Shakespeare's Othello and the Challenges of Multiculturalism (original) (raw)
Related papers
2019
The aim of present paper is to investigate and explore the racial discrimination and religious othering in Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice and Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist. Shakespeare encouraged racism all through his play, The Merchant of Venice. He shows this through the passionate and physical quality of the characters being assaulted by bigot remarks and through cliché impact. Intrinsic racism and extrinsic racism are because of racial pride and racial preference, separately. Shakespeare and Hamid’s world was a white-focused Christendom. Skin shading and religion were along these lines the essential highlights (of nature and support) that actuated bigotry, Venice or Italy being Shakespeare's and US are Hamid’s advantageous regions for sensationalizing his racial actions and reactions. In this paper, occurrences of racial pride and bias in selected texts are exhibited, the reasons for prejudice and religious othering are explored, Shakespeare and Hamid’s perspectives of race and bigotry are talked about, and their racial vision is outlined.
CULTURAL PERCEPTIONS AND INTERACTIONS: SHAKESPEARE'S OTHELLO AND TEACHING THE IMAGE OF THE TURK
ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT This paper is set out to explore the image of the Turk via the fundamental historical, socio and ethnical premises prevailing in one of the most well known pieces of English literature, Shakespeare's Othello. It is set out to examine the image of Shakespeare's play set against a specific, controversial and often violent historical background. The dominating factor during the Renaissance and Reformation was the dichotomy of Catholic Church and Protestants. T within Christianity but also the conflicts between Christianity and what is known as Islam. It forms the " perception " on the one hand, of the catalytic Figure in Islamic hi Christianity history of emotions is the motive in these simplistic perceptions. All these created images and perceptions can be delved into th English Literature to the learners who have not breathed within the philosophy of Eurocentrism.
Racism, Ethnic Discrimination, and Otherness in Shakespeare’s Othello and The Merchant of Venice
International Journal of English and Comparative Literary Studies, 2021
This study aims to present a comparative examination of the traces of racism and discrimination in two plays of Shakespeare, Othello and The Merchant of Venice, written in 1603 and around 1598, respectively in the Elizabethan Period. The attempt in this paper is to explore the construction of racism and the evidences of discrimination as depicted in Othello and the Merchant of Venice by use of the deconstruction of marriage. For this purpose, it deconstructs the marriage by focusing on Othello in Othello, and The Prince of Morocco in The Merchant of Venice; and, depicts racism and discrimination by comparing the characterizations of Othello in Othello and Shylock in The Merchant of Venice. Both sections critique the cruel issues these people experienced as other. The notion of ‘otherness’ and its application in the characterizations of Othello and Shylock, Othello vs. Shylock, the application of deconstruction of marriage to Othello and The Prince of Morocco, and racism in Othello a...
Shakespeare's Othello from the Perspective of Islam: 2005 -2015 (A)
This book presents two papers I prepared on Shakespeare’s Othello from the perspective of Islam. They were written ten years apart. The first version was written while I taught Literature in English at the Islamic Science University of Malaysia in 2004 and again in 2005. The paper essentially relates the insights taken up in class. The second version was prepared in 2015, at IAIS Malaysia, the International Institute of Advanced Islamic Studies. The two versions differ in several ways. The USIM version briefly relates themes in Othello to broader cultural issues and philosophy, both Socratic and that of Nietzsche. It also tries to show the wisdom behind what might otherwise appear as cruel punishment for theft in Islamic law. I argue that had the prohibition on theft been heeded by Emilia, several people would still be alive, including Desdemona and Othello. Thus, the loss of several lives is a greater loss than the loss of the hand of a thief. The paper argues that, contrary to a popular perception about Islam, that it causes people to become violent, Islam actually prevents tragedy, by mandating strict punishments for crimes. It is often the case that in life what may seem like a minor transgression escalates into bigger crimes. The IAIS version is a less informal, written from memory, and highlights, among other things, political upheavals taking place at the time. (10 pages)
Unveiling Orientalism: The Veil in Shakespeare's Plays
The veil or scarf is known today as being predominantly linked to the Eastern culture yet we witness its appearance in many of England"s most famous playwrights" work. The veil"s recurring appearance in Shakespeare"s plays, used not only by Eastern characters but by English ones as well, allows for an in-depth look into its hidden meanings and messages. This project aims to trace the appearance of the veil and explain both its symbolic and literal meanings in an effort to highlight the important role that material culture played in the shaping of Shakespeare"s plays. I will be examining the visor effect that the veil allows Shakespeare"s characters as well as its connection to both religion and orientalism. This paper aims to better understand through Shakespeare, Europe"s views of the "other" and its attitudes towards racial and cultural differences. This paper will investigate both the metaphorical and literal interpretations of the veil focusing on two Shakespeare plays; Twelfth Night, and The Merchant of Venice. *** Material culture speaks of the people living at a certain point in time, their connection to certain objects and the values they attributed to them all come together to give an in depth perception into their lives. Historians study material objects remnant of a certain age in order to better understand their significance and nowhere is this more potent than in literature where writers give importance and prominence to some objects over others. In Early Modern England theatre material objects took center stage and it is to these objects that audiences related and reacted. This material communication is defined as "the intimate conversations which objects effected between host and guest, lover and beloved…". 1 As a master playwright Shakespeare knew how to communicate with objects as well as he did with words and therefore in
A FRESH LOOK AT SHAKESPEARE'S DRAMATURGY: TOWARDS AN ORIENTALIST APPROACH TO 'OTHELLO'
A FRESH LOOK AT SHAKESPEARE'S DRAMATURGY: TOWARDS AN ORIENTALIST APPROACH TO 'OTHELLO', 2019
Much ink has been spilt over Shakespeare's Othelloand the controversy over its main concerns, themes and aims. While some critics maintain that the themes of prejudice, love, faith and unbridled jealousy are the focus of the play, other scholars argue that the play is a story about ambition, human frailty and the destruction of an innocent and real love. This paper advances the claim that, through its nuances and subtleties, Shakespeare's Othello provides much more to ponder and can be equally perceived as a story about the clash and collision of two different cultures, human relationships and racial problems. Using Edward Said's theory of orientalism and imperialism as a foundation for analyzing and reinterpreting Shakespeare's Othello, the study will also showcase how through his speech and action, the most intriguing character Iago serves primarily as an agent of orientalism.
Shakespeare's Othello: A Representation of the Clash between the Orient and the Occident
2011
This paper attempts to trace how Shakespeare's Othello reflects the deeprooted Eurocentric ideology of the Elizabethan people and show how such views created distinctions like self vs. other, master vs. slave, civilized vs. savage, white vs. black, good vs. evil, strong vs. weak, occident vs. orient. These views had such a deep impact that many writers have portrayed the Europeans as superior and the ‗self' as belonging to the ‗centre' or ‗Occident,' whereas people in faraway lands are shown as inferior and the ‗other' belonging to the ‗margin' or ‗Orient'. In Elizabethan England, African men were regarded as illiterate, barbaric, lustful womanizers who were the white man's property and apt to be used as servants. These views have been handed down century after century. However, in the play Othello Shakespeare breaks away from these beliefs and introduces an African man who disregards such stereotypical views and thus shocking his audience with this deviation from the norm. He presents a reality that African men are indeed polite, educated, loyal and faithful husbands. Shakespeare even makes Othello more prejudiced against his own culture than against another race.
Interpreting Othello in the Arabian Gulf: Shakespeare in a Time of Blackface Controversies
Multicultural Shakespeare: Translation, Appropriation and Performance
This article opens with some brief observations on the phenomenon of Arab blackface—that is, of Arab actors “blacking up” to impersonate black Arab or African characters—from classic cinematic portrayals of the warrior-poet Antara Ibn Shaddad to more recent deployments of blackface in the Arab entertainment industry. It then explores the complex nexus of race, gender, citizenship and social status in the Arabian Gulf as context for a critical reflection on the author’s experience of reading and discussing Othello with students at the American University of Kuwait—discussions which took place in the fall of 2019, in the midst of a wave of controversies sparked by instances of Arab blackface on television and in social media.
Mediterranean Empires, Mobility, and Multiculturalism in Shakespeare's Plays
This study is an exploration of multicultural exchanges in Shakespeare’s plays within their Mediterranean context. It analyses the Mediterranean empires and their multiculturalism which are enabled by the mobility of people, information, and cultures in Shakespeare. The primary sources used in this thesis are Pericles, Antony and Cleopatra, Titus Andronicus, The Merchant of Venice, Othello, and The Tempest. The study argues that the mobility in the Mediterranean brings distortive and transformative impacts on individuals and societies in these six texts. It looks at how the people who frequently travel across the Mediterranean lose their identity and the empires which incorporate ‘others’ through territorial expansion are threatened by degeneration. This study argues that Shakespeare problematizes the mobility and multiculturalism in the Mediterranean that are analysed in his past, contemporary and future empires. Therefore, the thesis points out that Shakespeare’s exploration of the dangerous intercultural exchanges in ancient and early modern Mediterranean empires functions as a historical foreshadowing for the newly emerging British Empire in his present time.
In Shakespearean literature, one can find themes that challenge the Elizabethan conventional way of thinking and life, and the tragedy of Othello is no exception. In a dramatic presentation, Shakespeare challenges the way in which Black people are seen in Elizabethan society by placing a Moor in the context of Venice, Italy who is both hated and respected in his place in a racist society. There is no doubt that there is racism in Elizabethan society. According to Eldred Jones, during the era in which Othello is composed, Queen Elizabeth enacts legislation that calls for all Black people to leave the country (Jones, 1994). Racism is not the core theme of the dramatic piece; however, the existence of racism is illustrated and expressed via Shakespeare's artistic medium. Just as feminism, greed, jealousy, hubris, and varying other matters dealing with the human spirit do not seepage Shakespeare's consideration, nor do race matters. Furthermore, just as he dramatizes human issues, he dramatizes race matters. There are fictional elements in 2