Compare and contrast Desdemona and Emilia in Othello by Shakespeare.

In Othello, there are three women:
Desdemona (upper class), Emilia (middle class), and Bianca (lower class).  They also be
categorized by their level of speech: Desdemona goes from being unquiet to quiet, while Emilia
goes from being quiet to unquiet.  (Bianca remains relatively quiet the entire play).  Desdemona
is a hero in Act I, but Emilia is the hero of Act V and overall.

As
the daughter of a Senator, Desdemona enjoys great freedom of speech, especially in Act I.  She
advocates for herself in front of the Duke; she even openly rebels in front of her father.  In
Act I, Desdemona is a vixen, an unquiet, very modern woman.

But,
after her marriage to Othello and move to Cyprus, Desdemona becomes an unquiet victim of male
dominance.  Desdemona seems like two different characters: why would the outspoken, rebellious
Desdemona of Act I suddenly become silent, willingly letting Othello strangle her in Act
V?

Emilia moves just the other way.  Sure, Iago complains that she
won't shut up, Emilia is rather quiet when we meet her in Act II.  In her private conversations
with Desdemona, however, we see that Emilia is the modern woman that Desdemona was in Act I.
 Emilia says that men exploit women: men are "stomachs, and we are but food."  Finally, after
Desdemona's murder, Emilia becomes the unquiet woman, openly disobeying her husband when his
reputation and life are on the line: Iago says, "Get you home."   Emilia replies, "I will
not!"

After Iago stabs her, Emilia continues her
unquietness:

O
thou dull Moor! that handkerchief thou speak'st of
I found by
fortune and did give my husband;
For often, with a solemn
earnestness,
More than indeed belong'd to such a
trifle,
He begg'd of me to steal
it.

And:

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By heaven, I do not, I do not,
gentlemen.
O murderous coxcomb! what should such a
fool
Do with so good a
woman?

In fact, Emilia uses
her dying words to not only expose her husband and Othello  (and men in general), but she uses
them to defend the murdered Desdemona.  Contrast that with Othello's last monologue, in which he
speaks only of his own reputation, and we see that Emilia is the true hero of the
play.