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Speaking of the Moor: From "alcazar" to "othello"
Selected by Choice magazine as an Outstanding Academic Title
"Speak of me as I am," Othello, the Moor of Venice, bids in the play that bears his name. Yet many have found it impossible to speak of his ethnicity with any certainty. What did it mean to be a Moor in the early modern period? In the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, when England was expanding its reach across the globe, the Moor became a central character on the English stage. In The Battle of Alcazar , Titus Andronicus , Lust's Dominion , and Othello , the figure of the Moor took definition from multiple geographies, histories, religions, and skin colors.
Rather than casting these variables as obstacles to our—and England's—understanding of the Moor's racial and cultural identity, Emily C. Bartels argues that they are what make the Moor so interesting and important in the face of growing globalization, both in the early modern period and in our own. In Speaking of the Moor , Bartels sets the early modern Moor plays beside contemporaneous texts that embed Moorish figures within England's historical record—Richard Hakluyt's Principal Navigations , Queen Elizabeth's letters proposing the deportation of England's "blackamoors," and John Pory's translation of The History and Description of Africa . Her book uncovers the surprising complexity of England's negotiation and accommodation of difference at the end of the Elizabethan era.
"Speak of me as I am," Othello, the Moor of Venice, bids in the play that bears his name. Yet many have found it impossible to speak of his ethnicity with any certainty. What did it mean to be a Moor in the early modern period? In the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, when England was expanding its reach across the globe, the Moor became a central character on the English stage. In The Battle of Alcazar , Titus Andronicus , Lust's Dominion , and Othello , the figure of the Moor took definition from multiple geographies, histories, religions, and skin colors.
Rather than casting these variables as obstacles to our—and England's—understanding of the Moor's racial and cultural identity, Emily C. Bartels argues that they are what make the Moor so interesting and important in the face of growing globalization, both in the early modern period and in our own. In Speaking of the Moor , Bartels sets the early modern Moor plays beside contemporaneous texts that embed Moorish figures within England's historical record—Richard Hakluyt's Principal Navigations , Queen Elizabeth's letters proposing the deportation of England's "blackamoors," and John Pory's translation of The History and Description of Africa . Her book uncovers the surprising complexity of England's negotiation and accommodation of difference at the end of the Elizabethan era.
264 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 3, 2018
Interesting academic concepts that I'll incorporate into my teaching this semester with my high school seniors. Bartels may focus too heavily on concepts over their heads, but that's good for them and me and will liven up our discussions. There is a heavy interest in race, race relations and how race relations play into public perceptions of our heroes and villains - both in literature and reality. Incorporating Othello's theme's, with the assistance of Ms. Bartels and social media will make for interesting class discussion.
February 12, 2015
This book changed everything.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews