Context Flashcards
Renaissance views on Venice (4)
- Vice and prostitutes
- Republican constitution
- Wealth
- Europe’s first line of protection against the Turks, who were seen as eastern heathens, because they were not Christian
How is the Venice of Othello different to the Venice of MOV?
Different to the bustling greedy Venice of MOV - much more emphasis on the state and military rather than on wealth
MOV - being performed by 1598
Battle of Lepanto
1571 – Cyprus was rescued from a Turkish invasion by the Venetians
Renaissance views on Cyprus (3)
- Mythic associations with the Goddess of Love, Aphrodite
- Caught between northern civilisation and African barbarism
- Contemporary views of mythical lands as foreign and strange
Moroccan ambassador to Queen Elizabeth
1600 - depicted in a portrait as glamorous and exotic, as well as powerful and a potential ally to the Queen
Queen Elizabeth’s letter
1596 – Queen Elizabeth wrote a letter expelling Blackamoors (a large colony of Moors had grown in London, most of them fleeing Spanish persecution)
Ania Loomba on changing attitudes towards foreigners in England
‘England was increasingly hostile to foreigners, both officially and at a popular level’
Old Testament
Jeremiah associates black skin with evil
Leo Africanus’s book
John Pory translated Moorish Leo Africanus’ book on the popular history of Africa in 1600 in which he seemed proud of his own people’s inclination to murderous sexual jealousy
Prince of Morocco in Merchant of Venice
He is mocked for his complexion but is still seen as a viable suitor (embodies a similar dichotomy between nobility and otherness)
Aaron the Moor in Titus Andronicus
Stereotypical villain, but speaks eloquently
What play was Shakespeare writing at the same time as ‘Othello’?
Measure for Measure
Also derived from Cinthio’s ‘A Hundred Tales’
Both plays are concerned with what humans have the capacity to become
Link between Brabantio and Portia’s father in MOV
Like many Shakespearean fathers, Brabantio thinks of his daughter as his property – e.g. Portia’s father who controls her marriage even in death (links to Renaissance ideas about arranged marriages)
Cuckolded men and horns
Men having horns was the traditional sign for a cuckolded man – cuckolds were universally mocked at the time
Biblical view of women
Women were the ‘weaker vessel’ and that men had control over their wives
Importance of female chastity
Renaissance pre-occupation with ensuring a legitimate heir – impossible to know whether a child was legitimate
Fears at the time of the constructs of masculinity and femininity converging
Women who tried to assert dominance were crushed
Arranged marriages
Arranged marriages were very common, and women were expected to marry with parental permission – heightens the shocking nature of Desdemona’s elopement
Divorce
Very difficult to achieve
Syphilis epidemic
1604 - could actually be life threatening if your wife was unfaithful
The Pathway to Martial Discipline
Thomas Styward (1581) – book on military conduct stated that no soldier should commit ‘ruffian-like behaviour’ or harm another soldier ‘upon the pain of the loss of his life’ (Cassio is getting off lightly when he is just dismissed)
Growth of interest in the mind
English Renaissance marked a growing interest in the mind and psychology – links with Iago as a psychopath
Renaissance individualism
Idea of the importance of the individual and individual will (links to Iago’s simile about men’s minds being like gardens which they can control)
Renaissance ‘self-fashioning’
Early Modern obsession with how to presents oneself – thus ‘Othello’ encourages the audience to think on the plasticity of the human individual (characters are adept at presenting themselves and others in different lights)