What is the relationship between Desdemona and Barbary in Othello?
Desdemona's mother plays no part in the story of the courtship and marriage to Othello, and Desdemona speaks and acts as a woman alone, who takes full responsibility for her decisions. Desdemona and Barbary are not only alone in their sorrow but are both associated with strangers. "Barbary," the name, means "foreigner."
What is the origin of Othello?
References to Othello's origins throughout the play are contradictory and ambiguous Iago calls Othello a "Barbary horse" (1.1.110); Barbary was an area in Africa between Egypt and the Atlantic Ocean. Roderigo, however, calls him "thick-lips" (1.1.65-6), suggesting that he may come from further south on the African continent.
What does Brabantio call Othello's Moor?
Brabantio calls him "sooty" (1.2.70); Othello, along with numerous other characters, refers to himself as "black." It is impossible to know now exactly what Shakespeare or his audience would have thought a "Moor" is.
What is the plot of Othello?
The story revolves around two characters, Othello and Iago. Othello is a military commander of Moorish race who was serving as general of the Venetian army in defence of Cyprus against invasion by Ottoman Turks. He has recently married Desdemona, a beautiful and wealthy Venetian lady much younger than himself, against the wishes of her father.
Why is Othello called Barbary horse?
They also called him ''Barbary Horse'' (1.1. 125) making from him an brown big animal far from the domestic area. How racist and intense is this nickname but at the same time how descriptive it is. Iago describe Othello to his girlfriend's father, the Senator, as this bestial animal that has sexual appetite.
WHO calls Othello a Barbary horse?
In the first scene Iago intentionally plays upon Brabantio's prejudice against Othello when he calls him a “barbary horse” and conjures up the graphic image of an “old black ram” “tupping” Brabantio's “white ewe.” Throughout the play Iago uses animal imagery to emphasise the lack of regard he has for one person or ...
Who slept with Emilia in Othello?
At the end of Act I, scene iii, Iago says he thinks Othello may have slept with his wife, Emilia: “It is thought abroad that 'twixt my sheets / He has done my office” (I. iii. 369–370 ).
Who is the true villain in Othello?
Iago is the antagonist of the play; in fact, his character is often cited as one of the clearest examples of an antagonist in all of literature. Iago actively works to thwart Othello by convincing Othello that Desdemona is being unfaithful to him, knowing that this belief will torment Othello.
What does the word Barbary refer to Shakespeare?
Iago tells Brabantio that "an old black ram / is tupping your white ewe" (1.1.88). When Iago uses the word Barbary or Barbarian to refer to Othello, he seemingly refers to the Barbary coast inhabited by Berbers.
What names does Iago call Othello?
Iago refers to Othello not by his name but as 'the Moor', calling him 'the devil' (2.1. 216) and 'defective' (2.1. 220), a racist portrayal which makes Desdemona's unfaithfulness more believable to Roderigo.
Who slept with Iago's wife?
One of the reasons Iago gives for his hatred of Othello is the rumor that “'twixt my sheets he has done my office,” I surprisingly polite way for Iago to say that Othello slept with his (Iago's) wife, Emilia.
Who kills Emilia in Othello?
IagoShe tells how she found the handkerchief, which her husband had asked her to steal, and gave it to him. Iago stabs Emilia and runs out. As she dies, Emilia tells Othello that Desdemona loved him.
Does Iago understand love?
'Iago does not understand love. ' In the light of this view, discuss how Shakespeare presents Iago's attitudes to love in this extract and elsewhere in the play. RODERIGO I will incontinently drown myself.
Who is the hero of Othello?
The play's protagonist and hero. A Christian Moor and general of the armies of Venice, Othello is an eloquent and physically powerful figure, respected by all those around him. In spite of his elevated status, he is nevertheless easy prey to insecurities because of his age, his life as a soldier, and his race.
Is Othello a villain or victim?
In the end, although Othello has moments of villainy, it is Iago who is remembered as the primary villain of the story. Without his cunning, pointless destruction, Othello could've continued with his life as it was. Iago preyed on his weakness, controlling and changing him for the worse.
Who is the protagonist of Othello?
As the play's title indicates, Othello is the protagonist. At the beginning of the play, Othello occupies a complex position within Venetian society.
What does thick lips mean in Othello?
This is clear, for example, when Roderigo calls Othello “the thick lips,” not only reducing him to a racialized physical attribute, taking away his subjectivity as a whole person, but also alluding to his hypersexual nature, as lips, especially big lips, are often a symbol of sexuality.
Where does the phrase beast with two backs come from?
It refers to the situation in which a couple—in the missionary position, woman on top, on their sides, kneeling, or standing—cling to each other as if a single creature, with their backs to the outside. In English, the expression dates back to at least William Shakespeare's Othello (Act 1, Scene 1, ll. 126–127, c.
What does lascivious Moor mean?
It implies that he is disgusting, lecherous, repulsive and savage. He is uncivilized and because of his race he is seen as bestial. What does lascivious mean? perverse. How does the perverse language linked with "Moor" portray Othello as an outsider?
Is tupping your white ewe?
When Iago tells Brabanzio that “an old black ram / Is tupping your white ewe,” he demeans a passionate and loving relationship between two intelligent adults by characterizing Othello as a mindless rutting animal who has soiled the pure Desdemona with his lust.
What was the context of Othello?
Historical Context of Othello. From the eleventh to the fifteenth century, Catholics battled to re-conquer Spain from the Islamic Arabs and Berbers, or Moors, who had successfully occupied it since the 900s. The struggle inspired intense prejudice and suspicion that lasted well after the Moors were overthrown.
What is the meaning of the word "Moor" in Shakespeare's Othello?
Moor or less? In Elizabethan England, the term "Moor" could be used to refer to a wide range of non-European persons, including black Africans, North Africans, Arabs, and even Indians. References to Othello's origins throughout the play are contradictory and ambiguous Iago calls Othello a "Barbary horse" (1.1.110); Barbary was an area in Africa between Egypt and the Atlantic Ocean. Roderigo, however, calls him "thick-lips" (1.1.65-6), suggesting that he may come from further south on the African continent. Brabantio calls him "sooty" (1.2.70); Othello, along with numerous other characters, refers to himself as "black." It is impossible to know now exactly what Shakespeare or his audience would have thought a "Moor" is.
Who expelled the Moriscos?
The struggle inspired intense prejudice and suspicion that lasted well after the Moors were overthrown. Philip III of Spain expelled 300,000 "Moriscos" from the Iberian (Spanish) peninsula not long after Shakespeare finished Othello, in 1609.
Who was Desdemona's maid?
Barbary was Desdemona's mother's maid who was abandoned by her crazed lover:
Why is Desdemona's behavior so sedate?
Desdemona's behavior is sedate and almost accepting because her loyalty to Othello is so complete that she will, despite her concerns, do exactly as he says, regardless of the consequences. Barbary died while singing the "willow song" and Desdemona's disposition is so calm and the music lyrical - Shakespeare was a lyric poet - that her fate seems sealed.
Is Desdemona a victim?
Desdemona is truly a victim of circumstances and innocent of what she is accused of. Her trust is usurped and misinterpreted, much to Iago's relief, as, with so many willing "victims," he is able to serve his cause. Desdemona trusts Othello and despite having feelings of foreboding, she does as he asks. She seeks solace from Emilia and tells the story of Barbary and sings
Who is Othello in Shakespeare's play?
Othello is both the Moorish convert protecting the Venetian state, and the fearsome Turk, killing the “heresy” within him. The profound ambiguity towards Islam that Shakespeare exploits in Othello remains with us, and nowhere more graphically than in the play’s final reference to Moroccans, Turks and Christians meeting in today’s tragic symbol of the destruction of cosmopolitan multiculturalism, Aleppo.
Who played Othello in the movie?
Chiwetel Ejiofor as Othello, with Ewan McGregor as Iago, at the Donmar Warehouse, London, in 2007. Photograph: Robbie Jack/Corbis. But Al-Annuri was not the only person with whom Elizabeth was fostering relations.
What are the similarities between Othello and Al-Annuri?
The similarities to Al-Annuri are striking. Othello is a mercenary, invited into the heart of a Christian community to fight the infidel but who is eventually unceremoniously expelled. As with Al‑Annuri, his ethnicity and religion are obscure.
Who was Al-Annuri's enemy?
Al-Annuri had landed in England in August leading a 16-man Moroccan delegation of merchants, translators and holy men to conclude a military alliance between the Protestant Tudors and Muslim Morocco against their common enemy, Catholic Spain.
Who owns the painting of the sailor's hat?
Its painter and provenance are unknown prior to its appearance at a Christie’s sale in 1955, when it was bought, then sold to its current owner, the University of Birmingham’s Shakespeare Institute.
Who was the king of Morocco in 1601?
Talks broke down, and by February 1601 Al‑Annuri was back in Morocco. Two years later Elizabeth and Al-Mansur were dead, with England’s new king, James I , negotiating a peace deal with Spain that would end the need for an Anglo-Islamic alliance, consigning Al-Annuri’s embassy into an embarrassing historical footnote.
Overview
Themes
Although characters described as "Moors" appear in two other Shakespeare plays (Titus Andronicus and The Merchant of Venice), such characters were a rarity in contemporary theatre, and it was unknown for them to take centre stage.
There is no consensus over Othello's ethnic origin. In Elizabethan discourse, th…
Characters
• Othello – General in the Venetian military, a noble Moor
• Desdemona – Othello's wife; daughter of Brabantio
• Iago – Othello's trusted, but jealous and traitorous ensign
• Cassio – Othello's loyal and most beloved captain
Plot
Roderigo, a wealthy and dissolute gentleman, complains to his friend Iago, an ensign, that Iago has not told him about the secret marriage between Desdemona, the daughter of a senator named Brabantio, and Othello, a Moorish general in the Venetian army. Roderigo is upset because he loves Desdemona and had asked her father, Brabantio, for her hand in marriage.
Iago hates Othello for promoting a younger man named Cassio above him, whom Iago consider…
Sources
Othello is an adaptation of the Italian writer Cinthio's tale "Un Capitano Moro" ("A Moorish Captain") from his Gli Hecatommithi (1565), a collection of one hundred tales in the style of Boccaccio's Decameron. No English translation of Cinthio was available in Shakespeare's lifetime, and verbal echoes in Othello are closer to the Italian original than to Gabriel Chappuy's 1584 French translation. Cinthio's tale may have been based on an actual incident occurring in Venic…
Date and context
The earliest mention of the play is found in a 1604 Revels Office account, which records that on "Hallamas Day, being the first of Nouembar ... the Kings Maiesties plaiers" performed "A Play in the Banketinghouse at Whit Hall Called The Moor of Venis." The work is attributed to "Shaxberd." The Revels account was first printed by Peter Cunningham in 1842, and, while its authenticity was …
Performance history
Othello possesses an unusually detailed performance record. The first certainly known performance occurred on 1 November 1604, at Whitehall Palace in London, being mentioned in a Revels account on "Hallamas Day, being the first of Nouembar", 1604, when "the Kings Maiesties plaiers" performed "A Play in the Banketinge house at Whit Hall Called The Moor of Venis". The play is ther…
Adaptations and cultural references
Othello as a literary character has appeared in many representations within popular culture over several centuries. There also have been over a dozen film adaptations of Othello.