OTHELLO

OTHELLO

1. RACE

   • The English distinguished between the "tawny moors" of the Mediterranean coast and the southern "black moors".
   • The play never once states that Othello is black. Shakespeare's use of language makes it difficult to tell whether he intended for Othello to be a tawny moor or a black moor.
   • Some critics argue that the instances in which black is mentioned towards Othello, it may be a hyperbole and that Othello is a man who is just slightly darker than the Venetians themselves.
   • Iago: "You'll have your daughter covered with a barbary horse (...) I am one, sir, that comes to tell you your daughter and the Moor are now making the beast with two backs."
     • Emilia: "O, the more angel she, and you the blacker devil"
   • Two characters in the play are willing to look past Othello's skin colour. Desdemona does not subscribe to the ideology of racism in Jacobean England and later on, her own father succumbs to the idea of having a son-in-law of colour. The Duke participates in the discourse of race but is willing to also look past it.
     • "Your son-in-law is far more fair than black"
   • Desdemona's love for Othello is seen as unnatural: "For nature so prepost'rously to err, Being not deficient, blind, or lame of sense, Sans witchcraft could not." The Venetians would rather believe in witchcraft than an interracial relationship.
   • White is seen as pure and innocent in contrast to black which is seen as dirty, evil and devilish. It is unclear as to whether Shakespeare is succumbing to this discourse or challenging it.

2. CUSTOMS IN THEATRE

   • "Blackface" Othello: it was fairly common for white performers to paint themselves dark for black roles. However this was often done in mockery as in the "Black Minstrel Shows".
     • In 1981, Anthony Hopkins' performance for the BBS was the last major production with a white actor playing Othello as a black man. (Patrick Stewart played Othello as a white man in an inverted production).
   • Although Othello was first played by a Black man in 1833, it was not until the 20th century that it became the dominant idea that Othello should be played by a black man.
     • Ira Aldridge was the first black actor to play Othello. His work had terrible criticism. One article said "owing to the shape of his lips it is utterly impossible for him to pronounce English". Responses outside of London were a lot better.
   • Paul Robeson was another black actor who played the part of Othello and although his criticism was mainly good, he still received racist undertones.
     • "That his triumph is mainly because the simple nature of Othello is that of his own race, the race which boasts "the shadow'd livery of the burnished sun." Essentially, because he was black, he was able to capture a primitive simplicity.
   • Olivier played Othello in blackface. He also adopted an accent of his own invention, developed a special walk, and learned how to speak in a voice considerably deeper than his normal one.

3. RELIGIOUS DIVISIONS

   • There was a difference between how Jacobean audiences regarded Arabic culture (civilised) and Sub-saharan Africa (barbaric).
   • There was a suspicion around islam and what it meant to be a religious convert. There were voluntary converts and converts which were captured by prates and forced.
   • The term 'moor' was used as a mobile term to refer to location, religion and sometimes race. Moors were seen as outsiders in the closely packed group of Venetians.
   • Othello himself is an oxymoron because he is a "noble Moor," and historically Moors were associated with a religious "Other" which was dangerous.
     • Othello can be said to represent the imperfect view of people who converted to Christianity from Islam. Jacobean England could accept black heroes but never a muslim hero.
   • Desdemona is "turned Turk" in Othello's mind, or has become sexually promiscuous.
     • Religion was far more significant to Jacobean audiences than race i.e. 'turned turk' was to become a muslim. Conversion was a very important aspect of Jacobean England in that Othello was a converted moor.
   • English people valued religion and saw Turks as barbaric purely because they were not Christian. They were seen as infidel (a person who does not believe in religion or who adheres to a religion other than one's own).

4. WOMEN'S LIMITED RIGHTS

   • Unmarried women are seen as their fathers' property and the play's two marriages are marked by male jealousy and cruelty (both wives are murdered by their own husbands).
   • Most male characters in Othello assume that women are inherently promiscuous. This is maybe why female sexuality is a huge threat to men in the play. For example, Othello is easily convinced his wife is cheating on him and feels emasculated and humiliated as a result.
   • The setting is a male dominated society where women are inferior and seen as possessions.
     • This is seen when Brabantio refers to "thieves" when he finds out that Desdemona has eloped.
   • When Othello orders Desdemona to go to her bed, she still replies with the submissive ‘I will, my lord’. She appears to have completely accepted her role as subordinate and obedient wife. Just as many other women.
   • Emilia also indicates that she is aware of her role in society. When revealing Iago’s plotting at the end of the play, she says ‘Tis proper I obey him, but not now’. Although she betrays him, she still feels the need to explain why why she has chosen to do this. This shows how inferior women were.
   • When Desdemona marries Othello, going against her father's wishes, he describes her as going ‘Against all rules of nature’. This suggests that it is ‘natural’ for women to do as their husbands and fathers tell them and ‘unnatural’ for them to do anything else.