Chapter 6 Flashcards
How does the title of the play, “Othello: the Moor of Venice,” present two alternatives regarding Othello’s identity, and how is the naming of Othello used by certain characters in the play?
Answer:
The title suggests two alternatives for Othello: assimilation or alienation. Characters in the play can be divided based on their preference. Characters with racist tendencies are less inclined to use Othello’s name, opting for terms like “the Moor” or objectifying him. Iago, for instance, calls Othello “the Moor” more than twenty times and refers to him by name only five times.
How do characters like Iago, Roderigo, Brabantio, and Emilia refer to Othello, and what does this reveal about their attitudes?
Answer:
Iago refers to Othello by name only five times, emphasizing “the Moor” over twenty times. Roderigo and Brabantio also avoid using Othello’s name, reducing him to labels like “the Moor” or “the thicklips.” Emilia, too, refrains from using Othello’s name, opting for “the Moor.” This reflects a tendency to dehumanize Othello and reduce him to a class or object.
According to Dympna Callaghan, what does she insist about Othello’s racial identity, and how does it impact the portrayal of Othello’s character?
Answer:
Dympna Callaghan insists that “Othello was a white man,” suggesting that Shakespeare’s tragedy is not about Africanness but rather the white man’s idea of Africanness. This challenges the common perception that Othello’s character should be portrayed by a black actor, emphasizing the complexity of the issue.
How was blackness staged in the early modern English theatre, particularly in the absence of African actors?
Answer:
In the absence of African actors, early modern English theatre relied on blackface as a histrionic mechanism of racial impersonation. This involved using skin-blackening agents like charred cork mixed with oil. The focus on cosmetically altered skin, as seen in Othello’s self-denigrating statements, was a central concern.
Apart from skin paint, what other methods were used on the early modern stage to portray blackness, and how were they achieved?
Answer:
In addition to skin paint, actors used lambskin fur to imitate Africans’ hair and costumes as indicators of foreignness. The fabrication of blackness also extended to textiles and leathers, creating a body less subtle in verisimilitude but more ideologically expressive in representing the black body and its materiality.
Describe a historical example of blackness being represented through cloth in a performance context
.
Answer:
During the royal festivities at Whitehall in 1510, blackness was achieved using cloth—specifically a “fine gauzelike fabric” called pleasance. Ladies were described as appearing black like Moors, with their faces, necks, arms, and hands covered with this black fabric.
How did the taste for showcasing foreigners in performance contexts persist in court entertainments, masques, and plays during the 16th and 17th centuries?
Answer:
Throughout the 16th and 17th centuries, the practice of showcasing foreigners continued in court entertainments, masques, and plays. Visors made of cloth or leather were common, along with black gloves made of leather or velvet covering performers’ arms. These methods were used to portray blackness, and by 1605, they were still more frequent than cosmetic paint.
Question: Why did Shakespeare choose Othello as his protagonist?
Answer: Shakespeare chose Othello to create a realistic portrait of a Moor, moving beyond the stereotypical representation found in his source, Cinthio’s Gli Hecatommithi.
Question: How does Shakespeare distinguish his portrayal of Othello from the source material?
Answer: Shakespeare’s Othello is richly complicated, individualized, and set apart from Venetian society in terms of his blackness, past, bearing, and language. Unlike the source, Shakespeare’s protagonist is not a mere stereotype.
What are some aspects in which Othello is differentiated from Venetian society?
Answer: Othello is differentiated from Venetian society in terms of his blackness, past, bearing, and language, particularly in the unusual rhythms, grandeur, and exoticism of his speech.
Question: Where might Shakespeare have drawn inspiration for Othello’s attributes?
Answer: Shakespeare’s attributes for Othello may have been influenced by his reading of Leo Africanus, particularly Leo’s “Geographical Historie of Africa,” translated by John Pory and published in London in 1600.
Question: How are Othello’s ‘African’ qualities presented in the play?
Answer: Othello’s ‘African’ qualities are presented with complexity. While he is called a ‘credulous fool,’ there are also allusions to his ‘free and open nature,’ showcasing the duality of his character.
Question: Why is Othello’s Africanness crucial to his tragedy?
Answer: Othello’s Africanness is crucial not because of what he is innately or culturally, but because of how he is perceived by others and by himself. The tragedy is, in essence, a tragedy of perception.
Question: How does Othello’s reactions to stress reveal his ‘Moorishness
’?
Answer: Othello’s reactions to stress bring out latent or repressed aspects of his ‘Moorishness,’ including uncontrollable passion, superstitious interpretation of the handkerchief, and attempts to view Desdemona’s murder as a ‘sacrifice.’
Question: What is emphasized when responding to Othello’s character?
Answer: When responding to Othello’s character, it is important to recognize both the concreteness and complexity of his Africanness, emphasizing the dual nature of his attributes and the role of perception in his tragedy.
