Cuckold

A man whose wife is sexually unfaithful to him; traditionally represented in jokes as wearing horns.

A husband whose wife is sexually unfaithful, traditionally represented in jokes as wearing horns.

Horns were a conventional symbol of the cuckold, a husband whose wife had been unfaithful. Benedick’s jokes in Act 1 Scene 1 make marriage seem a risk to male dignity. What begins as banter prepares the audience for the more destructive suspicion directed at Hero.

A man whose wife is sexually unfaithful. Horns conventionally symbolised a cuckold and the public humiliation associated with betrayal.

A man whose wife is sexually unfaithful to him; traditionally represented by horns and treated as an object of ridicule.

A man whose wife is sexually unfaithful to him; horns were a conventional symbol of this humiliation.

A husband whose wife is sexually unfaithful; horns were a conventional comic symbol of this humiliation.

A cuckold is a husband with an unfaithful wife. The repeated jokes about horns draw on a familiar comic symbol of cuckoldry. Benedick’s early resistance to marriage therefore reveals anxiety about humiliation as well as a taste for mockery.

A man whose wife is sexually unfaithful to him; traditionally represented in jokes and images as wearing horns.

A man whose wife has been sexually unfaithful to him.

A husband whose wife is unfaithful to him, traditionally represented in jokes as wearing horns.

The recurring jokes about cuckolds' horns reveal anxiety beneath Messina's cheerful conversation. A cuckold is a husband betrayed by an unfaithful wife, conventionally imagined as wearing horns. In Act 1 Scene 1, Benedick imagines the bull's horns being placed on his forehead if he marries.

A husband whose wife is sexually unfaithful. Horns conventionally symbolised a cuckold's humiliation.

A husband whose wife has been sexually unfaithful. Horns conventionally represent his supposed humiliation in the play’s jokes.

A man whose wife is sexually unfaithful. Horns conventionally symbolise his humiliation in the play's jokes.

A husband whose wife has been sexually unfaithful. In Othello, the fear of being considered a cuckold is bound up with shame and masculine honour.

Othello's declaration, “I will chop her into messes: cuckold me!” in Act 4 Scene 1 turns imagined humiliation into a threat of dismemberment: “messes” means portions or pieces. The abrupt exclamation “cuckold me!” exposes the importance of masculine honour to his anger. He treats a supposed injury to his status as grounds for violence against his wife.

A husband whose wife has been sexually unfaithful. Traditionally represented as wearing horns, a cuckold was a target of ridicule; Othello wrongly believes he has become one.

A husband whose wife has been sexually unfaithful. Traditionally associated with horns, the term carried an insulting suggestion of male humiliation.

A man whose wife is sexually unfaithful to him. Horns conventionally symbolised his humiliation in early modern jokes.

A man whose wife is sexually unfaithful. Horns were a conventional symbol of cuckoldry and male humiliation.

Definition

How each exam board covers it

AQA GCSE English Literature · 8702

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Edexcel GCSE English Literature · 1ET0

OCR GCSE English Literature · J352

Eduqas GCSE English Literature · C720