I agree that the main weakness of Othello is that its female characters are weaker than is perhaps believable, or where they are not weaker than believable they are too strong than the time of the play would allow, but certainly the women are portrayed as too simple and without guile. Desdemona is easily the most obviously weak of the two women characters and is perhaps the least well written character in the play, as her character is at times contradictory and her stance in the play is not very clearly shown. However we start with a scene in which she shows her defiance of her father's wishes and marries Othello in an act that is very much against the traditional role of women at the time, who were expected to obey their fathers until they were married whereupon they obeyed their husbands all without questions. Unfortunately for...