William Shakespeare’s Othello is a tragedy following Iago’s manipulation of his commanding general, the “Moor” Othello, to suspect his wife, Desdemona, of infidelity. With most of the play set in wartime Cyprus, its characters and action relegated to an island far from Venice, the play’s central relationships largely consist of homosocial bonds amongst military men. But when the homosocial world is disrupted by the perceived encroachment of a woman—Desdemona—the society reacts with violence, culminating in the death of the “intruder.” Shakespeare explores the sanctity of male homosociality in the microcosm of Othello’s military, ultimately revealing how the desire to maintain male-male relationships is channelled into misogynistic violence as a means to uphold hetero-masculine hegemony and the semblance of societal power.

From their first introduction, the play’s military men are defined by titles that tie their identities to their militarism: Othello, the general “stuff’d with epithets of war” (I.i.14); Cassio, the lieutenant officer that “never set a squadron in the field” (I.i.22); and Iago, “his Moorship’s ancient” (I.i.34). Shakespeare thus characterises Iago by emphasising his distorted perceptions of the characters around him. In turn, Iago characterises those around him and provides a lens through which they are viewed not only by Iago but eventually, the military and Venetian Senate under Iago’s manipulation. Hence, when male identity is defined by how a man relates to his fellow man, his self-worth and intrinsic value are externalised through those same relationships. Indeed, Iago is convinced of this when he asserts that “[he] know[s] [his] price, [he is] worth no worse a place” than the position of lieutenant (I.i.11), suggesting that his “worth” as a soldier—and by extension, as a man when he denounces Cassio as a “spinster” (I.i.24), employing pejorative, emasculating diction—is determined by his rank. His tone is spiteful as he describes “the curse of service”: “Preferment goes by letter and affection” (I.i.35–36). Here, he asserts the importance of homosocial favour to obtain militant and masculine “worth,” and when Iago asks Roderigo to “be judge yourself / Whether [Iago] . . . [is] affin’d / To love the Moor” (I.i.38–40), his upset is framed as caused not only by lack of rank but also lack of “affection” and therefore perceived rejection in his relationship with Othello. This further emphasises the military’s sanctified homosociality by framing it as essential to male social mobility but also a means to receive affection in return for one’s “love and duty” (I.i.60). As such, homosociality is sanctified because it provides a unique source of power for these men—when the uppermost strata of society are occupied by men like Othello and the Duke, a man who desires status must rely upon his relationships with these men who may then endow them with “affection” and power. In this way, homosocial bonds become essential to the succession of power in this society but also a means to restrict that power to men, hence preserving hetero-masculine hegemony.

However, problems arise when the homosocial world of the military is breached by Desdemona who threatens these bonds and hetero-masculine hegemony. From her first formal introduction, Othello characterises her as having “wish’d / That heaven had made her such a man” (I.iii.161–62). In this, Shakespeare’s use of syntax creates ambiguity. Effectively, one could interpret Desdemona as wishing that “such a man” be made for her as a lover, or that she herself were such a man. This reflects a similar ambiguity in Desdemona’s occupation of both feminine and masculine spaces, an intersection that becomes a central source of tension for her character. Desdemona’s breach of the homosocial world can be best encapsulated in Iago’s assertion that “[their] general’s wife is now the general” (II.iii.294–95), a hyperbolic metaphor that overstates Desdemona’s true authority but emphasises the magnitude to which Desdemona’s encroachment is felt. Indeed, Desdemona’s “intrusion” is sanctioned, even encouraged, by Othello, the most powerful military man in Cyprus and certainly the greatest source of homosocial value for his soldiers. Where militant epithets are typically reserved for the play’s men, Othello calls Desdemona his “fair warrior” (II.i.175), disrupting the otherwise distinct homosocial bonds defined by these epithets. Because Othello has endowed her with power, the other military men—Iago and Cassio—similarly attribute status and power to Desdemona within the homosocial world rather than simply adjacent to it. By contrast, “their” women—Emilia and Bianca—are relegated as vessels for pleasure and procreation who may exist on the fringes of homosocial society but are never to encroach upon the sacred bonds between men. Desdemona is a “military wife,” but in attributing status to her, the homosocial world also grants her the position and agency of a “military man.” As Iago frames it, Desdemona has not only invaded and disrupted the sanctity of homosociality, but she has entirely dominated the homosocial world and threatens to access the intimacy, status, and power that a woman should have never been able to wield and certainly not at the expense of the male Iago. To prevent her further advance, the homosocial world must therefore neutralise this invasion.

In the face of perceived female threat, the military men react to quash the intrusion to maintain their homosocial world and assert hetero-masculine hegemony through misogynistic violence. Initially, this violence is covert, largely established by Iago’s framing of heterosexual relationships. He reduces these dynamics to their most carnal when he likens Othello to “an old black ram / tupping [a] white ewe [Desdemona]” in which Shakespeare’s diction is crass and his metaphor comparing Desdemona to a “white ewe” casts her as the innocent but helpless subject to the desires of a more powerful creature (I.i.89–90). This characterises heterosexual dynamics as inherently hierarchical, suggesting that men will always hold sexual and therefore social and physical power over women. This is further emphasised when Iago suggests that “love” is but the “blood and baseness” of human nature, its “raging motions . . . carnal stings . . . [and] unbitted lusts” (I.iii.323–28). Shakespeare’s use of violent diction with such words as “blood,” “raging,” and “carnal stings” evokes similarly turbulent, destructive imagery, thereby establishing heterosexual love and violence as inextricable. But as Desdemona continues to assert herself in the homosocial world, Iago’s rhetoric must disempower her more overtly. While Iago himself is not necessarily directly inflicting violence, his influence is undoubtedly its impetus; in manipulating the other characters to believe his misogynistic rhetoric and convincing Othello of Desdemona’s infidelity, Iago disempowers Desdemona and therefore seizes the intimate bond with Othello that she possesses. Thus, by fracturing the trust between Othello and Cassio, then employing apophasis throughout Act III, scene iii to suggest covert intimacy between Cassio and Desdemona, Iago strengthens his homosocial bond with Othello while aligning Desdemona with the “untrustworthy” Cassio. This scene culminates in Othello calling Desdemona a “lewd minx” as he swears his “love” to Iago and nominally promotes him to lieutenant; in turn, Iago accepts their newly-reinforced homosocial bond by affirming that “[he is] [Othello’s] own forever” (471–80).

Indeed, Shakespeare suggests that eliminating the female “intruder” temporarily restores the homosocial bond between Othello and Iago. Iago now obtains the intimacy and access to Othello previously held by Desdemona; meanwhile, Shakespeare’s use of crass diction continues to escalate, characterising Desdemona as a “public commoner,” “whore,” and “strumpet” (IV.ii.70–80). This serves to sexually degrade Desdemona, “desanctifying” the deteriorating heterosexual bond between her and Othello while marking the re-sanctification of Iago and Othello’s homosocial bond. At this point, Othello’s lines are characterised by explicit threats of physical violence as he asserts that he will “chop [Desdemona] into messes” (IV.i.195), orders Iago to “[g]et [him] some poison” (IV.i.199), and ultimately decides to “strangle her in her bed” (IV.i.202–204). Verbal threats descend into the first act of physical violence inflicted upon Desdemona when Othello strikes her (IV.i.238). Crucially, this is witnessed by Lodovico who replaces Othello as the dominant male authority to whom Othello and Iago show deference with such honorifics as “sir” or “signior” (IV.i.213, 216, 219). With Othello’s transgression and Shakespeare’s choice to physically remove him from the scene, Lodovico turns to Iago—now the most powerful man onstage aside from himself—asking if Othello is “light of brain” (IV.i.267). This reflects Othello’s diminishing status in the eyes of Venetian authority, but also Iago’s increasing power as he disrupts the homosocial bond between Othello and Lodovico that granted Othello power and curries favour with Lodovico to capture that power for himself. In this way, misogynistic violence provides the occasion for the re-sanctification of the homosocial world—its men can align themselves closer amongst each other to distance themselves from the now-outcast Othello while pitying Desdemona, now defined by her suffering and thus relegated to her powerless place on its fringes.

Although Desdemona’s death becomes the ultimate punishment for her breach, this does not resolve the play’s central homosocial tension. In fact, it is violence that ultimately fractures every notable relationship, leaving chaos and tragedy in its wake. In conclusion, Shakespeare’s exploration of gender dynamics through the lens of male homosociality reveals much about how individuals operate within the confines of impenetrable yet ultimately arbitrary power structures. However, he also suggests that these confines may not be as infallible as they seem—Desdemona, after all, manages in some capacity to challenge them, and though she is punished, so are the men who resort to violence and destruction to preserve such fragile structures. Therefore, Shakespeare suggests that homosocial society must embrace evolution to truly endure—only then may it deconstruct and transcend dynamics of gendered violence that drive it to ruin.