Publication Date
2022
Document Type
Dissertation/Thesis
First Advisor
Crowley, Timothy
Degree Name
M.A. (Master of Arts)
Legacy Department
Department of English
Abstract
This thesis places William Shakespeare’s Othello within cultural context to examine the moral corruption that Desdemona and Othello undergo once they fulfill marital roles within a patriarchal hierarchy that reflects the hierarchy religious conduct literature calls on Christians to maintain within marriage. At the same time, this thesis contrasts Shakespeare’s Othello with the Italian story of Disdemona and a Moorish captain within Decade Three of Cinthio’s Gli Hecatommithi. Hecatommithi does not ascribe a corrupting power to patriarchal hierarchy or explore Othello’s downfall in relation to his Christian faith. This thesis determines that the alterations Shakespeare makes to Othello’s source material emphasize that the corrupting factor of Othello is patriarchal hierarchy through presenting Othello and Desdemona as achieving pious companionate tranquility at the start of the play when they do not maintain a relationship that aligns with the patriarchal hierarchy that religious conduct literature outlines and undergoing paradoxical corruption once they establish a patriarchal hierarchy within their marriage.
Recommended Citation
Lester, Heavyn Renee, "Heathen Husband: The Corrupting Patriarchal Hierarchy in Shakespeare’s Othello and Its Absence in Cinthio’s Gli Hecatommithi" (2022). Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations. 7295.
https://huskiecommons.lib.niu.edu/allgraduate-thesesdissertations/7295
Extent
53 pages
Language
eng
Publisher
Northern Illinois University
Rights Statement
In Copyright
Rights Statement 2
NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors.
Media Type
Text
