Othello Context Flashcards
What is a conventional image of a cuckold?
- man growing horns from forehead that everyone could see but him
What were attitudes towards infidelity at this time? Women and men
- women = harshly judged
- men = far milder social stigma
Why was having an unfaithful wife perceived as a great shame for men at the time?
- implied lack of masculine authority and power over wife (challenges their role as the patriarch)
- suggestion of sexual inadequacy
Stories of the time began to explore social anxieties around infidelity. In Othello, what happens when a woman is not perceived to be chaste and pure?
- ostracised, killed
- patriarchy protects itself
When Jacobean tragedies deal with extra-marital love, there is a strong connection between love, sex and violence. These texts primarily focus on male infidelity, would they have the same focus if they discussed female infidelity?
- no, women don’t have the capacity to be that violent
- females have to conform, honour is connected to subservience
- there is a natural assumption that it is unnatural for women to act on their sexual desires
What did Renaissance writing assume about verbal freedom?
- that it equated to sexual freedom so female characters with a powerful voice were considered inappropriate
Why was there especial concern over masculinity and masculine honour codes in the Elizabethan period?
- time of great change
- new masculine honour codes emerged
- performance of masculinity changed and anxiety emerged around this
What did English law specify about the murder of a wife by a husband?
- could be excused if it took place in the first flush of anger
What typical and recognisable genre does Shakespeare draw upon?
- Elizabethan style revenge tragedy
In what way did the marriage ceremony force part of the patriarchal societal structure?
- transfer of woman from father to husband
- woman as property of their husband
What were the gender roles within marriages at this time?
- woman = subservient, domestic role, duty to ones husband was very important
- men = head of household
What is the concept of the ‘marriage yolk’?
- the idea that men were softened or emasculated through marriage
How were unmarried women (think of Bianca) treated in society?
- could not have relationships
- had to support themselves
How do attitudes towards divorce create a sense of claustrophobia in the marriages in Othello?
- divorce was impossible
What double standards existed in relation to sex?
- men were expected to engage in sexual relations in and outside of marriage
- women were ostracised for extra-marital sex
Why was female sexually seen as intrinsically threatening to the patriarchal social order?
- suggested female agency
Shakespeare utilises setting as a device and relies on the audience’s preconceived stereotypes around the places to serve the full effect of his meaning. What does Venice connote? How does Shakespeare use this?
- connotes order and rules
- but the contemporary audience would also connect it to licentiousness, especially connected to courtesans
- becomes essential to Iago’s exploitation as he manipulates Othello’s otherness and frames Desdemona as the ‘Venecian woman’
- may have an underlying connection to manipulation and deceit as it has connotations of Machiavelli
Shakespeare utilises setting as a device and relies on the audience’s preconceived stereotypes around the places to serve the full effect of his meaning. What does Cyprus connote?
- edge of the empire
- unstable, violent and fragile
- birthplace of Venus (goddess of love) - tragically ironic that this is where love dies
How does the transition relate to the genre of Othello as a tragedy?
- progresses from order to chaos
- from “Christian civilisation” to an “unstable outpost”
What occurs in Cyprus that confirms the audience’s stereotypes?
- the fall of a great man due to drunkness ie. Cassio, reputation destroyed
- interruption on their wedding night by violence and soldier “tis the soldier life to have his balmy slumbers waked with strife”
How could Venice represent Othello?
- calm, comfortable in the soldier sphere
How could Cyprus represent Othello?
- dangerous and violent, introduction of the conflict between the lover and the soldier roles, unstable and lacking control