“Nature Would Not Invest
Herself in Such Shadowing Passion without Some Instruction:” An Evolutionary
Psychological Reading of Othello.
“We believe that works of art
are shaped by our evolved human nature, by culture and by individual
experience. We therefore distinguish ourselves from cultural constructivists
who effectively give exclusive shaping power to culture. We give close
attention to cross-cultural universals or regularities that derive from
regularities in human nature but we also recognise the uniquely intense human
capacity for culture.”
(Boyd et al on the evolutionary psychological approach to literature. 2010. P3)
(Boyd et al on the evolutionary psychological approach to literature. 2010. P3)
Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of
Othello: The Moor of Venice is a deeply psychological play concerned with
questions of ambition, competition, jealousy & desire. I believe light can be shed on these questions of motivation by
considering the play through evolutionary psychology. Evolutionary psychology
has been undervalued in the humanities due to a reliance on what Jonathan
Gottschall entitles the ‘liberationist paradigm;’ a project of denaturalisation
which focuses solely on cultural constructionism. I will address some common criticisms of
evolutionary psychology, and argue that its inclusion in literary criticism
allows for a fuller exploration of the human subject and facilitates greater
clarity in our identification and examination of social and historical forces.
In
my reading of Othello, I will
demonstrate how an understanding of the cognitive mechanisms underlying male
intrasexual competition can inform our analysis of character and motivation. We
will see that studies in evolutionary psychology provide evidence against the
argument that race is of central importance to the character of Othello.
Instead, an argument will be made that Othello and Iago represent dramatic
extremes of two enduring behaviours whose conflicts over millions of years have
shaped much of humanity’s theory of mind and moral emotions to the present day.
Evolutionary psychology is
rooted in evolutionary biology and cognitive psychology. It reveals that many
functions of the brain, evident in human perceptions and behaviour, are the
result of mechanisms formed by natural selection. These are adaptations –
evolved traits which helped our ancestors survive and reproduce – and include
modes of communication, alliance formation, mating strategies and
self-preservation. There is very little opposition to the idea that non-human
animals display such behaviours but when scientists suggest that humans do too,
they meet with resistance from the humanities. The literary critic, Jonathan
Gottschall, who advocates the use of evolutionary psychology, describes a
‘great project of denaturalisation’ beginning in the late 1960s which included
literary scholars ‘who set out to show that anything considered natural –
gender roles, sexual orientation, suites of attitudes, ideologies and norms -
were actually the local, contingent and endlessly malleable product of specific
social and historical forces” (2008 p4.) Gottschall includes much of post-structuralist, Marxist, postcolonial,
new historical, queer and feminist theory in his ‘liberationist paradigm’ (2008
p3.) Although there has been what he describes as a ‘mellowing with age,’ he
asserts that “buzzing rumours of the demise of Theory … are clearly premature”
(p5.) In Evolution, Literature and Film: A Reader, edited by Gottschall with
Brian Boyd and Joseph Carroll, the editors argue that even academics who
consider themselves ‘post-theory’ and work with empirical data have, in fact,
internalised this ‘denaturalised’ liberationist paradigm (Boyd et al, 2010. P2)
This has been my experience as a feminist both in praxis and in academic
writing. My attempts to discuss evolutionary psychology have met with
objections that it reduces people to biology, denies the importance of culture
and justifies rigid gender roles that oppress women. These are misconceptions.
For many in the humanities, culture and nature are dichotomous. For evolutionary
psychologists, cultural variation is an important distinguishing characteristic
of humans. As evolutionary biologist, E.O. Wilson, states, “No serious scholar
would think that human behaviour is controlled the way animal instinct is,
without the intervention of culture” (1975 p98.) Others confuse evolutionary
psychology with Social Darwinism but evolutionary psychology is not
prescriptive. It seeks to understand why we think and behave the way we do.
This is both interesting in itself, and helpful in addressing anti-social
behaviours.
There is also a feeling that reading for
‘nature’ will result in conclusions that all human behaviour is natural but, as we will see in my reading of racism in Othello,
evolutionary psychologists will often find no evidence that a behaviour is
natural, and instead find that it is culturally variable. For those of us who are more interested in
the cultural and historical than the biological, being able to distinguish
between these is enormously valuable, enabling a deeper understanding of
historical and social forces at play.
However, studies in evolutionary
psychology often do reveal that a behaviour is adaptive and these behaviours
can be gender-specific. I am often told by fellow feminists that acknowledging
gender differences is misogynistic but there is nothing inherently sexist in
acknowledging that humans, like all other mammals, have physical, cognitive and
psychological gender differences on average. That feminists can assume that 'gender difference' is synonymous with
'female inferiority' may be evidence of culturally constructed internalised
misogyny but it makes no sense biologically. As we will see, evolutionary
psychology recognises women as a vitally necessary half of a sexually reproducing
species actively involved in shaping the other sex by sexual selection.
Furthermore, evolutionary psychology recognises variation among individuals,
and that gender traits overlap considerably.
“Many psychological traits relevant to the public sphere, such as
general intelligence, are the same on average for men and women… (G)eneralizations
about a sex will always be untrue of many individuals. And notions like
"proper role" and "natural place" are scientifically
meaningless and give no grounds for restricting freedom” (Pinker.S. 2002.
p340.)
Evolutionary
psychology, by accepting both nature and culture, and recognising variation
among individuals, allows for a fuller and more flexible approach to social
justice issues and literary theory than prevailing theories which focus solely
on culture as structures that contain 'privileged' and 'oppressed'
groups.
It could be argued that to look at Shakespeare using evolutionary
psychology is anachronistic but I’d suggest that it is far more so to read him
through the denaturalised liberationist paradigm. Even the most ‘progressive’
Renaissance Humanists understood themselves as creatures made in the image of
God with a common nature positioned between the beasts and the angels. This was
a time when Englishmen sought to understand themselves by studying Old
Testament Hebrews and Classical Greeks. Robin Wells criticises New Historicists
and Cultural Materialists including Belsey, Sinfield and Dollimore who assert
that the idea of a common human nature appeared at the Enlightenment and make
Shakespeare ‘in effect a postmodernist” (2005. P233.) “The belief that
Shakespeare and his contemporaries were radical anti-essentialists is not
supported by historical evidence. Wherever you look in Elizabethan England, you
find the same emphasis on the importance of understanding human nature” (p233.)
Various approaches to reading Shakespeare through evolutionary
psychology have been essayed. Daniel Nettle analyses the themes of Twelfth Night and Richard III to demonstrate their explicability by evolutionary
psychology. He argues that almost any Shakespeare play can be understood as
“desires by different characters to maximise their biological fitness
[likelihood of passing on their genes] by mating, status enhancement, coalition
building or kinship nepotism” (2005 p324.) Elsewhere, he insists that ‘if we
ask what themes would most interest a non-human primate, those are the themes
most prominently featured in Shakespeare and indeed all literature” (in
Wilson.D 2005 p121.) Michelle Sugiyama
explores the benefits of looking at nature and
culture in her re-evaluation of Laura Bohannan’s study into the very
different interpretations of Hamlet by
western audiences and the Tiv of West Africa.
Sugiyama demonstrates common human concepts of justice, revenge, loyalty
and the supernatural, read through different cultural maps, and finds no
cognitive differences. In one example, she notes that “The Tiv do not lack the
concept of revenge, rather, they have somewhat different rules for exacting it”
(2003. p486.) Marcus Nordland’s analysis of sexual jealousy in Othello will be particularly useful to
my broader analysis of the play.
Nettle’s ‘biological fitness’ hypothesis
is strongly borne out in Othello.
Male intrasexual competition drives the plot from the first scene when Iago expresses his hatred for Othello for
denying him the status of lieutenant he felt he deserved,
“I know my price, I am worth no worse a place:
But he; as loving his own pride and purposes
Evades them, with a bombast circumstance
Horribly stuffed with epithets of war” (1.1: 11-14)
“I know my price, I am worth no worse a place:
But he; as loving his own pride and purposes
Evades them, with a bombast circumstance
Horribly stuffed with epithets of war” (1.1: 11-14)
and his
emasculating contempt for the man who had obtained it,
“One Michael Cassio, a
Florentine…
That never set a squadron in the field,
Nor the division of a battle knows
More than a spinster” (1.1: 19-23)
That never set a squadron in the field,
Nor the division of a battle knows
More than a spinster” (1.1: 19-23)
The primary motivation for the tragedy that will unfold is revealed to
be competition for status, a male drive directly related to improving
biological fitness by attracting mates. Iago makes the sexual competition explicit when he reveals his own
desire for Desdemona and suspicion that Othello has
slept with his wife,
“Now, I do love her
too;
Not out of absolute lust …
But partly led to diet my revenge,
For that I do suspect the lusty Moor
Hath leap'd into my seat” (2.1: 278-283)
Not out of absolute lust …
But partly led to diet my revenge,
For that I do suspect the lusty Moor
Hath leap'd into my seat” (2.1: 278-283)
Iago’s primary aim is to displace Othello and Cassio,
and improve his own status (and therefore his biological fitness.) This
requires the help of Roderigo. “(A)cross the primate world a subordinate will usually require coalition
partners to displace a dominant male. If they can be made to believe their
fitness will be enhanced by the process, they will join” (Nettle.2010 p327.) This
is Roderigo’s sole motivation. Twice, Iago explicitly assures him that his
assistance will result in sexual access to Desdemona with the promise that he will “enjoy” her. (1.3:348 & 4.2:256)
The play revolves around the
conflicting desires of four men in competition to attain or keep status and
mates, but do we need evolutionary psychology to tell us this? The themes
of status, power, sex and competition for a
woman valued for her youth and beauty are explicit. They could be addressed
historically and also by prevailing theories. Psychoanalysis might detect the
masculine symbolic order and oedipal motivation in Iago. Feminism could argue
that a patriarchal culture produces toxic masculinity and objectifies women,
and Marxism might claim that the imbalance is the result of men controlling the
means of production. They will all present us a with a male-focused assumption
that power and status are objectively desirable, that men took them because
they could, and then used them to oppress & objectify women who had no
choice but to submit. In short, men’s roles in early modern society are formed
by men and women’s roles in early modern society are formed by men.
However,
“Adopting an evolutionary perspective enables us to build theories of
literature and film not from near the end of the story but from the start, from
the ground up. We can ask altogether new questions, and return to older
questions with sharper eyes & surer hands” (Boyd et al. 2010 p3.) How did
these behaviours emerge in the first place? What continues to drive them
psychologically? Evolutionary psychology reveals a far more active and on-going
female role. In his seminal study ‘The Evolution of Human Intrasexual
Competition,’ David Buss tested the hypothesis that
“(M)ate
choice preferences exerted by one sex should influence the resources over which
intrasexual competition occurs in the other sex. Under conditions of female
choice, males are predicted to compete most strongly to display those
characteristics and possess those resources that females value in their
selections … [and] male choice should influence female-female competition in an
analogous way.” (1988. 616.)
He
finds that they do. Women compete more in youthfulness and attractiveness while
men compete more in displays of status and material resources. (1988. p617-8.)
Men
and women have shaped themselves and each other by competing to provide what
the other sex wanted over evolutionary time, and what each sex has wanted has
been strongly influenced by reproductive differences. A man can maximise the chances of his genes
being passed on by having sex with as many women as possible because some
offspring will survive. His only requirement is that they be fertile. Youth and
beauty (which indicates health) are the best indicators of these, and natural
selection favours men who seek these qualities and women who supply them. “The beauty myth is no myth” argues
Gottschall (and feminist concern is warranted) but the pressures are “not a
creation of western cultural values …or a patriarchal conspiracy. They are
evolutionary legacies” (2008.p149.) A
woman can only pass her genes on by ensuring that as many of her offspring as
possible survive. She needs protection and provision whilst she is pregnant and
her offspring are young. Evolution favours women who seek men who possess
combat and survival skills, a position of power and material resources, and men
who possess them. These qualities are exactly what attract Desdemona to
Othello, “Wherein I spake of most
disastrous chances,/ Of moving accidents by flood and field /Of
hair-breadth scapes i' th’ imminent deadly breach,” (1.3:133-6.) Of
course, women are often denied that choice but Shakespeare gives us a woman who
chooses, and Desdemona chooses a man who gained status and resources through
battle and survival skills. She “bade me, if I
had a friend that loved her/I should but teach him how to tell my story/ And
that would woo her. Upon this hint I spake” (1.3:510-12) Despite
Brabantio’s claims that “For nature so
preposterously to err/ Being not deficient, blind or lame of sense/Sans witchcraft could not” (1.3:163-5,)
Othello’s explanation is accepted as perfectly natural by the Duke. “I think this tale would win my daughter too”
(1.3:170.)
Having won his
mate, Othello now needs to keep her, and this brings us to the murderous,
jealous rage that has produced so much analysis. In
evolutionary terms, violence motivated by male sexual jealousy can be
understood as a deterrent to fitness reducing behaviour “Perhaps aside from
death, cuckoldry – the unwitting investment of resources into genetically
unrelated offspring – was the most severe recurrent threat to fitness our male
ancestors faced” (Goetz et al. 2008. p482.) A woman’s fitness is threatened by
abandonment which, in our evolutionary history, reduced her offspring’s chances
of survival. Accordingly, evolution has favoured women who act to deter a
partner’s emotional infidelity, and men
who act to deter their partner’s sexual
infidelity (Easton et al. 2007.) We see this in in Othello. Bianca complains of neglect and waning emotional
attachment, “What, keep a week away? Seven days and nights?” (3.4:168) and “You
do not love me” (3.4:192) but it is the idea of sexual
infidelity that drives Othello into his homicidal rage. His words ‘I’ll tear her into pieces’
(3.3:347) are a response to the erotic imagery that Iago has planted in his
mind so vividly when he describes the sleeping Cassio:
“Cry ‘O, sweet creature!’ then kiss me hard
As if he plucked up kisses by the roots
That grew upon my lips, lay his leg
Over my thigh, and sigh, and kiss” (3.3:326-9)
As if he plucked up kisses by the roots
That grew upon my lips, lay his leg
Over my thigh, and sigh, and kiss” (3.3:326-9)
Marcus
Nordland criticises cultural constructivist accounts of male sexual jealousy,
particularly Mark Breitenberg’s argument that early modern men’s anxieties were
‘historically rather than essentially constructed” as was the masculine subject
himself (p334). The work of Aaron Goetz supports Nordland’s argument,
“The
male mind might be designed to be hypersensitive to cues of sexual infidelity
motivating more false positives (a man incorrectly concludes infidelity has
occurred) than false negatives (a man incorrectly concludes infidelity has not
occurred) because the ancestral benefits of the former error outweigh the
ancestral costs of the latter error” (p 482-3.)
Iago
says of Emilia’s alleged infidelity with Othello, “I
know not if’t be true, But I, for mere suspicion in that kind, /Will do as if
for surety”(1.3:370-2,) and Othello insists “Nature would not invest herself in such shadowing
passion without some instruction”(4.1:38-9.) Both men assume guilt largely due
to the strength of their feelings.
Nordland does not neglect social factors in his analysis, and considers
the influence of class, religion and nationality on claustration practices
imposed upon women in the early modern period. However, he argues that sexual jealousy
is an evolved cognitive mechanism in men, and provides
evidence that the same neuropeptide underpins affection to females and
aggression towards rivals in male mammals (p.336.) This strongly suggests that
that violent mate-guarding predates not only humanity but the diversification
of primates. In humans,
however, the extent to which punitive violence against and ‘honour killing’ of allegedly
unfaithful women is mandated, condoned or prosecuted varies hugely with culture,
geographically and historically. In all
primates, an individual’s tendency to violence varies greatly, and is also
affected by his immediate environment. In Othello’s environment is Iago.
To
Othello, Iago is “of exceeding
honesty/And knows all quantities, with a learnèd spirit, /Of human dealings”
(3.3:262-3.) He is deceived in the first but the second is undeniably true.
‘Nature’ is referred to twenty times in Othello, and nine of these are by
Iago. Iago’s mastery of psychology
enables him to invoke murderous jealousy in both Othello and Roderigo. This raises an interesting question mark over
the race issue because it suggests that the psychology of the Moor and the
white Christian are not fundamentally different.
For Albert Gerrard, the differences are
presented as fundamental. Othello’s “negroid physiognomy is simply the emblem
of a difference that reaches down to the deepest levels of personality” (1977.
P13.) Michael Neill suggests that “Shakespeare does not oppose racism but (much
more disturbingly) illuminates the process by which such visceral superstitions
were implanted in the body of the culture” (2002.p268.) But is racism a
visceral (by which we understand deeply instinctive) superstition? Evolutionary psychology says not, “From an
evolutionary perspective, it’s unlikely the mind would be designed to attend to
race as race would not have been a feature of the social environment over
evolutionary time” (Pietraszewski et al. 2015. P26.) While biological sex has
existed for millions of years, humans were all African until fifty to sixty
thousand years ago, and then lived in small hunter-gatherer groups defined by
kinship until ten thousand years ago. There has simply been no longstanding
need to form cognitive mechanisms for racial categorisation. Pietraszewski tested the significance of race
to alliance detection, and found that whilst gender and age remain firm
categorizations, race does not become significant until correlated with
patterns of association, co-operation and competition. When someone of our race
supports the other side or someone of a different race supports our group, racial
categorisations are far less made.
Jonathan Haidt makes the same claim. “There’s
nothing special about race. You can make people care less about race by
drowning race differences in a sea of similarities, shared goals, and mutual
interdependencies” (2012.p276.)
This
is exactly what we see happen in Othello.
Othello is a Christian on the side of the Venetians against the Ottomans, and
his expertise and experience raise him to the highest status. His title ‘Moor’
is elevated to an honorific by being prefaced so often with ‘valiant,’ ‘brave’
or ‘noble.’ Even Iago admits that “Another of his fathom they have none /To lead their
business” (1.1:153.) The duke
emphasises their common goal when he says “Valiant Othello, we must
straight employ you/Against the general enemy Ottoman” (1.3:48-9.)
Evolutionary psychology tells us that racism is culturally constructed,
and it is not entirely clear that it was so constructed in early modern
England. Michael Neill describes “a certain ethnographic objectivity” existing
in the sixteenth century. In the travel literature collected by Hakluyt, Neill
notes, “variations of dress, weapons, manners, custom, social organization, and
(above all) religion figure at least as prominently as differences of skin and
feature” (1998. p366.) Colour prejudice begins to gain a special significance
in the seventeenth century, and Shakespeare was writing at the very beginning
of this century. Of course there is evidence of colour prejudice in the play
too. Roderigo refers to Othello as “The thicklips” (1.1:66,) Iago calls him an
’old black ram’ (1.1:89) and Brabantius makes contemptuous reference to his
“sooty bosom” (1.2:71.) However, it is significant that these racial epithets
come from the three men engaged with Othello on a personal level, in
competition for the ‘ownership’ of the same woman. I’d suggest that Shakespeare does not present
us with a murderous Moorish nature but a standard one poisoned by a malevolent
one.
We are brought,
time and time again to the character of Iago and its effect on Othello’s, and
I’d argue these types can be best understood as opposing but successful mating
strategies. The co-operative male improves his fitness by gaining a reputation
for honesty and co-operation which earns him status and therefore reproductive
opportunities and the transmission of these ‘moral’ genes. The anti-social
type, known as the Dark Triad Personality because it incorporates psychopathy,
narcissism and Machiavellianism, presents enough attractive features to facilitate
an effective short term mating strategy which achieves the passing on of his
genes before his inevitable exposure and ostracism or death (Jonason. 2009.)
Othello and Iago are dramatized extremes of the moral co-operator and
anti-social free-rider, but the interaction between various degrees of these
two types have long existed, and been formative of our interpersonal
evaluations and morality. “In
evolutionary terms, every time a population of individuals became good at
detecting these liars, the liars became better at concealing their lies…a never-ending
arms race“(McNamara & Trumble. 2007 p11.)
Humans have evolved strategies both to exploit & avoid being
exploited by others. Time will eventually reveal a free-rider or anti-social
opportunist, and we are alert to them. To thrive in a human society, one must
build and protect one’s reputation. Cassio reveals how central reputation is
when he cries, “Reputation,
reputation, reputation! Oh, I have lost my reputation! I have lost the immortal
part of myself, and what remains is bestial. My reputation, Iago, my
reputation!”(2.3:246-8.) Although
Iago dismisses this at the time, he later says. “Good name in man and woman, dear my lord/ Is the immediate jewel
of their souls” (3.3:160-1.) Cassio
and Iago use the cultural map of early modern Christianity here in which an
immortal soul is the distinguishing characteristic of humanity, but their
concern is for the opinions of other people.
Othello’s
reputation has been earned legitimately. In his personal dealings, he is ‘of a
free and open nature’ (1.3:381) and a ‘constant, loving noble nature,”(2.1:276)
but he is of so exceptional a character he has also earned a leadership role.
McNamara and Tremble’s in-depth study of the evolutionary psychology of leadership
describe the characteristics of ‘prestige’ leadership as a “sterling reputation
for high moral character, high intelligence and high accomplishment” (p2,) and
also ‘the ability to stay calm and focused and to think clearly in times of
crisis” (p 50.) That Othello was held to possess all these is most clearly
shown by Lodovico’s comment,
"Is
this the noble Moor whom our full senate
Call all in all sufficient? Is this the nature
Whom passion could not shake? Whose solid virtue
The shot of accident nor dart of chance
Could neither graze nor pierce?” (4.1:261-5.)
Call all in all sufficient? Is this the nature
Whom passion could not shake? Whose solid virtue
The shot of accident nor dart of chance
Could neither graze nor pierce?” (4.1:261-5.)
Othello, on his own admission, excelled in the
art of war but was not prepared for deception in the realm of his personal
life, “Little of
this great world can I speak/More than pertains to feats of broil and battle”
(1.3:86-7.)
Much
of what makes the play so compelling and so agonising is watching Othello fail
to detect Iago’s malevolent deception as the tragedy unfolds. It is plausible
that a Dark Triad Personality would not be easily identifiable by him. The same
traits which make them attractive to women could also appear to make a good
soldier. Psychopaths experience low anxiety, and exhibit risk taking behaviour
which gives the illusion of bravery and strength, “This is the night that
either makes me or fordoes me quite” (5.1:3298.) Narcissists display resources
ostentatiously, and have a grandiose self-view which may convince others “I am
worth no worse a place” (1.1:11.) Machiavellians feign positive emotions
including friendship and love convincingly for a short period. “When devils will the blackest sins put on/They do
suggest at first with heavenly shows” (2.3:325-6.) “Common to all three are extrovert behaviours likely to make a good
first impression” (Carter et al. p3.)
Iago
is seen (by us) as cold and calculating. We are repelled by his narcissistic
callousness, “Since I could distinguish betwixt a
benefit and an injury I never found man that knew how to love himself”(1.3:311.)
His Machiavellian glee is even more disturbing, “Work on, My medicine, work! /Thus credulous fools are caught/And
many worthy and chaste dames even thus/All guiltless, meet reproach” (4.1:42-5.)
Today’s Western, liberal society might not condone torture as Lodovico does “If
there be any cunning cruelty /that can torment him much and hold him long. /Let
it be his” (5.2:342-5,) but don’t we recognise the urge to punish and remove
this man from society? Similarly, we are likely to utterly condemn the ‘honour
killing’ of Desdemona even if she had been ‘guilty,’ but it is hard not to feel
some sympathy for the deceived Othello who acts in passion and does naught ‘in
hate, but all in honour” (5.2:301.) Despite the wide differences between our cultural map and that of
early modern England, todays readers recognise a substantial difference in the
natures of Othello and Iago, and continue to respond to Shakespeare’s call to
our common moral emotions to punish and pity.
Othello provides strong supporting
evidence for some of the most fundamental findings of evolutionary psychology.
Here, I have addressed intrasexual competition, sexual jealousy, racism, and
the problem of the free-rider and anti-social personality. This type of reading
may feel a little ‘clinical’ but it provides a strong base which can be
enriched by layers of historical and cultural analysis. If we recognise the
adaptive cognitive mechanisms underlying motivations and behaviours, the
influence of cultural values, customs and discourses are revealed more clearly.
Employing evolutionary psychology alongside social and historical analyses
could facilitate the building of new theories to explore literature more fully
and rigorously. I think we should embrace it.
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