Shakespeare's Othello: the Black Other in Elizabethan Drama

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Shakespeare's Othello: The Black Other in Elizabethan Drama

William Shakespeare's Othello, The Moor of Venice opens with a graphically violent image of sexual and racial distinctions, as Iago tells Brabantio "Even now, now, very now, an old black ram/ Is tupping your white ewe!" (1.1.89-90). Analysis of this powerful imagery focusing on the multiple meanings of the word 'black' can not only give insight into the prejudices and stereotypes of the past, but also provide answers to the question of why these racial conflicts have persisted for so many centuries as they continue to pervade the present culture. Othello contains one of the most powerful, controversial representations of the black Other in Elizabethan drama. The use of the word 'black' to signify both the Moor and an inherent evil informs readers of racial perceptions of not only the audience which consists of the characters around Othello, but also the greater audience of Elizabethan England. The portrayal of the Moor in Othello, oftentimes contradictory, reveals the dominant racial attitudes of the time period, and has continued to provide insight into shifting social conflicts throughout the centuries during which it has been performed. The question of Othello's true race has never been decided- evidence exists to suggest that the Venetian general was both an African and an Arab- but it is ultimately his status as a foreigner or outsider which truly instigates the racial repercussions of the play. This absolute otherness is implicit in the subtitle of the play itself (The Moor of Venice), which defines the character not in terms of his social role but solely in terms of race. Interestingly, despite his background Othello is initially considered honorable; it is only when race is connected with interracial sexual and marital unions that it becomes a heated emotional issue for the Venetians, and for

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