Othellos Jealousy
Othello’s JealousyShakespeare’s Othello is a good transition from comedy to tragedy for it picks up the story where the comedies left off. Whereas the comedies invariably end with marriage, Othello begins with one. However, the same problem persists. Female sexuality is a threat to the patriarchal society, and must he safely contained. The comedies suggested that heterosexual marriage was the means to control female sexuality. Nonetheless, Desdemona’s sexuality greatly threatens her husband, Othello. To eliminate Desdemona’s sexuality and restore her purity (read virginity), Othello must kill his wife. Only then is he safe from her sexual influence.
Othello intimates that female sexuality is a threat to him early in the play. He tells the senate, “For since these arms of mine had seven years’ pith,/Till now some nine moons wasted…” (I. iii. 83-84). The idea that moons could waste Othello’s arms suggests that female sexuality (represented by the lunar menstrual cycle) can undermine Othello’s masculinity (represented by his arms that wield his weapons). Othello pinpoints the source of this degradation when he describes his relationship with Desdemona: “She loved me for the dangers I had pass’d,/ And I loved her that she did pity them” (I. iii. 167-168). Othello moves from a martial world to one governed by maternal pity. This movement robs Othello of his manhood, returning him to a child-like state of dependence.
In addition to his fear of domination by a woman, Othello fears domination by his own feelings toward her. His assurances to the senate that this will not happen “the young affects/In me defunct” (I. iii. 264-265) sounds as if he is trying to convince himself more than the lords. Othello fears that the awakening of his sexual desire for Desdemona may draw potency from his martial prowess. This translates into a dread of the consummation of his marriage to Desdemona. When the battle with the Turks is done, Othello can no longer delay the consummation. Before he takes this irreversible step, he says: “If it were now to die,/’Twere now to be most happy” (II. i. 191-192). Othello acknowledges that the contamination of his masculine power by female sexuality is preventative to his happiness.
Othello gets a vicious double blow in his confrontation with female sexuality. Not only must he confront Desdemona’s sexuality through the consummation of their marriage, he must deal with the possibility that his wife is having an affair. Upon this realization, Othello cries:
what sense had I of her stol’n hours of lust?
Farewell the plumed troop, and the big wars
That make ambition virtue! 0, farewell
Pride, pomp and circumstance of glorious war! …
Farewell! Othello’s occupation’s gone!
(Ill. iii. 33&357)
Female sexuality destroys Othello’s masculinity-his ability for violent combat when he comes face to face with Desdemona’s sexuality.
Othello expresses his fear of female sexuality through the image of the handkerchief, given to Desdemona by Othello. The handkerchief, white and “spotted with strawberries” (III. iii. 435), is a miniaturization of the couple’s wedding sheets,...
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