How Is Honor Justified In Othello's Reputation

Othello questions the egocentric, narcissistic honor that is shown by the men in the play. For the sake of this paper, “honor” will be used as a synonym for reputation. Honor is not necessarily a bad thing, but it should not be a justification for misconduct. In history, a lot of actions were justified if they were committed to defend one’s honor. A man is justified in murdering his wife’s lover in order to protect his honor (Klene 140). Thousands of people died in duels to defend honor.
In 5.2.299-300, Othello used his honor as an excuse for murdering Desdemona. Iago, in 1.1.7-17 and 2.1.291-295, gives reasons for his hate, so his honor could be maintained. He feels slighted that he was not promoted, and he suspects that Othello is sleeping with Emilia, despite there being no evidence for it.

Throughout the play, Shakespeare shows that above all, honor is fragile.

Five individuals are shown losing their honor, and three of them die with it. The marriage of Desdemona and Othello destroyed Brabantio’s honor, and later in the play it is revealed that he died because of it (5.2.211). The secret marriage showed that he was not capable of keeping his daughter obedient to him. Cassio lost honor because Iago tempted him to drink, and his resolve was not strong enough. He gave into temptation, and attacked Roderigo and the story was not relayed to Othello properly. For the sake of Venice’s honor, Othello had to demote

Cassio.
Taming of the Shrew, a comedy by Shakepeare, also addresses the issue of honor. Baptista wants to maintain his honor, and his daughters’ honor, by having Katherine, the elder, wed first. Unfortunately for Baptista, Katherine did not have any desire to be married, and did not view her “honor” as something worth sacrificing herself for. She felt that marriage would give her husband an excuse to control her. However, she and Petruchio married, and throughout their trials to make the marriage work, both gained more honor, despite that not being their intention. Petruchio gained honor by “taming” Kate, and Kate was exalted over other wives, and gained the authority to chastise them.
In Esther 1:10-20, Vashti refuses to come before Xerxes, and she is deposed on the grounds that the king’s reputation would suffer for it. There isn’t much Biblical context as to why she refused but some believe that it would have degraded and humiliated her, and she would rather maintain her own self-honor than to promote her reputation throughout the kingdom.
Truth can only exist where facts are put above desires. Honor and truth can rarely be present at the same time, because defending one’s honor requires the refusal of guilt. Even if the accused party is guilty, they must claim to be innocent, in the name of their honor. If a man’s wife is cheating on him, he only has to keep up the pretense that she is faithful. Deceit walks hand-in-hand with maintaining honor, and truth is rejected for the sake of pretending to be better. The flaws ignored for the sake of honor do not go away simply because one chooses to ignore them. Because there is no attempt to fix them, they fester and grow worse. Defending honor excuses, and enables, the exact traits that it claims to avoid.