Comparing Female Chastity In Hamlet And Othello

Thesis/Topic of Paper: Rooted in strict Renaissance Christian ethics, the plays “Hamlet” and “Othello” by William Shakespeare both clearly exhibit an obsession with female chastity. In both tragedies, the male protagonists continuously doubt, with seldom evidence, the trustworthiness and loyalty of their lovers-- believing that uncontrolled feminine sexuality cannot result in anything but chaos, and ultimately projecting this belief until their paranoia results in emotional and physical abuse that leads to their lover’s demise. Only in the wake of their deaths do the men redeem their beloved as morally and sexually innocent, illustrating how female sexuality during the 16th-century was condemned in life, while fetishized in death due to masculine feelings of anxiety

For example, she notes that Othello “likens Desdemona’s sexuality to a storm” (7), while Hamlet expresses disgust towards Ophelia’s sexuality until she is a “dead, but perpetual, virgin” (5). These observations make her take on how feminine sexuality is either oppressed or fetishized in these plays especially interesting, as they highlight how the male characters would rather displace and/or contain the sexuality of their lovers rather than come to terms with it. Traub also mentions that during this time period, chastity was seen as the “female essence” (6), as if the expression of sexuality would rid a woman of her feminine identity or desirability. I plan to use this source to illustrate how Ophelia and Desdemona were faced with a double-edged sword because of the way in which they could not express their natural sexuality without it being called unnatural by men, but also could not hold back their sexuality without relinquishing a part of their own