Context Flashcards
Turkish threat
• The Christian world began to be threatened by Islam after creation of empire in C7
Muslims conquered non – European areas
Moors and Muslims
• Moor – used in Elizabethan England to indicate any person of dark skin but correctly referred to Muslims who originated from Morocco and settled in Spain
Black people were either represented as savages only fit to be slaves or as mysterious and exotic chieftains
The role of women
• Women’s parts were smaller in number, size and status
Women were possessions and were dependent on their fathers until they were under the rule of their husbands
Women had lack of control over their bodies – loss of honour was worst thing for a father
Double standards
• Fornicating women were considered a threat to the church (blamed for leading men astray – women were easily seduced because they are descended from Eve)
Men wished to marry chaste virgins for social reasons but have whores available for pleasure – creates dichotomy of two types of men
The chain of being
• Idea of a hierarchical chain of being on which every creature appeared down a ladder – God, angel, man, woman, animal, vegetable and mineral
In Shakespeare, a man becomes an animal and a monster when he is governed by appetite and instinct
Nature
• Reversals of this will lead to catastrophe
Cuckoldry
- Means becoming a horned beast – prevalent male fear at the time
- Man who could not control his wife’s sexual appetite
- Related to issue of illegitimacy – threat to social fabric
Handkerchief
strawberry is considered purest of fruits, connecting Desdemona with divinity
Leo Africanus
his people would ‘rather lose their lives than put up any disgrace in the behalf of their women’
