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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal – Vol. 9, No. 5
Publication Date: May 25, 2022
DOI:10.14738/assrj.95.12385. Kabir, K. M. W., & Israt, K. (2022). Culture Entrenched Gender Inequality in Othello by William Shakespeare and Night of No Moon
by Syed Waliullah: A Comparative Study. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 9(5). 371-388.
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
Culture Entrenched Gender Inequality in Othello by William
Shakespeare and Night of No Moon by Syed Waliullah: A
Comparative Study
Prof. K. M. Wazed Kabir
Chairman, Department of English, Green University of Bangladesh
Kashfia Israt
Undergraduate Student, Dept. of English, Green University of Bangladesh
ABSTRACT
Culture of a society directly influences the pattern of behavior of the people. It is
such a strong force that, people are hardly able to go and think beyond the boundary
of their cultural practices. The problem begins when cultural indoctrination
controls human thought process and appears to justify inhuman practices in the
name of culture and tradition. This study has been done with a view to exposing the
gender-based inequality prevailing in the society which is nurtured by culture. In
doing so Othello by William Shakespeare and Night of No Moon by Syed Waliullah,
two great pieces of literary works have been picked. Both of the literary pieces
depict unequal treatment of the women in the society. Although, two of them are
composed in different contexts, yet there are similarities in terms of treatment of
females in the society. In both Othello and Night of No Moon the fate of women is
decided by the men and the whole societal system fuels the unjust action. The
authors draw real life characters to show how the females become victims in the
hand of social organizations formed and dominated by men. This study explores
through the characters and plots of the two texts and intends to see the facts from a
feminist point of view to analyze behavior of people. Therefore, we observe the
condition of women of the society, who are considered as ‘the weaker sex', and
continuously dominated, suppressed and victimized by culturally motivated men.
Thus, we have put our logical argument drawing evidences from the literary texts
to establish that, Culture of a society substantially contributes to constitute
patriarchal mindset among the people of the society which results in treating
women as so called ‘Second sex'.
Keywords: Inequality, Patriarchy, Culture, Social System, Politics, Religion.
INTRODUCTION
William Shakespeare is one of the greatest playwrights of English literature. He was a leading
literary figure during Elizabethan period, which was known as the era of rapid development of
art, literature, science and politics (Craig 1965). Despite all these advancements under the rule
of queen Elizabeth I, the condition of women in the society did not improve much. Men were
still the domineering force who controlled the fate of women. The women being considered as
the weaker part of the society, happened to be the possession of men. Predominantly men had
the power and authority to govern the social institutions. However, women were culturally
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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal (ASSRJ) Vol. 9, Issue 5, May-2022
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deprived of freedom in both public and private spheres. In Elizabethan England a husband used
to be treated as the ruler of the household, who decided the fate of entire family. Consequently,
the female members of the family remained subordinated and they had the role of following
orders of their husbands. The socio-political conditions of Elizabethan era had definitely a great
impact on the works of Shakespeare. He portrayed his female characters from a humanitarian
point of view to expose the pains and miseries they had to undergo as woman in a patriarchal
society.
Othello is certainly one of Shakespeare’s masterpieces that sheds some light on the existing
gender inequality of the society. This play is a demonstration of gender relations and their
manifestations on the basis of social norms, social hierarchy and class division. Shakespeare
draws three female characters in Othello who belong to different social classes and appear to
patriarchal system in different ways. However, the ‘noble' woman Desdemona is the victim of
patriarchy whose life is full of restrictions and the prevailing social norms make her dedicate
her life to her husband. Like other typical Elizabethan wives, she is obedient and submissive to
her husband, Othello.
On the other hand, Syed Waliullah's Night of No Moon is written in the context of a post-colonial
Bengali society. All his three novels are the depiction of social injustice and the domination of
patriarchal rule. The long practiced social rules enforced by men transform into cultural norms
throughout the passage of history and keep exploiting women in the name of tradition,
convention or religion. Syed Waliullah raises his voice against the oppression of women in this
novel. Interestingly, he does not draw any active female character in Night of No Moon and the
presence of women is described indirectly. For instance, we can take the scene of lamentation
of the mother-in law and the sister-in-law after the discovery of the dead body of a young village
woman. We do not see too much of female presence beyond this although, ‘women' is the major
theme of this novel. The scene mentioned above is the reflection of the fact that, women in
patriarchal society express their presence only through lamentations. The author presents
women throughout this novel exist as a lifeless entity. This reality is present in both Elizabethan
English society and post-colonial Bengali society. In both the texts gender issues are
intentionally addressed with a view to showing the inhuman practices of the people of the
society. We can see how culture of a society turns out to be an oppressing force to strengthen
patriarchal rule and uses politics, law and religion to keep women under control.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Culture and gender studies have been the center of interest for many scholars and authors in
modern time. Different scholars have different perspectives to see the role of culture in fueling
gender inequality. However, culture itself is a diverse term that incorporates lots of topics.
Therefore, it is difficult to analyze each and every component of Cultural practices around the
world. Some scholars do defend their cultures to be progressive and in favor of women
empowerment although gender disparity exists everywhere in different forms.
Urther Rwafa defines culture as an illusion through which people share their concerns and
values in the face of real and contentious divisions that exist among classes, genders, races and
ethnic groups. She describes culture, gender and religion to be problematic terminologies that
are used in some African communities to justify the oppression of women. In her study she
shows how factors such as Biblical notions of the creation of men, polygamy, cultural belief on
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Kabir, K. M. W., & Israt, K. (2022). Culture Entrenched Gender Inequality in Othello by William Shakespeare and Night of No Moon by Syed Waliullah:
A Comparative Study. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 9(5). 371-388.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.95.12385
spirit, medium, violence, forced marriages as well as cultural practices such as female genital
mutilation have informed cultural and religious decisions to justify the oppression of women in
contemporary Africa. As culture and religion are socially constructed, the author challenges
the manner in which they define gender roles in Africa.
People’s perception towards gender inequality may vary from culture to culture. Zoe Kinias and
Heejung S. Kim investigated these differences and their psychological consequences using
cross- cultural comparisons. The researchers have conducted empirical studies on the women
from different parts of the world and found that, Hongkong Chinese women saw gender
inequality as less unjust and less unfair and valued gender equality less than European African
women did. Gender inequality caused anger and predicted reduced life satisfaction more
among European American than among Chinese women.
Another study conducted by Mirza (2014) presents real life experiences of black and ethnic
female students in higher education being a part of diaspora. The researcher discovers both
racial and gender segregation in academic environment. The white superiority treated them as
inferiors to maintain hierarchical relation with a view to keeping them under control. The black
and ethnic female students staggered along the prejudice and discriminatory practices in the
academic premises.
Classic literature reflects the true picture of the society with perfection. Therefore, researchers
use literary texts to analyze human behaviors and actions. Rosida and Rejeki (2017) chose the
short story ‘Bob Darling' by Carolyn Cooke to study gender and social class. Interestingly, they
found social class division as the primary cause of gender discrimination. The short story shows
verbal and nonverbal violence against the major female character who lives in a patriarchal
culture. The authors intend to prove that, beside patriarchal system, lower position in the class
structure also contributes to the oppression of women.
Many researchers found poverty, race and migration as prime factors behind gender
inequalities. Istrefaj(2018) studied the novel ‘My Antonia' and examined gender, race and class
relations experienced by three characters of the novel. The study found that the white male
characters are being privileged in the society due to gender, race and successful job. In contrast,
two female characters are the victims of oppression because of their powerlessness. Antonia
was an immigrant and poor woman while Arnault was a black disabled woman that
disadvantaged them in social relations.
When we study culture and gender roles, we must go to indigenous people, as they are strongly
driven by their cultural practices. “United Nations Office of Special Advisers on Gender Issues
and Advancement of Women and the Secretariat of the United Nation Permanent Forum on
Indigenous Issues” observes that, men and women have different gender roles and
responsibilities and as a result they often have different needs, desires and interests. Moreover,
in different cultures and societies different values and norms related to men and women play a
big role in positioning both the genders in different statuses. In addition, the practices deprived
from colonial past and dominant cultures such as purity and pollution, liability and asset,
dependent and bread winner have segregated men and women.