Sex and Sodomy

Vincent Russomagno

Essay 2

2/28/12

“Othello’s” plot is rooted in sexual jealousy. Iago’s manipulation is extremely effective due to Othello’s jealousy pertaining to Desdemona’s potential unfaithfulness, a jealousy that has no physical evidence but is merely provoked by suspicion and possibility. In the early seventeenth century theatre the absence of ocular merit to provoke unsupported truth was a commonly utilized tactic, “complexities of the relation between ‘ocular proof’ and…’auricular assurance’…a theatrical problem…of what might be reliably substituted for what could not be directly witnessed” (Parker 84) It is not until act III that Othello’s worry of the possibility of Desdemona’s deceitfulness is so overwhelming that he demands “ocular proof “ (III.3.360). In “Othello,” the diction explains the effect of this jealousy in combination with its paramount role in Iago’s mischievous plan.

In act III, Iago discretely summarizes the steps of his plan through strategic diction:

O, beware, my lord, of jealousy!

It is the green-eyed monster, which doth mock

The meat it feeds on. That cuckold lives in bliss

Who, certain of his fate, loves not his wronger;

But, O, what damnèd minutes tells he o'er

Who dotes, yet doubts— suspects, yet soundly loves! (III.3.165-170)

Shakespeare intentionally uses the word “monster” (III.3.166) to exemplify the characteristics of Othello’s jealousy. A monster is a fictional character; however, it is possible to depict what a monster’s physical appearance would be if it were real, such as Severo Da Ravenna’s “Neptune on a Sea Monster,”(Ravenna) a renaissance sculpture. Othello’s jealousy is a monster because, although there is no physical evidence, his mind suspects the possibility of his wife’s deception and the suspicion caused by this jealousy forms a false reality in Othello’s mind. In “Othello and Hamlet: Dilation, Spying, and the ‘Secret Place’ of Woman,” Parker discusses the underlying meaning...