Act I Question

How is the reader positioned to view the characters Desdemona, Othello and Iago in Act I of the play?

Race

During the Elizabethan era, there were two primary types of racism:

• Racism that discriminates (cultural, institutional).
This form of racism was common in the workplace as well as in public places all over England.

• Racism that kills mainly as a result of extreme poverty. This type of racism is generally referred to as paternalistic racism. Paternalistic racism implies that white people have the right to interfere in the lives of blacks for their own good and the power to define that good.

A number of ethnic groups were subjected to racism and suffered as a result. These include:

• Racism against towards the presence of Moorish, Black and Asian immigrants coming into England

• These ethnic groups were disadvantaged as they were given limited employment opportunities/entitlements and forced to take some form of domestic service. They were paid below the minimum wage which did not give them an adequate income to support themselves and their families

• They were seen as second-class citizens, often treated with little respect and value.

• They were perceived and treated as lesser beings and brutally persecuted for minor offences.


Elizabethan Racism, All Free Essays.com, http://www.allfreeessays.com/essays/Elizabethan-Racism/28486.html (12.10.09)


Laws to support these attitudes:

There were no laws against racism but society in the Elizabethan Era were predjudice against other races. This meant that they did not have the same privlidges such as wages and respect as the Elizabethans did.

Moors

A Moor, according to Dictionary.com, is ' a Muslim of the mixed Berber and Arab descent, now inhabiting North West Africa.'

In the 16th century, they has lost their land and weren't in rule of any country. They migrated to Europe, and were forced to hide their religious identities. In Spain, they forced Moores to either turn to catholicism or leave the country.

Moors were Muslim, thus, practicing Islam



This image portrays Othello as a black man
and not as a Turkish man.














This actor is a part of the most recent film interpretation of Othello and appears to be African American, opposed to Turkish.

In this image, Othello doesn't appear to have been played by a black man.

This painting of Othello portrays him as a noble warrior.

This painting portrays Othello as a lover and not as a soldier.

Cyprus

Cyprus is a Eurasian island country situated in the eastern Mediterranean, South of Turkey, North of Egypt and West of Syria and Lebanon.

In the 16th Century, Cyprus was under Turkish Occupation.

Venice

Venice is located in nothern Italy and is a man made city situated on a series of stilts.


The 16th century was the beginning of the Decline of the Republic of Venice.
In 1516 the first Jewish Ghetto founded in Venice (World First).


Cyprus had been conquered by Venice since 1489.

Pope Julius II initiated the conquering of Venice. All neighbouring powers joined in this League of Cambrai in 1508.

Venice was defeated at the battle of Agnadello on 14 May 1509, in the Ghiara d'Adda.

In 1539 the Turkish fleet attacked and destroyed Limassol.

By 1563, the population of Venice had dropped to about 168,000 people.

The Turks struck again in 1570, this time with a full-scale invasion rather than a raid. Under the command of Mustafa Pasha, around 60,000 troops, including cavalry and artillery, landed and laid siege to Nicosia. 20,000 Nicosian Greeks and Venetians were put to death, and every church, public building, and palace was looted.

As early as 1423, the Ottoman Empire started sea campaigns, when it waged a seven year war with the Venetian Republic over maritime control of the Aegean Sea and the Adriatic Sea.

In 1489, the first year of Venetian control of Cyprus, Turks attacked the Karpasia Peninsula, pillaging and taking captives to be sold into slavery.

Modern Venice:

16th Century Venice: