In most productions of Shakespeare’s Othello, only three female characters—Desdemona, Emilia, and Bianca—appear on stage. Additional female presences are verbally constructed through various narratives, particularly narratives about relationships and sexuality, told by other characters. When presented by male characters, the narratives often participate in masculinist rhetoric that denigrates either individual women or women in the aggregate. When presented by female characters, however, these narratives are efforts to forge female community or to help women, particularly Desdemona, make sense of their own isolated experiences. These narratives hold out the potential for Desdemona to develop a sense of herself as a member of a larger community of women; however, they also demonstrate the difficulty of creating stable interpretations once the discourse of sexual activity is released into the public space. Speaker Cristine Varholy, Associate Professor of English at Hampden-Sydney College, has been the recipient of the Maurice L. Mednick Memorial Fellowship from the Virginia Foundation of Independent Colleges.
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