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Desdemona othello2/1/2024 ![]() "Renaissance representations of the Moor were vague, varied, inconsistent, and contradictory. Honigmann, the editor of an Arden Shakespeare edition, concluded that Othello's race is ambiguous. That said, there’s quite a bit of language in the play that suggests Othello must be visibly racialized:Į. In short, a Moor could have a range of complexions, from a light-skinned complexion essentially identical to a Venetian/Italian to dark-skinned. A Moor could be someone from north Africa / the Maghreb “Moor” comes from the same root as “Morocco.” “Moor” was an “exonym” - meaning it was a term used by Europeans to describe people in North Africa and perhaps sub-Saharan Africa as well - but it was not a term Africans used to describe themselves. Part of the question is what “Moorish” meant in Shakespeare’s time. Othello is described as a “Moorish” general in the Venetian army. Many of them did so in blackface (this was actually quite common & not seen as particularly controversial until the 1990s). Lawrence Fishburne became the first actually Black actor to play Othello in a major film adaptation - in 1995. Interestingly, despite the strong suggestions of racial otherness in the text of the play, there’s also a tradition of white actors playing the role of Othello as well - quite a number of very famous actors have played the character, including Lawrence Olivier and Orson Welles. ![]() In short, Desdemona, Morrison’s adaptation of Shakespeare, is a feminist and Black-centered (Africa-centered) adaptation of one of the most famous - but also famously problematic - Black characters in the English Canon.īlack actors who have played Othello on stage and screen include: Lawrence Fishburne (1995, film), Mekhi Phifer (2001, in the film O), James Earl Jones (who first played Othello on stage in 1955!), Chiwetel Ejiofor (2008, on stage), and Paul Robeson (1930, on stage). Morrison reimagines the story with that (presumably African) woman playing a prominent role in raising Desdemona, and gives her the voice of moral authority in the story. It also puts forward a character who doesn’t actually appear with a speaking role in Shakespeare’s play (“Barbara”/Barbary), who is described at one point as Desdemona’s mother’s maid. ![]() Morrison’s adaptation centers Desdemona rather than Othello (hence the title), but it does more than that. Because it’s one of the few classical works of theater that features a Black man in the leading role, it’s been a play particularly popular with Black actors - despite also being problematic, both for the way it depicts Othello (who commits a shocking act of violence), and for the misogyny that seems to undergird Othello’s suspicions of Desdemona. Othello is one of Shakespeare’s later tragedies, and it’s both dark and for many audiences, problematic in various ways. Toni Morrison : A Teaching and Learning Resource Collection Main Menu Overviews of Toni Morrison's Fiction Overviews of Toni Morrison's Eleven published novels Overviews of Toni Morrison's Nonfiction and Drama Reception Histories Reception Histories: Toni Morrison's fiction Toni Morrison: Critical Overviews Toni Morrison: Biographical Note Biographical Overview of Toni Morrison's Life and Career Who Gets to be the 'Great American Writer'? Toni Morrison and Oprah's Book Club Maps and Data A Path Pointing to Maps and Data Related to Toni Morrison's Writings Amardeep Singh c185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1 "Desdemona" (2011): Overview 1 T14:43:15-04:00 Amardeep Singh c185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1 203 2 Overview of Toni Morrison's "Desdemona" (2011) plain T09:46:59-04:00 Amardeep Singh c185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1 Please enable Javascript and reload the page. This site requires Javascript to be turned on.
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