Othello: A Postcolonial-Feminist Reading

Abstract

Othello is admittedly one of Shakespeare‘s most unusual tragedies. While Shakespearean tragedies are typically about people of elevated social rank, Othello stars a Moorish soldier in the employ of the Venetian state and the ‘white’ daughter of a Venetian senator. They are neither of European royalty nor aristocrats. The play does not apparently deal with the affairs of state. Rather, like Romeo and Juliet, it appears to be a love story about two people whose love ends tragically. However, a close reading of the play reveals some complex issues, both personal and political, which make it a highly complex tragedy worthy of very serious consideration. Why did Shakespeare choose a black man, Othello, as the hero of the play? In Titus Andronicus, Shakespeare had portrayed a conventional negative stereotype of the Moor in Aaron, but here, he breaks away from that conventional image. Did Shakespeare have any direct contact with black people? Or with new world “Indians”? What was his response to the prevailing stereotypes of the black race? Has this ethnic question anything to do with the tragedy in the play? Such questions have become very relevant since the 1980s, mainly because of the fact that the contemporary society has become more sensitive to issues of racial identity and equality, and also of gender equity. Probably, some modern critical/literary theories like feminism and post colonialism which have become popular after the 1980s can throw light on the intricate issues which bring about the tragedy in Othello.