Race Flashcards
(9 cards)
A.C. Bradley
“He is not an Italian, not even a European; that he is totally ignorant of the thoughts and the customary morality of Venetian women.”
Frances Dolan: “In focusing on a black hero…”
“In focusing on a black hero, Othello draws on several distinct cultural constructions of domestic threat, of the difference that can undermine domesticity from within.”
Frances Dolan: “By making his protagonist black…”
“By making his protagonist black, Shakespeare prepared his original audience to question Othello’s authority, to suspect that he might misuse it groundlessly”
Loomba: “Othello is both…”
“Othello is both a fantasy of interracial love and social tolerance, and a nightmare of racial hatred and male violence.”
Loomba: “Iago’s machinations…”
“Iago’s machinations are effective because Othello is predisposed to believing …. the necessary fragility of an ‘unnatural’ relationship between a young, white, well-born woman and an older black soldier”
Loomba: “Othello is a victim of..”
“Othello is a victim of racial beliefs precisely because he becomes an agent of misogynist ones.”
Loomba: “The portrayal of Othello..”
“The portrayal of Othello, the ‘Moor of Venice’ stands at the complicated crux of contemporary beliefs about black people and Muslims.”
Berry
Othello’s identity depends upon a constant performance of his story, a loss of his own origins
Karen Newman
white male characters (specifically lago) feel threatened by the ‘power and potency of a different monstrous sexuality’, symbolised by Othello
