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  Orientalism as it Relates to Moors in Renaissance England

  Just like every other philosophy, European identity and culture are influenced, to a certain extent, by other people’s way of life. According to Edward Said, Orientalism is the acceptance of the dissimilarities that exist between the East and the West cultures in the effort of understanding novels and epics such as the story of Othello. It is a worldview that helps in imagining and emphasizing the dissimilarities of the urban cultures and individuals from those of the US and Europe (Said 4). Orientalism often entails the perception that the Arab culture is exotic, uncivilized, backward, and dangerous and thus promoting the acceptance of these distinctions between East and West could help foster a deeper understanding. Hence, Orientalism is the foundation of all the inaccurate cultural depictions that develop the western view of the East, specifically, the Middle East region.

  It has become a challenge to address Orientalism of Moors in Renaissance England. The term Moors is evident throughout literature, history books, and art. During the period of the renaissance in England, the individuals referred to as the Moors were dark skinned persons who were especially Muslims from Eastern Africa. Because of Orientalism, they were viewed as monstrous and savage creatures because of their faith in addition to the representation as a contradictory, inconsistent, vague, and varied population. As such, the concept does not describe a specific race or ethnicity, but has for centuries been used to describe Muslims’ reign in Spain, and the Europeans of African descent.

  Various stereotypes of Moors circulated in plays and travel writings. Since all Moors were associated with most negative characteristics such as cruelty, greed, impulsive, aggressive and inferior, the stereotypes that circulated about them in plays and travel writing are quite similar. Firstly, in Ortelius’s Epitome of the Theater of the World (1603), the Moors are stereotyped as jealous of their wives and hardly forget any offense against them (Othello 1). In another case, Leo’s the Geographical History of Africa (1600), stereotyped Moors as individuals filled with guilelessness, courage, pride, passion, and credulity (Othello 1). Therefore, sexual potency, aggressiveness, greed, and impulsiveness are among the various stereotypes of Moors that circulated in plays and travel writings.

  Othello as an Orientalist Text

   Othello is an Orientalist text because it features a central character who comes from a land with exotic beings. It is a story that revolves around the social setting and religion of its characters. According to Said, Orientalism has a significant impact on the personality and outlook of a population. When Othello was produced in the early 1600s, the exploration to the east was already in place and there was already a simple and misguided conception of the oriental life amongst the Europeans. The portrayal of the culture in Othello is similar to that of the oriental people due to their mysticism. Othello contains a lot of magic and supernatural stories which is evident when Othello is accused of enchanting Desdemona and other things that imply the use of magic to bewitch Desdemona forcing her to do things against her will. Brabantio openly accuses Othello of using “drugs or minerals” and generally other things of “Moorish” nature to bewith Desdemona (Othello 93). It implies that Othello was seen as a foul and loathsome individual and as such was categorized as moor. Furthermore, some of the previous passages refer to Othello as a moor which implies that it is the very thing that people saw in him. 

  Othello reproduces Orientalist discourses of Moors during Renaissance England by incorporating the matter of race in the text. Othello’s darkness and blackness is referred to several times in the play. For instance, when Othello used his race to refer to his wife’s supposed immorality and claimed that “As Dian’s visage, is now begrimed and black As mine own face” (Othello 149). Likewise, Iago also refers to Othello as a “Black Moor” and Roderigo calls him an “old black ram” indicating the use of sheep imagery to allude to Othello’s blackness (Othello 22). As such, Othello contains various instances that depict racial discrimination in spite there not being any racial specific content as a modern reader would expect.  

  Othello is a stereotypical Moor because of his association with barbaric and supernatural elements that were present among the oriental people. From Desdemona’s indisputable submission to Othello to the easy passes in the battles and sieges, Othello indicates the presence of some supernatural elements. The heroic stories that Othello tells Brabantio about “… the battles, sieges, fortunes/ That I have passed/ I ran it through even from my boyish days”  have some exotic flavor charm present in them (Othello, 128). Othello also describes some exotic human like animals using terms like things “whose heads/ Do grow beneath their shoulders” (Othello 143). These supernatural stories prove that Othello is a stereotypical Moor who believes in barbaric and supernatural elements. 

  At the same time, Othello exceeds these stereotypes by looking down on his Moorish religion and identity. None of the characters in the Elizabethan era ended up with a major and heroic role such as that of Othello. He exceeded the stereotypes of the Moors by playing a heroic role in the text. Othello, is different from other Moor characters like Aaron in the play Titus Andronicus, who is cunning, lecherous, and vicious. He is a noble character with great authority who is respected and admired by many including the senate and duke of Venice. It is only Iago who seems to be explicitly stereotypical of Othello as he depicts him as savage, barbaric, and foolish.

  However, Desdemona, as a white female, views Othello as an Oriental paradigm. According to Said, as he describes Orientalism, there is a close relationship between the individuals from the East and those from the west as they have a reciprocal relationship. He claims, “there were –and – are cultures and nations whose location is in the East, and their lives, histories, and customs have a brute reality obviously greater that anything that could be said about them in the West” (Said 5). Desdemona, as a white woman discovers enough weakness in Othello and as a white female possesses cultural and historical opinions of the character. She feels that only Othello’s wild character can appease her orientalist mind. It indicates that there is some type of connection between the two different worlds, East and West, and the oriental civilization should be accepted as it is. Shakespeare’s acceptance of Othello’s nature and giving him the responsibility of being the commander of the army in Cyprus, as well as Desdemona’s acceptance of him, indicate that Europeans should accept the existence of their Eastern counterparts.