Datta 1

Riju Datta

Ms. M-P

AP English Literature, G Block

26 November 2019

I pledge my honor.

The Moral Ramifications of Repressed Vulnerability and Sexuality

In Shakespearean literature, the trope of deception is a recurring tool used to develop a

complex plot and offer insights into characters’ motives and psychological states. More

commonly, however, the trope of deception is frequently underscored to introduce a conflict that,

more often than not, is unbeknownst to a character or set of characters and imputes a tragic

quality to the literary work itself through the characters’ flawed responses (or lack thereof) to

such conflict. In the tragedy Othello, Shakespeare depicts the power of deception as a tool to

which, surprisingly, his characters fall prey remarkably easily and uses the tool to identify,

reveal, and evoke hidden, yet distinctive attributes and behavioral qualities unique to each

character, including notably vulnerability and sexuality. Shakespeare completes his development

of the trope of deception by linking its role in unmasking traits such as vulnerability and

sexuality to engendering a lapse and breakdown of moral judgment. Specifically, Shakespeare’s

portrayal of his characters’ susceptibility to deception highlights the key role repressed

vulnerability and sexuality play in causing characters to eschew one’s moral decision-making for

an innate, even carnal human desire or trait.

Undoubtedly, the motif of repressed vulnerability is exhibited throughout Othello, and

the ease with which it interferes with moral judgment reflects an inherent pitfall of human nature

through its tendency to yield to, at times, childish desires. Othello reveals his own repressed
 Datta 2

vulnerability after Iago initially asserts control over Othello and plants a seed of doubt within

Othello regarding Desdemona’s faithfulness:

OTHELLO. Nay, yet there’s more in this. I prithee speak to me as to thy

thinkings, as thou dost ruminate, and give thy worst of thoughts the worst of words.

IAGO. Good my lord, pardon me. Though I am bound to every act of duty, I am

not bound to that all slaves are free to: utter my thoughts? Why, say they are vile and

false– (Shakespeare 594)

Most clearly, the motif of repressed vulnerability describes the motivation behind the actions and

behaviors of both Iago and Othello themselves as the plot progresses and Othello’s internal

turmoil over Desdemona’s purported impropriety grows. By “[binding himself] to every act of

duty”, Iago manifests himself as a just and righteous character who recognizes the importance of

a natural hierarchy and morally sound decisions (ironically and also in accordance with the trope

of deception, it is this natural hierarchy itself that Iago wishes to corrupt and destabilize.)

Through a falsified sense of disbelief at revealing his potentially “vile and false” thoughts, Iago

projects a sense of maturity, restraint, and, hence, morality. Moreover, Iago’s blatant contrast

between himself and slaves who possess the freedom of preserving one’s own thoughts

underscores Iago’s questioning of the natural order – specifically, the hierarchy in which Iago

feels trapped. By emphasizing to Othello his own elevated status above the slaves within the

natural order, Iago deftly heightens his own stature in said order and, thus, imputes a sense of

credibility to his argument. Thus, Iago empowers himself to enter and break down, as Joel Kovel

describes, Othello’s “bubble of phallic pride” by “revealing the content of his own unconscious

to him [Othello]” (Kovel 115). In contrast, Othello’s insistent, almost childlike demands for “the

worst of words” portrays him as infantile and indicates both a youthful disregard for
 Datta 3

consequence and a shortsighted fixation on solely one goal. These motifs of fixation and

relentless search for control in order to mask a blatant shortcoming recur heavily henceforth in

the play, manifesting themselves to reveal Othello’s fraying self-control because of Iago’s

subliminal efforts to destabilize his marital relationship and psychological state. Othello’s

inability to cope with the exposure of his internal qualms and fears reasserts the notion that his

repressed, yet volatile desires to overcome such vulnerability causes a direct breakdown of one’s

moral reasoning. In a riposte towards Iago’s incredulity and unwillingness to disclose his

“uncleanly apprehensions”, Othello calmly remarks, “Thou dost conspire against thy friend

[Othello], Iago, if thou but think’st him wronged and mak’st his ear a stranger to thy thoughts.”

(Shakespeare 594). While delivered in a calm and calculating tone, Othello’s remark masks the

growing psychological instability he harbors as he fruitlessly grapples with a loss of control and

knowledge regarding his own marital relationship. In the dialogue, Othello blatantly lays fault on

Iago by blaming his own ignorance and lack of control over the integrity of his marriage on a

moral aberration of Iago’s doing. By describing Iago’s actions as a “[conspiracy] against thy

friend” and calling Iago himself “a stranger”, Othello demonstrates how, even with a close ally

and liege, he forgoes moral scruples and disregards making a right decision for the sake of

achieving clarity, control, and, in the end, a new mask to disguise his growingly exposed

vulnerability. Furthermore, Othello’s dwindling forbearance and loss of moral judgment

escalates throughout Act III, Scene iii, as Iago fully consummates his control over and deception

of Othello. Othello rages against Iago’s now apparent unwillingness to help cover up his

unmasked vulnerability:

IAGO. But he that filches from me my good name robs me of that which not

enriches him and makes me poor indeed.

 Datta 4

OTHELLO. By heaven, I’ll know thy thoughts!” (Shakespeare 594)

In this climactic, brash remark, Iago yet again demonstrates the extent of his contrast between his

purported sense of moral righteousness and Othello’s flawed “infantile attachment” and

“extreme vulnerability” (Kovel 115). By donning the title “my good name”, Iago makes clear

how he regards himself as a symbol of steadfast righteousness and of a higher repute than he

currently holds as Othello’s ancient. His recognizance of his good name being “filched” and

“robbed” again elevates Iago’s moral and societal status, within Othello’s perception. This

elevated moral and societal status allows Iago to manipulate Othello’s tormented psychological

state so as to make Othello think that only by putting his confidence in Iago, who appears

morally just and sound, Othello will manage to achieve a semblance of protection against his

raging vulnerability. Moreover, yet again, Othello establishes a stark contrast between the

implied sanctity and purity of Iago’s moral conduct and his own puerile attachment to one and

only one desire – breaching Iago’s thought for the chance of solace and mitigating his own

unconscious vulnerability. Othello’s emphatic plea to a higher power also connotes an insecurity

about powerlessness and, hence, further reveals Othello’s childish behavior and moral

impropriety as he growingly attaches himself to figures that he perceives as higher and more

righteous than him. Indeed, Jorgensen remarks that the defining point of a Shakespearean

tragedy was often the presence of a man “who lacked the vital ability to discriminate true friend

from false, [or] honest man from knave” (Jorgensen 562). Thus, the motifs of repressed

vulnerability exhibited throughout Othello directly cause a decline in moral judgment and reflect

the inherent human characteristic of disregarding moral conventions for the sake of visceral

human desires.
 Datta 5

In addition, the motif of repressed sexuality is a frequently used element that reflects a

detriment in moral decision-making and also demonstrates an intrinsic human quality that one’s

unfulfilled sexual desires fuels humans to forego moral standards in often vain attempts to satisfy

such sexual dissatisfaction. As Iago begins to plant the seed of doubt in Othello’s security

regarding his relationship with Desdemona, he makes remarks that offer insight into a potential

motive of a crime that Samuel Taylor Coleridge dubbed a “motiveless malignity”:

OTHELLO. If thou dost love me, show me thy thought.

IAGO. My lord, you know I love you.

OTHELLO. I think thou dost; and for [since] I know thou’rt full of love and

honesty. (Shakespeare 593)

An interpretation of Iago’s repressed sexuality offers a potential clue as to why Iago was

motivated to break down Othello’s relationship with Desdemona in the first place. As Edward A.

Snow remarks, “repression pervades the entire world of Othello”, and the play is filled with

instances, both forced and willful, of “[refusals] of knowledge” (Snow 384). Indeed, the strand of

homosexuality recurs frequently in the play Othello and reflects a “sexual hunger in Iago so

persistent that we must call it insatiable” (Staebler 8).

The trope of deception as a tool to expose and demonstrate the ubiquity of a vulnerability

and weakness inherent in human nature is a recurring motif in Othello and follows the

Shakespearean goal of revealing how his characters, regardless of socioeconomic stature, origin,

or material possessions, all exhibit visceral, intrinsic behavioral traits fundamental to human

nature. Through complex characters such as Iago and Othello, as well as King Lear in the play

named for him, and even Romeo and Juliet in their fateful story of “star-crossed love”,

Shakespeare renders obvious the commentary throughout his breadth of literature that despite an
 Datta 6

exalted, royal status, all characters are still susceptible to having their internal dialectic between

id and ego hopelessly manipulated and, as a result, fall prey to internal feelings of suppressed

weakness and lust.

 Datta 7

Works Cited

Primary Source:

Shakespeare, William. Othello. 1603-1604. The Norton Anthology of English Literature, edited

by Carol T. Christ et al., 9th ed., W.W. Norton and Company, 2013, pp. 552-635.

Secondary Sources:

Jorgensen, Paul A. “Honesty in Othello.” Studies in Philology, vol. 47, no. 4, 1950, pp. 557–

567. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/4172948.

Kovel, Joel. “Othello.” American Imago, vol. 35, no. 1/2, 1978, pp. 113–119. JSTOR,

www.jstor.org/stable/26303293.

Snow, Edward A. "Sexual Anxiety and the Male Order of Things." Studies in Shakespeare, The

University of Chicago Press, pp. 384-412. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/43446996.

Accessed 25 Nov. 2019. Excerpt originally published in English Literary Renaissance,

vol. 10, no. 3, Fall 1980.

Staebler, Warren. "The Sexual Nihilism of Iago." The Sewanee Review, edited by The Johns

Hopkins University Press, vol. 83. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/27542965. Accessed 25

Nov. 2019. Excerpt originally published in The Sewanee Review, Spring 1975, pp. 284-

304.