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Othello’s Second Marriage: The Temptation Scene and the Forms of Early Modern Marriage
Fox, Lauren
Fox, Lauren
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Abstract
This thesis explores the way Iago and Othello’s binding agreement in Othello 3.3 echoes the marriage ceremony traditions of early modern England. Editors and scholars including Michael Neill, Ayanna Thompson and John Baxter have all referred to the end of the famous temptation scene in Othello as a “marriage” or “mock marriage,” but none fully explains or documents why it has the markings of a marriage. This paper attempts to fill in the gaps through a detailed explanation of marriage practices in early modern England, followed by a close reading of Othello 3.3 that focuses on repetition, the calling of witnesses, kneeling, and the language of the vows. Finally, this thesis ends by exploring the implications of reading Othello 3.3 as resemblant of a marriage scene.
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Date
2023-05-31
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University of Kansas
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Keywords
English literature, Literature, Early Modern England, Marriage, Othello, Shakespeare