Shakespeare Electronic Conference, Vol. 6, No. 0549. Wednesday, 12 July 1995.
From: James Harner <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Tuesday, 11 Jul 1995 9:26:19 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: Query: Emilia
In response to Amy O'Hair comment about the lack of discussion of Emilia in
_Othello_, here is a list of what I could glean from the _World Shakespeare
Bibliography_ database back to 1980:
Le Comte, Edward. "Shakespeare's Emilia and Milton's: The Parameters of
Research." _Milton Quarterly_ 18, no. 3 (1984), 81-84. [Examines the question
of Shakespeare's Emilia in _Othello_ and the Dark Lady of _Sonnets_ as proposed
by A. L. Rowse, together with the same "rare name" in Milton's sonnets.]
Updated in _Milton Re- Viewed: Ten Essays_. Garland Reference Library of the
Humanities 1446. New York and London: Garland, 1991.
Torii, Kiyoshi. "Enter Emilia: A Piquancy in _Othello_." _Eibeibungaku-kai-shi_
(Osaka Shoin Women's College) 21 (1984), 35-48. [On Emilia's function. In
Japanese.]
Chen Ping. "Aimiliyade shenmei jiazhi--_Aoseluo_ daoyan zaji zhiyi [Emilia's
Aesthetic Value--Director's Note on _Othello_, Part One]." _Waiguo xiju
[Foreign Theatre]- 4 (1986): 30-32. [Unlike Desdemona, Emilia is average until
her final heroic moment when her courage transcends her mediocrity and renders
her noble.]
Allen, John Alexander. "Students, Stereotypes, and Shakespeare." _Hollins_
(Hollins College) 40, no. 1 (1989): 30-32. [Considers how students typically
perceive stereotypes in Shakespeare's plays (e.g., Paris in _Romeo and Juliet_,
Emilia in _Othello_, and Octavius Caesar in _Antony and Cleopatra_) and the
effect familiarity with Shakespeare may have upon these perceptions.]
Wiley, Elizabeth. "The Status of Women in _Othello_." _Shakespeare: Text,
Subtext, and Context_. Ed. Richard Dotterer. (Susquehanna University Studies.)
Selinsgrove: Susquehanna University Press; London and Toronto: Associated
University Presses, 1989. 124-38. [Offers a character study of Desdemona,
Emilia, and Bianca. Reprinted from _Susquehanna University Studies_ 7, no. 3
(1964).]
Gajowski, Evelyn. "The Female Perspective in _Othello_." Othello: _New
Perspectives-. Ed. Virginia Mason Vaughan and Kent Cartwright. Rutherford:
Fairleigh Dickinson University Press; London and Toronto: Associated University
Presses, 1991. 97-114. [Finds that the attitudes and feelings of the women in
_Othello_ toward the men in their lives underscore the male treatment of
females in the play: "Desdemona's absolute devotion to Othello accentuates his
cruel treatment of her; Bianca's genuine affection for Cassio highlights his
ridicule of her; Emilia's obedience to Iago likewise underscores his hatred of
her, and of all women." Reprinted in Tardiff, _Shakespearean Criticism:
Yearbook 1991_.]
Kehler, Dorothea. "Shakespeare's Emilias and the Politics of Celibacy." _In
Another Country: Feminist Perspectives on Renaissance Drama_. Ed. Dorothea
Kehler and Susan Baker. Metuchen: Scarecrow, 1991. 157-78. [Focuses on Emilia
_Comedy of Errors_) and Paulina (_Winter's Tale_) as celibate women whose
independence both enforces and subverts patriarchal values, and on the Emilias
of _Othello_ and _Two Noble Kinsmen_, who subvert but do not wield power.
Concludes with a discussion of Emilia Lanier, who finds her voice late in life.
For an abstract of this as read at the 1988 Shakespeare Association of America
meeting, see _Shakespeare Newsletter_ 39 (1989): 12.]
Coleman, Althea M. "The Observer Character in Shakespeare's Four Great
Tragedies." _Dissertation Abstracts International_ 51 (1990-91): 3417A
(Fordham). [Discusses the functions of Horatio, Cordelia, Kent, the Fool in
_King Lear_, Banquo, Ross, Cassio, and Emilia, in analyzing "the critical
manipulation of audience through the use of a class of characters called
observers."]
Perng, Ching-Hsi. "_Ao-tai-luo [Othello]_." _China Daily News_ (Taipei) 16
September 1992, p. 29. [Discusses the powerful momentum of love and jealousy in
_Othello_, noting Iago's trickery and the sisterhood between Desdemona and
Emilia.]
Peltrault, Claude. "'An extravagant and wheeling stranger': Les voix et les
voies de l'alterite dans _Othello_." _Difference et identite._ Recueil de
communications prononcees lors du Congres d'Aix, de la Societe des Anglicistes
de l'Enseignement Superieur (1991)--Ateliers "Shakespeare," "Theatre,"
"Poesie." CARA [Centre aixois de recherches anglaises] 12. Aix: Publications de
l'Universite de Provence, 1992. 75-103. <diacritics omitted> [Considers how
Emilia and Desdemona are identified with the infidels, how Othello is
characterized as a sodomite, and how the active role of Venetian society all
serve to emphasize the Other in _Othello_.]
McGuire, Philip C. "Whose Work Is This? Loading the Bed in _Othello-." _Working
Papers in Cultural Studies_ 33 (1993): 1-25. [Focuses on how the final moments
of _Othello_ have been performed and edited in response to the cultural values
and assumptions of a particular era. Considers whether Othello dies on the bed
with Desdemona, whether he kisses her before he dies, and whether Emilia dies
alongside Desdemona.]