English: Othello

Shakespeare’s tragic tale of jealousy and deceit opens in Venice, where the villainous Iago plots against Othello, the Moor. Iago teams up with Roderigo, a young Venetian who wants Othello’s wife, Desdemona, for himself. Roderigo tells Desdemona’s father, Brabantio, of her elopement.

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. Philip III of Spain expelled 300,000 “Moriscos”
from the Iberian (Spanish) peninsula not long after Shakespeare finished Othello,
in 1609. In England during Shakespeare’s time, views regarding “Moors” were
slightly more complex because of strong anti-Catholic sentiment in England and English fears of invasion by the Spanish. In fact, England maintained independent trade relationships with “Moorish” Northern Africa, despite Spanish and Portuguese protest. The English slave trade also brought blacks to Europe, from mid-sixteenth century onward. Queen Elizabeth herself founded The Barbary Company, formally institutionalizing this trade; in addition, she received a delegation of Moroccan diplomats in 1600. However, the English still felt a strong suspicion of Islam:
Elizabeth issued a degree expelling Moors from Africa and Spanish “Moriscos”
from the boundary of England in 1599 and 1601.

Shakespeare’s father was a glove-maker, and Shakespeare received no more than a grammar school education. He married Anne Hathaway in 1582, but left his family behind around 1590 and moved to London, where he became an actor and playwright. He was an immediate success: Shakespeare soon became the most popular playwright of the day as well as a part-owner of the Globe Theater. His theater troupe was adopted by King James as the King’s Men in 1603. Shakespeare retired as a rich and prominent man to Stratford-upon-Avon in 1613, and died three years later.