Othello, a play first performed in 1604, was written by William Shakespeare. It is a tragedy that has jealousy as its main theme in all the acts. Shakespeare represents the social group of married women in Othello as inherently promiscuous and unfaithful. The author achieves this representation by creating a play in which Venetian men express their distrust of married women, in which married women are supposedly responsible for all the misery, and in which married women begin to question one's behavior. The reason why Shakespeare represents married women in this way is to create a way for Othello to become jealous. The author thus achieves his aim of raising the theme of jealousy and the destructive powers that it entails and which constitute a danger for the institution of marriage. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Shakespeare's first way of portraying married women as inherently promiscuous and unfaithful is to introduce Venetian men in Othello who act on their distrust of married women. Halfway through Othello Iago observes the following: “Nonsense, light as air, is strong to jealous confirmations, as proofs of holy writ. This might do something. At this moment Iago realizes that Othello only needs a few simple suspicions to fuel his jealousy. The metaphor “Trifles as light as air” is used to refer to the handkerchief. While it is “light as air,” it will have significant consequences. It will act “as proof of the holy scriptures” as it will be seen as concrete proof to Othello that Desdemona is cheating. In Shakespeare's Othello the concept of women being property is also used to show that men act on their distrust. Shakespeare's play, The Merchant of Venice, shows a similar concept that women are someone's property; «This house, these servants and myself. They are yours, my lord. I give them to you with this ring." In this play a woman named Portia tells her future husband that she, as property, will be transferred from her father to her husband. Both Othello and The Merchant of Venice demonstrate that men want women to be their property and guard them because they distrust their wives. The conclusions drawn by Othello about the handkerchief and women being seen as property are examples of Venetian men acting on their distrust of married women and this contributes to the portrayal of women as inherently promiscuous and unfaithful. Another way the author shows that married women are portrayed as inherently promiscuous and unfaithful is by using the assumption that married women are supposedly responsible for all the misery. In the third act Emilia reflects on the theft of the handkerchief and states: “I am happy to have found this napkin. This was his first memory of the Moro. My rebellious husband wooed me a hundred times to steal it. This stream of consciousness gives the reader insight into how Iago exploited Emilia's willingness to steal the handkerchief to please her husband: "I do nothing but please his fancy." Iago and Othello are the true source of all the misery fueled by their jealousy. However, both men blame the women for the problems while they cannot be held responsible. In the final scene Emilia says that husbands are usually to blame when their wives cheat on them: "The evils we do, their evils teach us." Both passages of the play support the idea that the men in Othello unfairly blame the women.