- Hodgdon, 26 ; the description of the makeup is from Olivier’s autobiography. See
also Hankey, 109 – 13. - I take the word “injointed” (i.e., united) from Othello, from a messenger’s report
that the worrisome Ottomites have “injointed with an after fleet” ( 1. 3. 36 ). - For a different treatment of Othello’s stature as hero, compare Frances Dolan,
“Revolutions, Petty Tyranny and the Murderous Husband,” in Shakespeare, Feminism and
Gender: Contemporary Critical Essays, ed. Kate Chedgzoy (Houndsmills: Palgrave, 2001 ),
202 – 15. - On the myth, see David C. McPherson, Shakespeare, Jonson, and the Myth of
Venice(Newark: University of Delaware Press, 1990 ) and Vaughan, Othello, 13 – 34. Com-
pare Neill, Putting History to the Quesion, 207 – 11 ; Emma Smith, 22 – 23 ; and Jacob Burck-
hardt, The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy( 1929 ; New York: Harper & Row, 1958 ),
82 – 95. - Quoted in Shapiro, 183 ; see also 180 – 89.
- For an overview of Othello’s historical sources, see Neill, ed., 18 – 20 , and Sanders,
ed., 10. - See McPherson, 75 , and Emrys Jones, “Othello,Lepanto, and the Cyprus Wars,”
Shakespeare Survey 21 ( 1968 ): 47 – 52. A key source for Shakespeare was, of course, Richard
Knolles,General History of the Turks(London: Printed by Adam Islip, 1603 ). - (King James I),His Majesties Lepanto, or, Heroicall Song, being part of his Poeticall
exercises at vacant houres(London: Simon Stafford and Henry Hooke, 1603 ), C 2 v, B 2 r, B 4 r.
James also declares Venice an “artificiall Towne” and a “wondrous sight,” because it stands
“without a ground,” “an Ile” being “all her market-place, / A large and spacious part” (B 2 v). - Neill, Putting History to the Question, 208 – 9. On the generic mix, see Michael D.
Bristol, “ Charivari and the Comedy of Abjection in Othello,” in Orlin, ed., 78 – 102. - I am grateful to Jeri Johnson for drawing my attention to this part of Venice’s past.
“Ghetto” actually “refers to the section of Venice where metal foundaries were located and
Jews were confined in 1516 ”; Roland Sarti, Italy: A Reference Guide from the Renaissance to
the Present(New York: Facts on File, Inc., 2004 ), 346. As Sarti notes, “segregation became
systematic under Pope Paul IV ( 1555 – 59 ), when all Jews were confined to walled ghettoes”
( 346 ). See also McPherson, 63 – 67. - Neill, Putting History to the Question, 208 – 9.
- One of my favorite reincarnations of the “beast with two backs” occurs in Florence
King,Confessions of a Failed Southern Lady(New York: St. Martin’s, 1990 ), 80. I am grate-
ful to Jeri Johnson for introducing me to this book. - I have discussed Brabantio’s changing story in “Making More of the Moor,” 449.
- Robert Heilman, The Magic in the Web: Action and Language in Othello (Lexing-
ton: University of Kentucky Press, 1956 ), 129 ; and Mauss, 104 – 27. - From the libretto of Arrigo Boito, published by RCA Records, New York, 1978 , 29.
- Compare Neill, Putting History to the Question, 284 , who sees “the sustainability
of the racial scapegoating” questioned at the play’s end. - See the note (to line 1. 1. 38 ) on “term” in Neill, ed.
- For an excellent treatment of the multiple substitutions, and the trope of substi-
222 notes to pages 160–164