Shakespeare’s tragedy Othello” is a play about unchecked passion. The characters are driven by their desire for money, power, and love, leading them to commit acts that betray any hint of rational thinking. In Act Two, Scene Three, readers are given a taste of Othello’s passion. He says, “Now, by heaven, my blood begins my safer guides to rule, and passion, having my best judgement collie, essays to lead the way. ‘Swounds, if I stir.” Othello knows he is capable of terrible destruction.
Yet, it is love that he is afraid of, not mortal men. This emotion is so powerful that he does not deny it. Instead, he attempts to temper his love, but this seems like a denial of being uxorious. When Othello lands upon the shore of Cyprus and sees his beautiful Desdemona, he exclaims, “I cannot speak enough of this content. It stops me here, it is too much joy.
This joy of being in love stops his warrior heart. How can he not feel foolishly fond of his precious jewel? After the sword fight in Act Two, Scene Three, Othello utters in line 23, Cassio, I love thee.” Is he not doting upon his handsome lieutenant? He loves these people, but instead of his love becoming his salvation, it is his Achilles’ heel. That love becomes a serpent that constricts around his heart and breaks it. The belief in a love turned sour is too much for poor Othello.
Now he can never love. Othello will never become oversubmissive to his wife because he can only love as much as he sees he will receive in return. The answer to the question then appears to be that he is not uxorious because it is not allowed to bloom. The hateful seeds planted by Iago grow like weeds in Othello’s mind and overtake it.
The gentle fruit of Desdemona and Cassio takes too long to bear and is strangled out of existence. – Shakespeare
