Conduct Literature, Pauline Christianity, and Othello ’s Disobedient Women

Abstract: How can early modern English conduct literature, with its Pauline Christianity underpinnings, enrich our readings of Shakespeare’s works? This article uses a historical and feminist approach to argue that conduct literature aids our understanding of how Othello foregrounds female characters behaving in unruly ways to complicate and critique ideas concerning women’s behavior and their duties as daughters and wives that were prevalent during Shakespeare’s time. In this way, the play also enters discourses about Pauline obedience, chastity, and women’s submission that were foundational to conduct writers’ arguments and influenced societal attitudes toward women.