A Comparative Analysis Of The Depiction Of Women In Sifiso Nyathi’s God Of Women And William Shakespeare’s Othello

ABSTRACT

This thesis provides a comparative analysis of the depiction of women characters in the plays God of Women by Nyathi and Othello by Shakespeare. The main purpose of the study was to find out how Nyathi and Shakespeare depict women characters in their plays. The researcher evaluated the use of literary techniques the authors use in their portrayal of the female characters in the plays. The researcher employed the feminist literary theory in this study. The study revealed that both Nyathi and Shakespeare use a gender bias style of writing in depicting women characters in their plays. Nyathi’s depictions portray women as sex objects for their husband’s sexual pleasures in a polygamous marriage, and also as exchange materials for wealth. Women also have been portrayed as destitute who have to stay in subservient conditions at the mercy of their husbands. The study also revealed that Nyathi makes use of a wide number of metaphors which carry connotations in his depictions of women to instil superiority over them. Shakespeare also portrays women characters negatively as dependent on their fathers in Othello. He portrays women characters as sex goddesses who would compel men to murder their women out of love. Conversely, Nyathi and Shakespeare depict women as intelligent and rational thinkers. Desdemona in Othello defends her position in her choice for Othello before her father. In God of Women the wives of Chief Lewanika embrace MaInonge in a gesture of solidarity of the oppressed sisters when she collapses after Joyce reveals her secret that MaInonge had a son out of wedlock with Chief Lewanika. The study concluded that both Nyathi and Shakespeare largely portray women characters negatively in their works albeit in different ways that are typical of the cultures and epochs in which the authors lived.