The Paradox of Masculinity

A Social Examination of Male Aggression and

Destruction in Shakespeare’s Othello

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Aggression

Violence

Masculinity

Commanding

Anxiety Expectations

Worth

Destruction

Disgrace

Humility

Result

!?

?!

Society expects that true masculinity is presented in the

form of aggression.

Aggression

Othello represents this male hostility with disturbing

metaphors, comparing his “bloody thoughts” of violence “to

the Pontic sea” and its “icy current and compulsive course”

(Shakespeare 3.3.450-4).

Othello’s speech, mannerism, and style all come to reflect his acceptance of “the social belief that violence is an appropriate masculine response” for most

situations (Nel 7).

Othello becomes an overwhelmed man, aggressive

and hostile in response to society’s unfair expectations.

Those possessing this violent masculine identity, however, often feel the need to display their male aggression.

Anxiety

Othello’s masculinity soon turns into a frenzied anger, which is depicted as he talks madly to himself that “It is the cause, it is the cause/…It is the cause…/…she must die” (Shakespeare 5.2.1-6).

Othello is now beleaguered with an “anxiety to assert masculinity;” his wild repetitions characteristic of his

fretfulness to meet social expectations (Rosen 1).

Othello uneasily awaits a chance to prove his male identity

because his society requires that he clearly demonstrate his

masculine attributes.

Many men, however, become so overwhelmed in the process of attempting to prove their worth

that they are met by self-destruction in the process.

Destruction

After asserting himself, Othello is confronted with humiliating

disgrace and is described as “Perplexed in the extreme,” a man confused, wronged, and

desecrated (Shakespeare 5.2.342).

Othello finally makes his mark, attempting to appease the social “conceptions of man…[as] uncivilized monsters” (Lowenthal 2).

And, as he becomes corrupted by society’s expectations, Othello “achieves masculine ‘success’” marked by violence and murder; however this “success society

offers involves [his] self-destruction” in the process

(Meisenhelder 2).

Othello becomes entangled within this confusing web of expectations, for when he tries to assert his masculinity, he is only met by personal disgrace.

Society expects that a man of respectable success is

aggressive, responsive, and commanding over his life, the

domineering masculine type who is both violent and uncivilized.

This preconception of the aggressive male persona, however, creates a situation in which those who become masculine, as society defines it, cannot survive.

This is the paradox of masculinity, that the definitions and expectations of the male persona deemed by our societies are unrealistic, detrimental, and ultimately self-destructive.

By: Baldwin