Postcolonial Othering in William Shakespeare’s Play Othello; The Moor of Venice

Abstract

The term postcolonial appeared for the first time in the mid-1980s, in the scholarly journals as subtexts in the writings of Ashcroft, Griffiths, and Tiffin. The term was later established in academic and popular discourse. Its thematic concerns include universality, differences, nationalism, postmodernism, representation and resistance, ethnicity, feminism, language, education, history, place, and production (Ashcroft, Griffiths & Tiffin, 2004.Key Concepts in Postcolonial Studies, p.2). It is the literature that has been created as a voice to the powerless and the poorest members of the global community. “Postcolonial theory deals with the reading and writing of literature written in previously or currently colonized countries; a literature written in colonizing countries which deals with colonization or colonized peoples. It focuses particularly on: the way in which literature by the colonizing culture distorts the experience and realities, and inscribes the inferiority, of the colonized people and on literature by colonized peoples which attempts to articulate their identity and reclaim their past in the face of inevitable Otherness”. (www.shs.westport.k12.ct.us). This paper will be analyzing the text of the play Othello; The Moor of Venice by Shakespeare in terms of the representation of Otherness through the lens of postcolonialism. The love story between Desdemona and Othello was doomed due to the inflexibility of racial politics, the psychology of bodily humours, magic, or the incompatibility of military and private life. Throughout the play, there is the subtle suggestion that Othello, despite his high status, is considered dangerous by his European contemporaries. Brabantio is scandalized when he learns of Othello's relationship with Desdemona, and this revelation almost leads to Othello's arrest and accusations that Othello has kidnapped or stolen his future wife. It's as if the citizens of Venice can't imagine a white woman would have a consensual relationship with a black man, or as if Othello's race poses a threat to the European familial order. Othello continuously subverts this perception, comporting himself with dignity despite European mistrust.