What impact does a woman have on her husband? What impact does the First Lady have on the President? In a real relationship, both people complement each other. When one is weak, the other is strong; when one suffers, the other comforts. The relationship between a man and a woman is unique. A woman brings things to the relationship that a man does not have. From the beginning, even from biblical times, a woman's nature was to help a man. This is true in William Shakespeare's play The Tragedy of Othello: The Moor of Venice. The two main female characters in the play are Desdemona, the Venetian daughter of a senator, and Emilia, Iago's wife and Desdemona's appointed servant. Shakespeare highlights the similarities and differences between the personalities of an upper-class woman and a servant, combined with their trusting behavior and influence on other characters they come into contact with. At first glance, the likelihood that Desdemona and Emilia share anything. in common would be exaggerated. Shakespeare does a fascinating job with the contrast and comparison of these two women at a time when women had their place, their function and, above all; they had a duty to remain faithful to their husbands, whatever the cost. The relationships between the men in this play and these two women are indicative of the times. Women were submissive and, in most areas, had no say in decisions. This was the culture of the time and for many years thereafter: "The Venetian world presented in the play is a patriarchal world in which "women must see themselves as 'other' and man as principal or 'subject '. » (Iyasere). Shakespeare would be surprised to see how his culture parallels the world we have evolved in... middle of paper ...... his play? Would he see positive changes? Works CitedGarner, SN “Shakespeare’s Desdemona.” Shakespeare Studies 9 (1976): 233-252. Rep. in Shakespearean criticism. Ed. Lynn M. Zott. Flight. 68. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Information Resource Center. Internet. April 21, 2011. Iyasere, Salomon. “The Liberation of Emilia”. Shakespeare in Southern Africa 21 (2009): 69+. Literary Resource Center. Internet. April 13, 2011. Neely, Carol Thomas. “The women and men in Othello”. Othello by William Shakespeare. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1987. 79-104. Rep. in Shakespearean criticism. Ed. Lynn M. Zott. Flight. 68. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Information Resource Center. Internet. April 26, 2011.Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Othello: The Moor of Venice. Literature: reading fiction, poetry and theater. 6th ed. Ed. Robert DiYanni. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2007. 1454-1542. Print.