Evolutionary Psychology in the Humanities: Shakespeare’s Othello
31st January 2025
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.
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