed something that she interprets to support her points. The essay is divided into bolded sections that develop Ganguly’s thesis. After defining Bakhtin’s notion of the “grotesque” (female) body, she moves into historical context around punishments for shrews (which was an illegal offense in Shakespeare’s England). She then moves into her analysis of play, focusing on Iago as a shrew or “gossip” character. From here she focuses primarily on Emilia exploring how she goes from silent shrew, to strong challenger of patriarchal norms. There were two ideas of note in her section on Iago. First, is the idea that Iago is a “malcontent” archetype in the vein of Malvolio or Caliban. However, these are roles of powerlessness – like women. After explaining that a gossip is gendered as female, she makes the claim that Iago is a powerless, feminized, character (gossip) that uses the shrew’s power (the tongue) in order to gain a sense of control. Additionally, Ganguly makes an underdeveloped, yet interesting, symbolic connection between the penis and the tongue. In this way the woman’s “unruly” tongue is her source of power, like a man’s “unruly” penis.
*Ben Mathews
