the trouble with gender in othello - Auburn University Electronic ...

Nor to comply with heat, the young effects
In my defunct and proper satisfaction:
But to be free and bounteous to her mind.
And heaven defend your good souls that you think
I will your serious and great business scant
For she is with me. No, when light winged toys
Of feathered Cupid seel with wanton fullness
My speculative and officed instruments,
That my disports corrupt and taint my business,
Let housewives make a skillet of my helm,
And all indigent and base adversities
Make head against my estimation! (I.iii.283-296)
In other words, Othello assures the senate that he will not let the presence of a
woman, nor lust itself, interfere with his manly occupation of war. To have any
interaction with a woman, particularly sexual interaction, a man runs the risk of
becoming bestial, or perhaps even worse, like a woman. Therefore, if Othello has
already run the risk of increased effeminacy by his marriage, the risk of
becoming a cuckold, a “beast” with horns, is more than Othello can bear. To
properly return to his male gender performance, he must remove the
effeminizing and monster-creating presence of Desdemona. Othello addresses
this concern with the power of women to weaken a man’s mind (and body) in
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