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To be a cuckold, a common fear during the Renaissance Period, is the theme of Philip Collington's rich and scholarly paper. Collington (1999) pointed out that cuckoldry anxiety can be traced to a person's formative years. He relates children's early experiences of disruptions of their ties to caretakers to their adult fears of infidelity. Not only can this fear be attributed to their upbringing, but it was in the air. As we have heard, the English Renaissance culture was replete with cuckold lore in the form of nursery rhymes and ballads. The plots of many of Shakespeare's plays concern the need to prove female chastity. Even when fidelity is not a central theme, as Dr. Collington has observed, there are many references to cuckoldry in songs, jokes, and passing remarks (Traub, 1995). Furthermore, men imagined a woman's sexuality to be uncontrollable, a commonplace idea that runs through Shakespeare's plays (Traub, 1995) and is central to Othello. In his jealous state, Othello idealized Desdemona, but also imagined her greedy sexual appetite. He said, “O Curse of marriage/ That we can call these delicate creatures ours/ And not their appetites” ( III. 3. 272-274).
In my discussion I will address (1) how Othello came to be convinced that he was a cuckold through Iago's machinations, (2) Iago's motives in wanting to accomplish this goal, and (3) Othello's specific vulnerability that made him an easy prey to Iago.
Central to my discussion is the capacity for empathy in Othello, Iago, and Desdemona. Recall that empathy is the ability to enter the experience of the other, putting yourself into the shoes of the other. As Kohut (1981) stated, “think yourself appropriately into the inner