There are some indications as to the fact that the word "nothing" could mean female genitals in Elizabethan English. A woman seems to have nothing between her legs, and this nothing both reassures and threatens men. If the nothing is in a man's exclusive possession, it is only his to fill. However, if a woman is to become an individual owner of her own nothing, then god knows who's going to fill the gaping hole. …showed first 75 words of 663 total…

…showed last 75 words of 663 total…perceive them as an "other". Such desire induces the wish to possess the "other". However, all possession leads to the fear of its loss and this is the basic source of anxiety in Othello. So here on the one hand there is taking appearances for reality and not acknowledging the reality of appearances. Othello suggests that failing to make a clear distinction between reality and appearances, one way or the other, is a psychopathological condition.