Vanita, Ruth. “Men Beware Men: Shakespeare's Warnings for Unfair Husbands.” Comparative Drama, vol. 28, no. 2, 1994, pp. 201–220. JSTOR, 
www.jstor.org/stable/41153689. Accessed 21 July 2021.

Vanita situates her argument against Nancy Cotton Pearse’s definition of a “chastity play” and also the domestic tragedy plays of Othello’s time period, specifically A Woman Killed with Kindness by Thomas Heyward. Vanita argues that Othello goes against type in two regards:  the chastity play where the innocent woman survives and the domestic tragedy where the husband kills the guilty wife. A Woman Killed with Kindness was performed in 1603, and Vanita suggests the Othello was a direct reply to that performance. Whereas in A Woman Killed with Kindness focuses on the woman’s chastity (or lack thereof) and a husband’s cuckoldry, Othello focuses on the men’s reaction to a woman unchasteness. In both plays, the wives die, but in Othello the question is about the permanence of death rather than death as evidence of a woman’s chastity. In most chastity plays, a woman’s innocence was determined by her ability to evade death. If a woman survived an attempt on her life than she was considered innocent, but if she died then was considered guilty of adultery. Vanita suggests that Othello is really a warning to husbands because they hold all the power in the relationship rather than a play warning wives on the dangers of infidelity. 

- Tracie Yule

One and One is Two, Three Is Potency

Karremann, Isabel.  “One and One is Two, Three Is Potency: The Dynamics of the Erotic Triangle in Othello.”  Journal of the Spanish Society for English Renaissance Studies, vol. 13, 2003, pp.111-121.

        In her essay, Karremann takes notions of the erotic triangle from Sedgwick in order to show it can be used for manipulation (as opposed to social-emotional exploration), and how norm transgression ruins its stability.  However, the main focus of her literary interpretation is to show how the erotic triangle Iago forms, fails because he (and Othello) fail to see each other’s desires. The academic conversation that this falls into is broadly gender at first, and then more specifically erotic or love triangles in literature as well as society. Karremann is E.K. Sedgwick work as her foundation; Sedgwick focused on recovering male homosocial bonds in literature and history.  Women were used as property to legitimize male homosocial relationships and prevent homosexuality. Sedgwick believed that most homosocial bonds were a mask for homosexual desires; however, homosexuality threatened the patriarchy by subverting power structures.  Using Sedgwick’s ideas, Karremann looks at how the erotic triangle becomes unstable, by transgressing social norms, and how it is used by Iago as tool for manipulation. Instead of using his triangle to develop a web of patriarchal bonds, Iago “exclusively” desires Othello, and their opposing desires destroy the stability of this triangle.

-Ben Mathews

"Slander, Renaissance Discourses of Sodomy, and Othello"

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

“Desdemona, Woman Warrior: ‘O, These Men, These Men!"

Holmer, Joan Ozark. “Desdemona, Woman Warrior: ‘O, These Men, These Men!" (4.3.59).” Medieval & Renaissance Drama in England, vol. 17, 2005, pp. 132–164. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/24322724. Accessed 28 June 2021.

Summary of the article:

In the article by Joan Ozark Holmer for Medieval & Renaissance Drama in England, Holmer argues that Desdemona is perhaps the bravest warrior ever presented on stage. She is “literally a warrior in the Christian sense, with faith as her shield” and figuratively a warrior in a secular sense, with her tongue as her sword (133). What follows is a critical analysis proving that Desdemona is a perfect Christian warrior as per Erasmus’s The Handbook of the Christian Soldier, with several arguments as to Desdemona’s heroics. One such argument is how she is a warrior in front of Othello, by testifying on his behalf before her father and the Senate, and by imploring the Duke to let her stand by his side in Cypress. Further testimony from Holmer is that Desdemona learns through adversity when she discovers that Othello is not as pure of mind as she had thought, and she fights for Cassio. She does this not for herself, but for Othello’s own good, knowing that Cassio loves Othello. The most substantial argument from Holmer that Desdemona is a woman warrior is that she ultimately does not rebuke Othello for her own murder, but continues to love him and tries to save both his reputation and his soul. In her final lines, she cries out that she has been falsely murdered. She cries this out to Othello, so that he might know his misdeed and repent for it, but when asked by Emilia to confirm who has killed her, she lies as though she has committed suicide, thus saving her husband’s reputation and tarnishing her own. That she would focus so much effort on redeeming her husband’s soul and continuing to love him to the last, argues Holmer, shows that Desdemona is indeed a woman warrior.

-- Wes Wingert