{"id":12903,"date":"2018-06-14T16:31:47","date_gmt":"2018-06-14T20:31:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/writingprogram\/?page_id=12903"},"modified":"2018-08-24T12:04:21","modified_gmt":"2018-08-24T16:04:21","slug":"rooney","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/writingprogram\/journal\/past-issues\/issue-10\/rooney\/","title":{"rendered":"“Fall\u2019n in the practice of a damned slave”: Racial Ideology and Villainy in Shakespeare’s Othello<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mari Rooney<\/b><\/h2>\n

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In a chapter from his book\u00a0The Moor in English Renaissance Drama<\/em>, Jack D\u2019Amico asserts that some Renaissance-era plays encouraged their predominantly white European audiences to reevaluate their own views on outsiders, particularly Africans, as well as the validity of their belief in their own superiority. I suggest that Shakespeare\u2019s\u00a0Othello<\/em>, more so than any of the plays D\u2019Amico discusses, similarly sought to challenge the racial and xenophobic ideologies of its audience and, by extent, Renaissance England.\u00a0My analysis of select examples of 16th<\/sup>\u00a0century discourses<\/em><\/strong> on race and Africans illuminates the foundation of these racist and xenophobic ideologies, namely: since Renaissance England’s sense of social order demanded the supremacy of white men, any cultural space for black male empowerment seemed dangerous. Moreover, according to these texts, such as George Best\u2019s A True Discourse of the Late Voyages of Discouerie<\/em>, miscegenation posed the worst threat since mixed children jeopardized white homogeneity and superiority.<\/em>\u00a0These documents demonstrate how white men employed racist language to emphasize the otherness and inferiority of Africans, creating an ideological justification for their own superiority and thus maintaining societal order.\u00a0In contrast,\u00a0<\/em>the play criticizes the racist and xenophobic ideologies of Renaissance England by associating them with the villain, Iago, an immoral and corrupt representative of white male identity. Therefore, Othello <\/em>ventriloquizes racist discourses, but ultimately reveals the flawed nature of the societal order that such discourses and ideologies attempt to uphold or restore.<\/p>\n

In her paper on the role of cosmetics in the creation of racial identities in Renaissance England, Kimberly Poitevin suggests that Renaissance England\u2019s \u201cpreoccupations with \u2026 the penetrating powers of blackness gesture toward a larger concern about the vulnerability of English or European borders to foreign goods and persons\u201d (Poitevin 80). Reports on Africa and Africans from the 16th<\/sup> century reveal how stories regarding \u201cthe penetrating powers of blackness\u201d fueled concerns about Europe\u2019s \u201cvulnerability\u201d to outsiders and the consequences of miscegenation. Best, an English chronicler, includes the following anecdote in his 1578 book A True Discourse of the Late Voyages of Discouerie<\/em>:<\/p>\n

I myself have seene an Ethiopian as black as cole brought into Englande, who taking a fair Englishe woman to Wife, begatte a Sonne in all respectes as blacke as the father was, although England were his native Countrey, and an English woman his Mother: whereby it seemeth this blacknesse proceedeth rather of some naturall infection of that man, which was so strong, that neyther the nature of the Clime, neyther the good complexion of the Mother concurring, coulde any thing alter, and therefore we cannot impute it to the nature of the Clime. (29)<\/p>\n

Best\u2019s explanation for the cause of blackness, though no less erroneous than the hypothesis it seeks to disprove (that black skin comes from overexposure to the sun), reinforces the supposed inferiority of black skin and its potentially dominating qualities. His use of the term \u201cinfection\u201d suggests that black skin possesses both negative and contagious properties. Furthermore, his claim that the \u201cinfection\u201d of the father\u2019s blackness consumed the mother\u2019s \u201cfairness\u201d and \u201cgood complexion\u201d corroborates the belief that blackness had the potential to dominate whiteness. Thus, as Kim F. Hall asserts in her book Things of Darkness: Economies of Race and Gender in Early Modern England<\/em>, \u201cBest\u2019s anecdotal evidence \u2026 articulat[es] the cultural anxieties\u2014about complexion, miscegenation \u2026 and, above all, \u2018Englishness\u2019\u2014brought out by the presence of blacks\u201d (Hall 11). Hall explains these cultural anxieties, stating that the English associated fairness and whiteness with \u201cEnglishness\u201d and blackness with the racial \u201cother\u201d: a black person could not<\/em> be English. Therefore \u201cto include\u201d a miscegenated child \u201cin the nation [England] would be to break the desired homology between land, skin, and group identity, thereby overturning the associations of England with whiteness and fairness\u201d (Hall 12). Moreover, to accept such a child as genuinely English posed a threat to the contemporary white-dominant system as the child, despite being partially black, would possess white status. Thus, miscegenated marriages represented the possibility of white dilution and black empowerment, both of which imperiled white English men\u2019s sense of societal order: their own supremacy.<\/p>\n

In the play, Brabantio voices the belief that miscegenation will lead to the decline of white superiority when he claims that \u201cif such actions\u201d (i.e., the marriage of Desdemona and Othello) \u201cmay have passage free, \/ Bond-slaves and pagans shall our statesmen be\u201d (1.2.121-3). Though the meaning of this line may be interpreted in many ways, I suggest that Brabantio expresses his fear that mixed marriages, particularly between black men and white women of the higher classes, would lead to a disordered government controlled by men descended from slaves and non-Christians. Building on the fears Brabantio expresses, Iago bemoans Desdemona\u2019s choice \u201cnot to affect many proposed matches \/ Of her own clime, complexion, and degree, \/ Whereto we see in all things nature tends\u201d and claims that \u201cher will, recoiling to her better judgment, \/ May fall to match [Othello] with her country forms \/ And happily repent\u201d (3.3.269-73). Iago\u2019s words belie the early modern English belief in the unnaturalness and chaos of miscegenated marriages. Furthermore, he states the necessity of Desdemona\u2019s unfaithfulness as it will allow her to \u201chappily repent\u201d from the sin of her miscegenated marriage and reestablish the proper order of English society in which white women do not marry black men. Thus, Iago\u2019s mission to destroy Othello appears as both a personal vendetta and a perverted attempt to salvage white hegemony.<\/p>\n

The early modern English sense of order, in which white men possess the highest level of sociopolitical power, stood in stark contrast to the perceived disorderliness of the African continent. Hall explains that travel accounts from Renaissance England emphasized the disorderly landscape of Africa and the chaotic characteristics of its black people, creating a \u201cnew nervousness about skin color and cultural \u2018disorder\u2019\u201d (28). The 16th<\/sup> century encyclopedist Konrad Lykosthenes, in a description of the so-called African anthropophagi<\/em>, or those \u201cwho doe eat mans flesh,\u201d writes that \u201cthey have no lawes, neither is there any judge among them, but live at their own pleasure\u201d (Lykosthenes 7). Lykosthenes\u2019 portrayal of Africans as lawless peoples who engage in taboo activities perpetuates the image of Africa as a place of chaos\u2014a place where people did not obey the \u201clawes\u201d of nature or<\/em> society. Due to such reports of Africans, African-ness and \u201cblackness beg[an] to represent the destructive potential of strangeness, disorder, and variety\u201d (Hall 28). Miscegenation would bring African disorderliness directly into English society and allow for the empowerment of black men, therefore mixed marriages themselves represented a challenge to societal order. The English felt threatened by the presence of \u201cdisorderly\u201d Africans in England, a fact corroborated by several royal proclamations, issued at the turn of the 17th<\/sup> century, which mandated the immediate deportation of \u201cNegroes and blackamoors\u201d (\u201cLicensing\u201d 221). One proclamation from 1601 states that a \u201cgreat number of Negroes and blackamoors\u2026are fostered and powered here [England], to the great annoyance of her [the Queen\u2019s] own liege people that which covet the relief which these people consume, as also for that the most of them are infidels having no understanding of Christ or his Gospel \u2026 shall be with all speed avoided and discharged\u201d (\u201cLicensing\u201d 221-2). The document illustrates the intensely negative feelings the English possessed towards Africans. Furthermore, the proclamation reveals that these feelings stemmed from the belief that the apparent enfranchisement and empowerment (\u201cfostered and powered\u201d) of Africans would jeopardize the dominating authority of the white English. Additionally, the complaint that they \u201chav[e] no understanding of Christ or his Gospel\u201d further demonstrates the English fear of African disorder\u2014these \u201cNegroes and blackamoors,\u201d because of their status as \u201cinfidels,\u201d could not fit into the structure of England\u2019s Christian society and they must therefore be removed from it.<\/p>\n

Iago\u2019s intention to, in a sense, remove Othello, whom he perceives as a political and sexual rival, parallels with the early modern English elite\u2019s desire to deport the \u201cblackamoors.\u201d In the opening scene of the play, Iago complains that Othello has chosen another man as his lieutenant and maintained Iago as merely \u201chis Moorship\u2019s ancient,\u201d a term the Folger editors define as \u201cthe lowest-ranking commanding officer in the infantry\u201d (Mowat fn. 35 on p. 8). Iago cites this denial of his political ascension as the reason for his hatred of Othello and his wish to \u201cserve [his] turn upon him\u201d (1.1.45). Later, in Act 2, Iago reveals his secondary reason for his hatred: \u201cI do suspect the lusty Moor \/ Hath leaped into my seat\u201d (2.1.316-7), an allusion to Othello sleeping with Emilia, Iago\u2019s wife. Thus, Iago\u2019s intentions of \u201cput[ting] the Moor \/ At least into a jealousy so strong \/ That judgement cannot cure\u201d (2.1.322-4), fueled by his insecurity in the face an empowered black male, indicate a determination to ruin and potentially eliminate Othello.<\/p>\n

Iago, in his attempt to disempower Othello, depicts him as bestial and animal-like, drawing on the cultural misconception of Africans as monstrous and subhuman. This misconception appeared as the result of 16th<\/sup> century literature on Africans, such as Konrad Lykosthenes\u2019 1581 book The doome warning all men to the iudgemente<\/em>, which reports that \u201cAethiops\u201d were (allegedly) \u201cblack men [that<\/em>] have four eyes\u201d and were \u201cmouthed as a Crane, the other part of the heade like a man\u201d (Lykosthenes 6-7). By describing these \u201cAethiops\u201d as part animal, Lykosthenes contributed to the image of Africans as monstrous and \u201cdeformed\u201d (7) creatures, rather than people. Moreover, suggesting that the \u201cAethiops\u201d have \u201cstrange\u201d (7) and animal-like characteristics perpetuates the belief in their supposed inferiority. Lykosthenes\u2019 use of the word \u201cthat\u201d where a modern writer would have used \u201cwho\u201d reveals his conception of black people as non-human and further indicates a desire to separate these Ethiopians from Europeans.<\/p>\n

According to James Aubrey, the play utilizes monstrous imagery for the same purpose as Lykosthenes does: to emphasize the otherness of Africans\u2014in the case of the play, Othello. However, I argue that Othello <\/em>includes the imagery to scrutinize how Iago uses contemporary associations between monsters and Africans to denigrate and discredit Othello, much as white English men employed the same imagery to disparage and alienate Africans. Iago warns Brabantio that \u201can old black ram \/ Is tupping [his] white ewe\u201d and thus \u201cthe devil will make a grandsire of [him]\u201d (1.1.97-98, 100). Iago employs contemporary associations between Africans and animals in calling Othello a \u201cram\u201d and, a few lines later, a \u201cBarbary horse\u201d (1.1.125), and he demonizes Othello by referring to him as \u201cthe devil.\u201d Iago couples these associations with the dichotomy of \u201cblack ram\u201d and \u201cwhite ewe\u201d to emphasize Othello\u2019s otherness, the racial difference between him and Desdemona, and the unacceptability of their socially-disruptive marriage. The racist ideologies Iago voices coming from another character would fail to strike the audience as anything other than commonplace. However, because of Iago\u2019s obvious villainy, his use of these ideologies, and the ideologies themselves, appear questionable, even deplorable.<\/p>\n

Othello<\/em>\u2019s scrutiny of racial stereotyping, racist language, and xenophobic ideologies belongs to a genre-wide shift that occurred in Renaissance-era dramas, which were beginning to encourage their audiences to reconsider their society\u2019s perceptions of Africans and the validity of white superiority. D\u2019Amico claims that another 16th<\/sup>-century play, also starring a lead \u201cMoorish\u201d character, All\u2019s Lost by Lust<\/em> \u201c[made] a tentative step toward representing a complex society of which the Moor is a part, and toward opening up the audience to more challenging ways of imagining their relationship to the outsider\u201d (D\u2019Amico 98). D\u2019Amico argues that All\u2019s Lost by Lust<\/em> offers its audience a brief opportunity to reflect on themselves by providing the perspective of a Moor, who makes a negative, but logical, assessment of Europeans. However, D\u2019Amico acknowledges that All\u2019s Lost by Lust<\/em>, despite its momentary reversal of societal perspectives, continued to perpetuate negative depictions of Moors, thus contributing to preexisting beliefs of African bestiality, disorderliness, and inferiority. I argue that Othello<\/em> extends All\u2019s Lost by Lust\u2019s<\/em> fleeting attempt at subversion by vilifying Iago, a mechanism which also serves to oppose the prevailing negativity towards Africans that persisted in All\u2019s Lost,<\/em> amongst other plays. <\/em>Much as these other plays equate African-ness with villainy to discourage miscegenation and black empowerment, Othello<\/em> associates racially motivated hatred and xenophobic ideology with Iago, who embodies immorality and masculine insecurity, to undermine the legitimacy of this hatred and ideology. Furthermore, Iago\u2019s status as a white European and his close relationship with the audience suggest that he represents the populace of Renaissance England, and thus as the play condemns Iago\u2019s deeds it scrutinizes the xenophobia and racial stereotyping of Renaissance English society.<\/p>\n

The revelation of Iago\u2019s villainy in the final act presents the culmination of the play\u2019s subversion: by displaying the other characters\u2019 criticism of Iago\u2019s actions towards Othello, the play condemns not only villainy, but the racist ideology associated with that villainy as well. Lodovico calls Iago a \u201cviper\u201d (5.2.335) and a \u201cSpartan dog\u201d while Montano refers to him as \u201ca most notorious villain\u201d (5.2.286) and \u201ca damned slave\u201d (5.2.290). Furthermore, though Othello has just murdered his wife, the play emphasizes Iago\u2019s culpability rather than Othello\u2019s. Lodovico asks Othello, \u201cO thou Othello, that wert once so good \/ Fall\u2019n in the practice of a damned slave, \/ What shall be said to thee?\u201d (5.2.342-4), to which Othello responds, \u201cAn honorable murderer, if you will, \/ For naught I did in hate, but all in honor\u201d (5.2.346-7). Lodovico\u2019s words acknowledge Iago\u2019s responsibility for Othello\u2019s actions, thus attributing the blame to Iago rather than \u201cgood\u201d Othello. Of more significance, Othello\u2019s claim that Iago\u2019s crimes stemmed from his \u201chate,\u201d rather than honor, creates an association between Iago\u2019s method, the use of racist ideology, and hatred and dishonor. A sense of this hatred and dishonor color Lodovico\u2019s final words, spoken to Iago: \u201cLook on the tragic loading of this bed. \/ This is thy work\u201d (5.2.426-7). As Lodovico invites Iago to \u201clook on\u201d the victims of his machinations, the play invites the audience of Renaissance England to examine the consequences of an attempt, driven by racial bias and xenophobia, to reestablish their society\u2019s sense of order: white supremacy and homogeny. While Iago\u2019s successful elimination of both Othello and Desdemona may represent the restoration of order within the play, the play itself disrupts the order of Renaissance England by questioning the morality of a society that values an order which subsists on racially motivated hatred and xenophobia.<\/p>\n

My reading of Othello<\/em> contradicts earlier interpretations of the play as a cautionary tale about the threat of race-mixing and the inherent evil of Africans\u2014I recognize the profound subversive work the play performed within the context of 16th<\/sup> century Europe and acknowledge the foundation of its continuing relevance. Othello<\/em> provides insights on the racist ideologies and xenophobic attitudes of early modern England; however, the play suggests that these ideologies and attitudes, while prevalent, did not enjoy universal support. The play employs compelling characters and creates sympathetic situations as a matrix in which to explore the possibility of more positive, progressive views on foreigners and otherness, while condemning the contemporary negative perspectives on the subject. Due to the diverse and extensive audience Othello<\/em> attracted in early modern England and Shakespeare\u2019s ability to write authentic characters, the play possessed a profound power to shape audience perspectives and challenge societal standards.<\/p>\n

Works Cited<\/h2>\n
\n

Aubrey, James. \u201cRace and the Spectacle of the Monstrous in Othello<\/em>.\u201d Clio<\/em>, vol. 22, no. 3, 1993, pp. 221-234. Academic OneFile<\/em>, link.galegroup.com.ezproxy.bu.edu\/apps\/doc\/A14212950\/AONE?u=mlin_b_bumml&sid=AONE&xid=d658d111. Accessed 4 Apr. 2018.<\/p>\n

Best, George. A true discourse of the late\u00a0voyages\u00a0of\u00a0discouerie, for the\u00a0finding\u00a0of a passage to Cathaya, by the\u00a0Northvveast,\u00a0vnder\u00a0the conduct of Martin Frobisher\u00a0Generall<\/em>. Imprinted by Henry Bynnyman, London, 1578. English Books Online<\/em>. Accessed 2 April 2018.<\/p>\n

D\u2019Amico, Jack. \u201cThe Moor Within.\u201d The Moor in English Renaissance Drama<\/em>, University of South Florida Press, 1991, pp. 98\u2013134.<\/p>\n

Hall, Kim F. \u201cIntroduction: Who is English? The Black Presence in England.\u201d Things of Darkness: Economies of Race and Gender in Early Modern England, <\/em>Cornell University Press, 1995.<\/p>\n

\u201cLicensing Casper van Senden to Deport Negroes.\u201d The Later Tudors (1588\u20131603)<\/em>, vol. 3 of Tudor Royal Proclamations<\/em>, edited by Paul L. Hughes and James F. Larkin, Yale University Press, 1969, pp. 221\u20132.<\/p>\n

Lykosthenes, Konrad. The doome warning all men to the iudgemente<\/em>. Translated by Stephen Bateman, imprinted by Ralph Nuberry, London, 1581. Early English Books Online<\/em>, eebo.chadwyck.com\/search\/full_rec?SOURCE=var_spell.cfg&ACTION=ByID&ID=99836886&ECCO=param(ECCO)&FILE=..\/session\/1522953234_21040. Accessed 2 April 2018.<\/p>\n

Mowat, Barbara A. and Paul Werstine. \u201cIntroductory Material and Footnotes on Othello<\/em>.\u201d Othello,<\/em> Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2017.<\/p>\n

Poitevin, Kimberly. \u201cInventing Whiteness: Cosmetics, Race, and Women in Early Modern England.\u201d\u00a0Journal for Early Modern Cultural Studies<\/em>, vol. 11, no. 1, 2011, pp. 59\u201389.\u00a0JSTOR<\/em>, www.jstor.org\/stable\/23242188. Accessed 2 April 2018.<\/p>\n

Shakespeare, William. Othello<\/em>. Edited by Barbara A. Mowat and Paul Werstine, Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2017.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mari Rooney Read the instructor’s introduction Read the writer’s comments and bio Download this essay In a chapter from his book\u00a0The Moor in English Renaissance Drama, Jack D\u2019Amico asserts that some Renaissance-era plays encouraged their predominantly white European audiences to reevaluate their own views on outsiders, particularly Africans, as well as the validity of their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4801,"featured_media":0,"parent":12881,"menu_order":8,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/writingprogram\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12903"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/writingprogram\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/writingprogram\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/writingprogram\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4801"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/writingprogram\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12903"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/writingprogram\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12903\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13231,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/writingprogram\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12903\/revisions\/13231"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/writingprogram\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/writingprogram\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}