In Shakespeare's play Othello, men hunt women, just as a human hunts animals in the wild. The man exercises dominance and expects the woman to accept her submissive role in relation to his domination. The central couples involved in depicting this type of male-female relationship are Othello and Desdemona, Iago and Emilia, and Cassio and Bianca. Shakespeare illustrates the chase in the sexual encounters, marriages/relationships, and murders exhibited by these characters during the course of the play. Simultaneously, the way men chase women in the play is mirrored in the way Iago chases all the characters. The hunt that is displayed throughout Othello is enhanced by the plethora of animal imagery that Shakespeare uses in the language of the play. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay. Emilia clearly sees and expresses the nature of the hunted man-woman relationship. She shows this understanding when she says, “What do men do when they change us for others? Is it sport? I think so” (IV, iii, 107). Emilia examines men's propensity to sleep. She explains it by saying that men don't see women as humans, but rather as fun animals to hunt, but once conquered, they lose some of their intrigue and men want to move on to other women. Iago shows that he has this opinion of women when he says that Desdemona and Emilia are "wild cats" in their "kitchens" who "rise to play and lie down to work" (II, i, 123, 129) . Iago says his view of women is that when they're not in bed, they're just playing. This is consistent with the American Heritage Dictionary's definition of "sport" as being a type of "game" with a certain set of rules (a hunt, for example). Likewise, the use of the word “wildcats” to describe them again evokes the image of the sport (of hunting). It's a game for men to bring women from the kitchens to bed. Then, when women are in bed, they simply fulfill their duty to their husbands to sleep with them. Once they are in bed (making love), the game is over. Othello also refers to women as inhumane prizes when he calls Desdemona "darling" (II, i, 225), although this reference is unintentional on his part. By calling her "darling" he is using a common term of endearment, calling a woman "darling" is like calling her "sweet" because honey is sweet. However, the term also has a flip side of meaning that states how men chase women in order to get them to have relationships or get into bed. This side is that humans must cross the protective barrier of bees to obtain honey. To obtain his “sweetheart” (Desdemona), Othello must make her fall in love with him, that is, break down her defenses and penetrate her heart. The reader is not aware of this part of the relationship between Othello and Desdemona in the play, this part takes place before the action of the play begins, but it can be inferred. The “sport” that Emilia speaks of is hunting women. Seduction, which is the starting point of a man-woman relationship, is depicted as having certain rules, just like hunting (a kind of game/sport), in Othello. The rules are often set by society. Roderigo tries to follow the rules of society by trying to get Desdemona from his father, Barbantio. He considers that his father has the power to tell him, Desdemona, who to marry because it was the custom of the society. A woman's father was "the master of [his] duty"until he cedes this “lordship” to his daughter’s husband (I, iii, 212). This means that it was his duty to do whatever she told him to do (including marrying a specific person). Roderigo appeals to Barbantio's power rather than going directly to Desdemona as Othello does. But Othello undermines Barbantio's lordship by doing this. Iago reveals this when he tells Barbantio that “[his] daughter [Desdemona] and the moor make the beast with two backs” (I,i,130). The fact that Desdemona has sex with someone before having obtained her father's permission goes against the rules of the "seduction hunt" to which Roderigo adheres, Barbantio ultimately cedes this power to Othello by saying "I have done" (I, iii, 219). Othello and Desdemona's relationship began without following the rules, but eventually fell back under their cover while Cassio's relationship with his. Mistress Bianca does not follow these types of dominant societal rules, she nevertheless has rules. Cassio succeeds in seducing Bianca through sexual contact. He has sex with her and attaches minimal importance to it and she in turn clings to it. importance'. She shows her dependence on him during the meeting they have. "What, keep a week apart? Seven days and seven nights, sixty-eight hours and the hours of lovers' absence", Bianca complains to Cassio, describing how much she missed him (III, iv, 196 -7). She is only his mistress and yet, by playing in bed, he has given her the impression that he has some kind of relationship with her in which he is implicitly required to visit her regularly. In the scene in which Othello murders Desdemona, he acts entirely as a predatory animal, devoid of human characteristics. Othello kills her without any human intervention. He just chokes her. It is the same up-close, intimate and primitive way that an animal is required to kill. Ironically, Othello justifies his action as a man would. His justification is based on the “higher duties” he owes. other men, saying "she must die, or she will betray more men" (V, ii, 7). He attempts to humanize himself while dehumanizing her by deceiving her into believing that he is a rational being. This murder scene also reveals this. This in itself is ironic considering the passage in which it is said that Desdemona will "tame" Othello (III, iii, 25). During the murder scene, it is his existence that brings out the most primal of his actions (the desire and capacity to kill). She does not tame his animal side but aggravates it. Moments before Othello commits suicide, just after killing Desdemona (his wife), Othello says that he is a “circumcised dog” (V, ii, 416). At that moment he finally sees clearly, the deception is gone from his mind and he understands that he is an animal, not a human, as he had previously thought. The fact that he is not human reveals to him that he did not hunt (as a controlled sport) Desdemona, as he thought. But instead, he was just participating in very base animal action, devoid of rules, control or humanity. In evaluating Othello in reference to hunting, it becomes apparent that while the men in the play hunt women, Iago hunts men. (and therefore, women too). He is the main designer of the play and essentially wrote the play by planning its action. He says he will “trap a fly as big as Cassio” (II, i, 183). Similarly, Iago says that he intends to lead Othello "by the nose, like an ass" (I, iii, 445), and then, later, in the second act, Iago says again that he will do 'Othello a “donkey” (II,ii,331). These sentences show that Iago sees himself as the human hunter. He verbally transforms people,.