Matz, Robert. “Slander, Renaissance Discourses of Sodomy, and Othello.” ELH, vol. 66, no. 2, 1999, pp. 261–276. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/30032073. Accessed 12 July 2021.
Matz’s essay explores the long ignored presence of desire between male characters in Othello, and asserts that the topic is largely overshadowed due to the social norms surrounding homosexuality and the (presumed) dominance of heterosexuality in English culture. The first portion of the interpretation argues that male same-sex desire in Othello is interconnected and influenced by the characters’ political relationships with one another. Matz argues that boundaries between social and sexual situations are vague, predominantly due to the cultural confusion and cross-over that exists in professional relationships as well as intimate ones. In fact, many of the interactions between the male characters (although seemingly grounded in service) has debatable, homosexual undertones. The author highlights several love triangles in Othello in order to confirm his assertion, including the relationship between Othello, Iago, and Cassio. Even though Iago and Cassio are looking for political reinstatement, they also deeply seek out Othello’s love and appear to care more about how he views them intimately. According to Matz, this “unnatural” desire for Othello’s love is sodomitic, as it violates the cultural assumption that institutions (martial, marital, etc.) are not to blend with one another. The second segment of Matz’s essay expands on additional sodomitic relationships. This includes the “unnatural” act or social violation of Othello and Desdemona’s marriage, Desdemona’s power over Othello (as it pertains to Cassio’s political status), and the supposed adultery among most characters in the play. Unfortunately, Matz notes that Shakespeare was seemingly aware of this, because all of these unnatural relationships are eliminated by the death of Othello and Desdemona in the final act.
--Emily Tushar
