The Shakespeare Book

244

U

nlike the original story

of “A Moorish Captain,”

which rarely mentions

it, Shakespeare makes Othello

extremely conscious of his race.

Black characters in Elizabethan

drama are often devilish, cruel

individuals, like Aaron in Titus

Andronicus. Othello is the first

sympathetic black character on the

Elizabethan stage. The audience

sympathizes with his plight, and

Desdemona clings desperately to

her love for “the Moor.”

Othello the Moor

Iago and Roderigo are openly

vicious in their racial attacks on

Othello. Othello is introduced to the

audience through the eyes of Iago

in crude racial and sexual terms.

He is described as a “black ram”

mounting Brabanzio’s “white ewe”

(1.1.88–89). When Shakespeare

wrote the play, darkness of skin,

along with physical deformity

and non-Christian heritage,

were popularly associated with

immorality and savagery. Othello

OTHELLO

himself refers frequently to his

black heritage, which he blames for

making him quick to anger and to

experience jealousy. Othello belies

the stereotype in all his conduct

except for his rage and suspicious

nature, which prompt Emilia to

accuse him of being “the blacker

devil” (5.2.140).

Othello the military hero

Not everyone characterizes

Othello in racial terms. He is

often judged by his military

prowess. Before he is called

before it by Brabanzio’s complaint,

the court is in discussion about

choosing Othello to lead the attack

on the Turks off the coast of

Cyprus. Shakespeare makes it

clear that Othello’s merit speaks for

itself within the Venetian hierarchy.

His calm level-headedness is

IN CONTEXT

THEMES

Jealousy, loyalty,

betrayal, love

SETTING

16th-century Venice

and Cyprus

SOURCES

1565 Un Capitano Moro (A

Moorish Captain), a tale by the

Italian author Giraldi Cinthio,

which Shakespeare may have

read in Italian, or in a French

translation from 1583.

c.1600 Arrival of a Moorish

delegation at the Elizabethan

court to promote an Anglo-

Moroccan alliance.

1603 The 1570 Turkish attack

on Cyprus, documented in The

History of the Turks by English

historian Richard Knolles.

LEGACY

1604 The earliest recorded

performance of Othello is held

at Whitehall Palace.

1660 Margaret Hughes plays

Desdemona, becoming the

first woman to perform legally

on the English stage.

1816 Gioachino Rossini’s

opera Otello, loosely based on

Shakespeare, opens in Naples.

1825 Ira Aldridge is the first

black actor to play Othello on

the London stage.

1887 The opera Otello by

Giuseppe Verdi is first

performed in Milan.

1930 The black actor and

singer Paul Robeson plays

Othello at the Savoy in London.

Nineteenth-century Irish painter

Daniel Maclise captures a troubled

marriage. Othello broods while

Desdemona looks up at him pleadingly,

clutching the cursed handkerchief.