Othello - Race

Othello - Race

1. Critical Readings

   • Hugh Quarshie
     • "Whenever a Moor appeared, that usually signalled something manacing or the threat to the social, moral and sexual order of society
     • "There is racism by omission and racism by commission... my conclusion is that "Othello" is racist by omission"
     • "ultimately Shakespeare wasn't interested in Othello's phycology"
     • "the point he wants to get to quite quickly is the seismic eruptions of emotion
     • Shakespeare was not a racist, not by intention, but arguably by effect, the play in my mind could still be called racist"
   • Lucian Msamati
     • "It is my feeling that the play is not a racist play, However it does lean very heavily on racism."
     • "used very casually for dramatic effect"
     • "I think that over the years there has been very racist interpretations"
   • Onyeka
     • "English people in Tudor Society did not understand what race was"
     • "They had no concept of what we now understand it...We then overlay our 21st century ideas of everything that's gone on before"
       • Facism
       • Nazism
       • Slavery
     • "That doesn't mean there isn't prejudice there but that doesn't mean that we don't have the racism that we think is there"
     • But whether it was in Shakespeare's mind I extremely doubt it
   • David Harewood
     • "Racial prejudice has allowed white actors to play Othello way into the 20th Century"
     • Anthony Hopkins wore orange makeup perhaps to downplay the racism he saw
     • Laurence Olivier performed Othello beautifully and his actual performance was extraordinary
       • Took 3 hours to put on his makeup
         • He spent that time buffing the paint into his skin layer after layer
         • How much choice did Olivier have in this aspect of the play?
           • Did the director do this deliberately?
             • Did he do it as in 1965 America was going through the the civil rights movement?
             • Did he do it to portray his racist views of black people?
               • Black slaves would have shiny skin as when they were working they would sweat
                 • Is he not only portraying Othello to be a slave to love and jealousy but physically as well?

2. The Elizabethan Slave Trade

   • John Hawkins
     • Britain's involvement in the slave trade began during the reign of Elizabeth I
     • He was the first English trader
     • He brought the first African family to England in 1562
     • People who supported him
       • Benjamin Godson, the Treasurer of the navy
       • Elizabeth I
         • Only supported him if the slaves would be taken of their own free will
         • She believed that capturing slaves against their will "would be detestable and call down the vengeance of heaven upon the undertakers"
           • Does Iago capture Othello's love for Desdemona against his free will and is that why he kills himself?
       • Sir Thomas Lodge, Lord mayor of London