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Love Relationships and Cuckoldry in Othello and Much Ado Elizabeth Falconer Denison University Articulāte Volume 3 Article 6 1998 "My Life Upon Her Faith": Love Relationships and Cuckoldry in Othello and Much Ado Elizabeth Falconer Denison University Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.denison.edu/articulate Part of the English Language and Literature Commons Recommended Citation Falconer, Elizabeth (1998) ""My Life Upon Her Faith": Love Relationships and Cuckoldry in Othello and Much Ado," Articulāte: Vol. 3 , Article 6. Available at: http://digitalcommons.denison.edu/articulate/vol3/iss1/6 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Denison Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Articulāte by an authorized editor of Denison Digital Commons. 34 Wyatt Holliday genre, which I think bear stating (or repeating, at tan in return for his escape, is thrown from a moun- least). First, whenever a someone becomes involved tain-top by the same Satan, left alive where he falls so "MY LIFE UPON HER FAITH": LOVE RELATIONSHIPS AND CUCKOLDRY in an incestuous relationship, that person is doomed. that the birds, animals and bugs may pick his body IN OTHELLO AND MUCH ADO But secondly, and of paramount importance, I would apart while he still breathes. assert that the presence of incest in at least these two With this final image of horror, it is obvious BY ELIZABETH FALCONER '00 Gothic novels displays the ultimate power of the that the convention of incest within the Gothic genre Love relationships and marriage during the would simply endure mere disapproval from the com- Christian (or Catholic) Church. Beatrice cannot was used for the most part to invoke disgust and ab- Renaissance boasted very specific social roles for both munity. Strangely enough, cuckolds, the true vic- "rest" until she has come back to God, in the sym- horrence, and to signal the downfall of any who be- males and females. Ideal Renaissance men and tims of the events, were brought more humiliation bolic gesture of the Christian burial in her family's come involved in it. While only early Gothic novels women were required to obey distinct codes of con- than were either of the adulterers. This is due in part tomb. She also requires that "thirty masses be said were examined herein, this sentiment holds true in duct; these codes, once translated into marriage trea- to Renaissance masculine ideals, which implied that for the repose of my Spirit, and I trouble the world later Gothic works as well: Darl ends up in an asy- tises, pervaded marriages of the day (Vaughan 76). a woman's fidelity is a symbol of her husband's viril- no more" (Lewis 172). Manfred, in the end, "took lum only after noticing that his sister's "wet dress Females were expected to be silent, chaste, and obe- ity (Kahn 121). on ... the habit of religion in the neighboring con- shapes ... those mammalian ludicrosities which are dient figures of society. This image carried over into Cuckoldry was represented in literature through vents" (Walpole 115). And Ambrosio, having in the the horizons and the valleys of the earth" (Faulkner female marriage roles, as wives were trusted to faith- symbolic horns. These horns were both a phallic sym- end utterly renounced God by selling his soul to Sa- 150), i.e. that Dewey Dell has a nice rack. fully obey their husbands. Males were chiefly con- bol and a representation of male virility. A woman cerned with their honor and reputation in society; leading her husband by the horns was symbolic of that is, a husband was expected to retain control of the man allowing his virility to be manipulated by Works Cited his wife. If he could not, and she was unfaithful to his wife. Of course, according to Renaissance mas- him, then he was deemed a cuckold. Renaissance culine identity, this idea was completely unaccept- Andriano, Joseph. "The Feminine in the Monk: From Sublime Madonna to Bleeding Nun." Our Ladies of men feared cuckoldry, for it labeled women as whores, able, for it shifted the dominance from husband to Darkness: Feminine Daemonology in Male Gothic Fiction. University Park, Pennsylvania: The men as victims, and was viewed as a mockery of male wife. Men had three defenses against cuckoldry. The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1993: 31-45. virility (Kahn 122). Shakespeare commented on this Renaissance man would either deny the existence of pervasive Renaissance male fear and its impact on cuckoldry by objectifying women, expect female in- Bruhm, Steven. Gothic Bodies: The Politics of Pain in Romantic Fiction. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania marriage in several plays. The relationship between fidelity due to misogyny, or change the commonly Press, 1994. Othello and Desdemona in Othello and that between outcast cuckold into a phallic symbol through horn Claudio and Hero in Much Ado About Nothing each imagery (Neely 141). These defenses allowed men Duncan, Ian. Modern Romance and Transformations of the Novel: The Gothic, Scott, and Dickens. Cambridge: illustrate male vulnerability to such a fear through to experience cuckoldry as a male bond, and to view Cambridge University Press, 1992. Renaissance notions of female sexuality, as well as the marriage as a community of potential cuckolds. ironic partnership of cuckoldry and the dependence In Othello, the plot revolves around the mar- Faulkner, William. As I Lay Dying. New York: Vintage Books, 1985. of women's lives on the faith of their husbands. riage of Othello and Desdemona. However, this According to Coppe'lia Kahn, cuckoldry was marriage is one lacking in trust, as well as even per- Lewis, Matthew Gregory. The Monk. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995. thought to be derived from three central attitudes sonal intimacy, for Othello and Desdemona really toward Renaissance love relationships (121). Mi- know very little about each other. The relationship Walpole, Horace. The Castle ofOtranto. Fort Worth, Texas: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich College Publishers, sogyny, the first of the beliefs, presumed that all between the two is based solely on the tales Othello 1963. women were licentious and wayward. The second has shared with Desdemona: "She loved me for the belief was termed "double standard;" that is, infidel- dangers I had passed / And I loved her that she did Williams, Anne. The Art of Darkness: A Poetics of Gothic. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995. ity was acceptable for men, but inexcusable for pity them" (I.iii.167-8). The foundation of their women. The final belief was called "patriarchal mar- marriage is composed totally of Othello's own life, Winter, Kari J. Subjects of Slavery, Agents of Change. Athens, Georgia: The University of Georgia Press, riage." This basically involved male domination of which exhibits the self-centered qualities of Othello's 1992. marriage and female status as property. When a love for Desdemona (Elliot 63). This lack of per- woman was unfaithful to her husband, the value of sonal knowledge later manifests itself within the his property rapidly deteriorated. In such a situa- marriage as a lack of trust. According to Gerald tion, a role reversal took place, converting the man Bentley, "romantic ignorance often paves the way for to victim and the woman to the center of the action. deception" (1019). This woman would be the first to be blamed, not her As Renaissance ideals, Othello and Desdemona lover. She would suffer condemnation, while her lover both accept and reject established codes of conduct. Elizabeth Falconer is a sophomore this year from Northbrook, Illinois. At Denison, she is a double-major in English Literature and Music, concentrating on piano. Articulate • 1998 Articulate • 1998 36 Elizabeth Falconer Love Relationships and Cuckoldry 37 Othello has been described as "ideally calm, reason- husband (Kastan 122). The meat it feeds on. That cuckold lives in bliss women. He has to have Don Pedro woo Hero for able, and rooted in a sense of legitimacy" (French To Othello, there are two types of women: "su- Who, certain of his fate, loves not his wronger. him instead of winning her for himself. Claudio's 204). However, he rejects masculine ideals by wed- perhuman, totally virtuous" and "a dissembler, a de- (III.iii.166-168) basic image of women stems from medieval notions ding a much younger bride of a different social class ceiver, because of sexuality; she is thus subhuman, From here, Othello begins to doubt that of female excellence; namely that a chaste woman is (Vaughan 75). Renaissance men were supposed to bestial, capable of any degradation" (French 211). Desdemona could ever love him: "And yet, how na- a virtuous woman ("Much Ado About Nothing: be at most four to five years older than their wives. Desdemona shifts from one image to the other, then ture erring from itself-" (III.iii.227). He later speaks Comment" 1966a). Also similar to Othello, Claudio Othello is an alien in Venice, both racially and so- back to "superhuman" again after her murder. of cuckoldry as if it is an unavoidable fate: is extremely vulnerable to warnings of cuckoldry from cially. He is completely unacquainted with Othello's growing jealousy results from this shift from 'Tis destiny unshunnable, like death. Benedick and Don John (Friedman 237). These Desdemona's world, and is highly vulnerable to lago's "superhuman" to "subhuman" instigated by lago. As Even then this forked plague is fated to us warnings later increase Claudio's capability for be- deceit for that very reason. Othello can easily see the an outsider in Desdemona's world, Othello is par- When we do quicken. (III.iii.275-7) lieving Hero's infidelity. prejudice of Venice, but is blind to Desdemona's re- ticularly vulnerable to lago's influence. When pre- Finally, Othello makes a reference to the sym- Claudio is the conventional Renaissance man, jection of this prejudice.
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    SIXTY-MINUT[ SIIAK[SP[AR[ MUC" ADO ABOUT NOTHING by (ass foster + from MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE © Copyright 2003 published by Five Star Publications, Inc. Chandler, Arizona SlXTY MIKUTt S"AK[SP{AR~ MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTUING by Cass Foster First Edition 1990. Second Edition 1997. Third Edition 1998. Fourth Edition 2000. Fifth Edition 200 I. Sixth Edition 2003. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States ofAmerica. Library of Congress Cataloglng-in-Publication Data Shakespeare, William, 1564-16] 6. Much Ado About Nothing (abridged) by Cass Foster.-lst ed. p. em. - (Classics for all ages) (The Sixty-Minute Shakespeare) Summary: An abridged version of Shakespeare~scomedy about mistaken jdentitles~ games, eavesdropping, and unrequited love. ISBN: 1..877749-42-7 1. Courtship -- Italy .. - Messina-- Juvenile drama. 2. Children's plays; English. [1. Plays] I. Shakespeare, William. 1564~t616. lvluch Ado About Nothing. II. Title. III. Series. PR2828.A25 1997 8224 .914--dc213 97-37230 CIP AC No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in _a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means! electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording~ or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the pubHsher~ except to quote a brief passage in connection with a review written for broadcast or for the inclusion in a magazine or a newspaper. Book Design by Barbara Kordesh Paul M. Howey, Copy Editor Sixth Edition edited by Gary E. Anderson © 1990. ]997, 1998.2000,2001 and 2003 by Cass Foster Five Star Publications, Incorporated P.O. Box 6698 Chandler, AZ 85246-6698 website: www.fivestarsupport.com e-mail: [email protected] To Linda and Lowell MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTH1NG INTRODUCTiON W.I(omt to Till SIXTY .
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