George Washington University

"Mulattos," "Blacks," and "Indian Moors": Othello and Early Modern Constructions of Human
Difference
Author(s): Michael Neill
Source: Shakespeare Quarterly, Vol. 49, No. 4 (Winter, 1998), pp. 361-374
Published by: Folger Shakespeare Library in association with George Washington University
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"Mulattos,""Blacks,"and "IndianMoors":
and EarlyModernConstructions
Othello
ofHuman Difference
MICHAELNEILL
THIS PLAY IS RACIST, AND I THINK IT IS NOT":1 VirginiaVaughan'sperof theproblemsfacedby late-twenis symptomatic
plexedresponseto Othello
criticsin approaching
theracialdimensionofShakespeare'splay.For
tieth-century
if theworkof recentscholarshas taughtus anythingabout earlymodernconstructions
of humandifference,
it is thatany attemptto read back intotheearly
modernperiod an idea of "race" based on post-Enlightenment
taxonomyis
doomedto failure.2
To talkaboutracein Othello
is to fallintoanachronism;
yetnot
to talkabout it is to ignoresomething
fundamental
about a playthathas rightly
textin theemergence
ofmodernEuropean
cometobe identified
as a foundational
at
racial consciousness-aplay thattradesin constructions
of humandifference
notionsto
once misleadingly
likeand confusingly
unlike
thosetwentieth-century
ancestral.In thelatterpartofthispaper,
whichtheyarenevertheless
recognizably
of whatcame to be called
I hope to cast some lighton Shakespeare'streatment
in theEast Indianarchipelago,
a the"race"by exploringan experienceofalterity
aterofcolonialencounter
seemfarawayfromtheMediterranean
whichmayatfirst
But I shouldliketo framethatdiscussionby briefly
worldof Othello.
considering
someofthewaysin whichthistragedy
perplexesthenotionsofethnicand national identity
thatitssubtitleso casuallyinvokes.
In an essay thatprovidesa usefulcorrective
to anachronistically
postcolonial
race
in
Bartels
has
stressedtheideologicalopenof
Othello,
Emily
understandings
ness oftheplay'streatment
ofhumandifference,
arguingthat(exceptin theeyes
of Iago and thosehe manipulates)"Othello is, as the subtitleannounces,'the
Moor ofVenice' ... neitheran alienatednor an assimilatedsubject,but a figure
definedby two worlds,a figure(likeMarlowe'sJew of Malta) whose ethnicity
fortunate
interests
another,compatibly"-the
posoccupiesone slot,professional
But the invocationof
sessor,then,of "a dual, ratherthan divided,identity."3
ITHINK

Earlier versionsof this paper were presentedat the 1997 South AtlanticModern Language
Associationconferencein Atlanta,at the Folger ShakespeareLibrary'sMidday Colloquium, at
MuhlenbergCollege,and to membersof theGraduateSeminarat TrinityCollege,Cambridge.I am
commentsand suggestions.
to all fouraudiencesfortheirconstructive
grateful
1
a contextual
(Cambridge:CambridgeUP, 1994), 70.
history
VirginiaMason Vaughan,Othello:
2
Economies
inEarlyModern
See, forexample,KimF. Hall, Things
ofRaceandGender
ofDarkness:
England
(Ithaca,NY, and London: CornellUP, 1995); Margo Hendricks,"Civility,Barbarism,and Aphra
and LyndaBoose, "'The Gettingofa LawfulRace': Racialdiscoursein early
Behn's TheWidow
Ranter,"
and Writg
modernEnglandand theunrepresentable
blackwoman,"bothin Women,
"Race,"
ing theEarly
Modern
Period,
Margo Hendricksand PatriciaParker,eds. (Londonand New York:Routledge,1994),
has become so extensiveas to
of race in Othiello
225-39 and 35-54. The literature
on thetreatment
but a convenient
makefullcitationimpossible,
summarywillbe foundin Vaughan,51-70.
3 EmilyC. Bartels,"Othello
3rd
WlliamandMaryQOarterly,
and Africa:Postcolonialism
Reconsidered,"
ser.,54 (1997): 45-64, esp. 61-62, emphasisadded.

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362

SHAKESPEARE QUARTERLY

Barabas as a paralleltypeofcomfortably
seemssomething
hyphenated
hybridity
of a give-awayhere.One has onlyto thinkof theextremeanxietiessurrounding
thequestionof whatit meantto belongto, say,the"Old English"of Irelandto
recallhow easilydual identity
could be interpreted
as sinisterdoublenessor selfcontradiction:
fromthe viewpointof "New English"settlerslike Spenser,the
adoptionofIrishcustomsand speechby theOld EnglishdescendantsofNorman
The
conquerorscould signalonlya treacherous
repudiationof theirbirthright.4
unease of hybridity
(whetherelectiveor enforced),in a worldwherethehybrid
was alwaysliableto be construedas prodigiousor monstrous,
is apparentin the
ambivalentethnographic
discourseof one of Shakespeare'sprincipalsourcesfor
Othello-the
Historie
written
ofAfrica,
Geographical
by theGranada-bornMoorJohn
Leo Africanus.In a somewhatpoignantmoment,this native informantand
Christianconverso,
forwhomAfricanpeoplesareboth"them"and "us,"describes
his contradictory
himselfas an "amphibian,"5
positionas
thereby
acknowledging
a denizenofbothMuslimand Christianworlds,as bothAfricanand European,
humanistscholarand "barbarian."It is a positionthatcan seem inscribedin
an adoptedLatin name equallysuggestiveof dedicatedpapal allegianceand an
unreconstructed
In much the same way,Othello'sAfricais at
bestialferocity.6
once theplace thatauthenticates
hisbirth"frommenofroyalsiege"(1.2.22) and
a wildernessofPlinianmonstrosities,
and menwhoseheads /
of "Anthropophagi,
Do growbeneaththeirshoulders"(1.3.145-46).7One wayofdescribing
theaction
ofhis tragedyis in termsof theprocessby whichIago progressively
prisesopen
thecontradictions
in an oxymoronic
subtitlethatmarkstheuneasytranslation
of
"erringBarbarian"into "civilmonster"(1.3.356; 4.1.64)-the process(to put it
anotherway) by which he successfullyessentializesor "racializes"Othello's
difference.
WhenRoderigo,underIago's tutelage,
and
dismissesOthelloas "an extravagant
/Of hereand everywhere"
(1.1.134-35),he issuesa fundamenwheelingstranger
talchallengeto thesyntaxofidentity
inscribedin theplay'ssubtitle,
"The Moor of
To be a Moor,he insists,is to be a fundamentally
Venice."8
dislocatedcreature,
a
denizen
of
that
known
as
or
moor-"an
wilderness,
heath,
wandering
un-place
erring
4 See,
andIreland:AnInterdisciplinary
Perspective
(Cork: Cork UP,
e.g.,PatriciaCoughlan,ed., Spenser
andIdentity
Culture
Spenser:
Colonialism,
1989); WillyMaley, Salvaging
(New York:St. Martin'sPress,
inIreland(Cambridge:CambridgeUP,
Spense;and thecrisis
1997); Christopher
Highley,Shakespeare,
1997); and Michael Neill, "BrokenEnglishand BrokenIrish:Nation,Language,and the Optic of
Powerin Shakespeare'sHistories,"Shakespeare
45 (1994): 1-32.
Quarterly
5JohnLeo, A Geographical
trans.JohnPory(London,1600),41-42, 41, and 43.
Historie
ofAfiica,
6 In his FirstBook, for
ofthevicesto which"they"are subexample,Leo breaksoffhis description
to theseOthersas one whose liferesemblesthatof
ject in orderto acknowledgehis own relationship
the strangefish-bird
he calls "Amphibia":"Neitheram I ignorant,how much mine owne creditis
impeached,whenI myselfewriteso homelyofAfrica,vntowhichcountrieI standindebtedbothfor
mybirth,and also forthebestpartofmyeducation.... Formineownepart,whenI hearetheAfricans
euill spoken of,I will affirme
my selfeto be one of Granada: and when I perceiuethe nationof
Granada to be discommended,
thenwill I professmy selfeto be an African"(42-44). For a more
extendedtreatment
of Leo's ambivalenceabout his identity,
see EmilyC. Bartels,"MakingMore of
the Moor: Aaron, Othello,and RenaissanceRefashionings
of Race," SQ.41 (1990): 433-54, esp.
436-38.
7 CitationsfollowtheArdenShakespeareOthello,
ed. E.AJ. Honigmann(London:Thomas Nelson,
ofall otherShakespeareplaysfollowWilliam
TheComplete
ed. Stanley
Shakespeare,
Works,
1997); citations
Wellsand GaryTaylor(Oxford:ClarendonPress,1986).
8 The
of thesubtitleis indicatedby theremarkable
withwhich(in contrast
significance
consistency
to the generallyfluidtreatment
of nomenclature
in the period) it is repeatedfromthe Stationers'
Registerentryto theQuarto and Folio and theotherearlytextsderivingfromthem.

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OTHELLO AND EARLY MODERN CONSTRUCTIONS OF DIFFERENCE

363

Barbarian"in thepunningphrasewithwhichIago assimilates

Barbaryto thenotocondition
of
From
barbarism.
then,to be a
riouslyvagrant
Roderigo'sperspective,
"Moor of Venice"is to represent
a principleof wild disorderlodgedin thevery
heartofmetropolitan
civilization-to
a
be, in anotherofIago's violentoxymorons,
kindof"civilmonster."
The innocent-seeming
thatyokesMoorishoripreposition
is thusa siteofviolentcontradiction.9
Yettheofin "Moor
ginto Venetianidentity
ofVenice"is easilypassed overas a mereinstrument
of descriptive
amplification,
as unproblematic
in itsimplications
as thesimilarly
deployedlocativesin,say,7lmon
ofAthens,
TheTwoGentleman
of Verona-or,
of Venice,
theplaythat
indeed,TheMerchant
is in somerespectsOthello's
in
comic
canon.
To rememcounterpart Shakespeare's
ber TheMerchant
in thiscontext,
however,is to recallthetellingly
ofVenice
ambiguous description
oftheplayin theStationers'
"a booke oftheMarchaunte
Register,
ofVenyce,or otherwise
calledtheJewofVenyce,"
and hencetobe confronted
with
thetroubling
of
is
the
Portia's
"Which
Merchant
and
here,
implications
question,
whichtheJew?"(4.1.171)-a questionthatdirectsus towarda readingofthatplay
in whichissuesofplaceand identity,
ofthe"native"and the"stranger,"
becomeso
vexedas to seriouslydestabilize
theinnocent-seeming
ofthattiesbothShylockand
Antonioto theirnativecity.The effect
is to sendus further
backtoMarlowe'ssatiric deconstruction
in TheJewofMalta.As thealienatedrepof geographic
identity
resentative
of"a scatter'dNation"(1.1.121),Barabasis notso muchofMalta as in
are located"in" Bairseth,
it-justas his vauntedcolleaguesin internationalJewry
and
to
not
Portugal,
France.1l
Italy,
allegiance only "thoseofMalta"(1.143)
Scorning
butevento his ownprofessed"Countreymen"
who share
(1. 159), thefellowJews
his persecution,
Barabas takes sardonicpleasurein representing
himselfas an
whose politicschoolingin Machiavelli'sFlorencehas
archetypalcosmopolitan,
him
to
(2.3.187) as it
helped
manipulate"thewarres'twixtFranceand Genmanie"
now enableshimto exploittheconflict
betweenTurkand Christian.
Yetthepseudo-cathartic
withitsludicrously
actionof his "tragedy,"
to purge
repeatedefforts
him fromthecostivebody politic,suggestsa moreorganicrelationship
between
thisoutsiderand "thoseofMalta"thaneitherBarabasor his Christianpersecutors
wouldacknowledge.
Of coursetheparticularfearthatattachesto the demonJewin earlymodern
thealien
Europeanculturehas to do withhisinsidiousroleas thehiddenstranger,
whoseotherness
is themorethreatening
foritsguiseofsemblance.This was a culturewhose own expansionism,
ironicallyenough,generatedfearsof a hungrily
fantasiesof danabsorptiveothernesswhichwere expressedin complementary
and cannibalistic
desire;in itsfictions
gerousmiscegenation,
degeneration,
theJew
thedeepestthreatofall-thatofa secret
difference
represents
masqueradingas like9The same
pointis madebyPeterSwaab in hisprogramnotesfortherecentRoyalNationalTheatre
productionof Othello:
"Shakespeare'stitlehas theforceofa paradox.How farcan 'theMoor' reallybe
'of' Venice?Like Marlowe'sJewofMalta,Othellois a residentwho remainsin important
waysalien;
likeShakespeare'sTimon of Athens,his downfallinvolvestoo muchtrusting
thata culturecan give
himan identity;
and as witha historicalfiguresuch as LawrenceofArabia,theword'of' concealsa
vulnerablefantasyofpowerin distantlands. 'The Moor ofVenice'is a mixedmarriageof a phrase"
(quotedfromtheprogramfortherunat theBrooklynAcademyofMusic,8-11 April1998; thisproductionwas firststagedat theSalzburgFestivalon 22 August1997 and subsequently
at theLyttelton
Theatrein London).
10"There's .. .Obedin Bairseth,
in Portugall,
Nones
/My selfein Malta,some in Italy,I Many in France,
and wealthyeveryone" (1.1.125-27); citationsof Marlowe followiTe Complete
Works
ofClristopher
ed. FredsonBowers,2d ed., 2 vols. (Cambridge:CambridgeUP, 1981), 1:253-335, esp.
Marlowe,
1:267-68.

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364

SHAKESPEARE QUARTERLY

thesurreptitious
fromwithin.11
erosionofidentity
ness,whosepresencethreatens
One reasonwhy Shylockremainssuch a deeplytroubling
figureat the end of
is theunspokenpossibility
thathis forcibleconversion(likethatofJews
Merchant
in sixteenth-century
will
the veryuncertainty
it is
Spain)
only institutionalize
designedto efface.Jessica'smarriageto Lorenzo-albeitthatmarriagein some
on thewife-contains
thesame latentthreat;
senseconfersthehusband'sidentity
hence,perhaps,theuneasysilencethatsurroundsherin theconcludingmoments
of theplay.
The greatadvantageofMoors overJews-orso itmightseemto earlymodern
blackEuropeans-was thattheycould not so easilydisguisetheirdifference:12
"scornsto bear anotherhue" (4.2.99);
ness (as Aaronboasts in TitusAndronicus)
and the ultimatelyreassuringthingabout George Best's famousstoryof the
seems
Englishmotherwho gave birthto a blackbabyis thatthetaintof alterity
compelledby natureto discoveritself-"theblacke More" as Scriptureand
proverbinsisted,"[cannot]change his skin [any more than] the leopard his
spottes,"for it was impossible"to wash the Ethiop white."13Yet, of course,
Aaron'sboast is undercutby his own schemeto substitute
theimpeccablywhite
of his "countryman"
MuliteusforTamora's black infant,and-as the
offspring
and convert(marranos)
parallelcampaignsofpersecutionagainstconvertedJews
ed Moors (moriscos)
were calculated to demonstrate14-itturns out that
Moorishnesswas almostas capable as Jewishnessof concealingits aggressive
Othernesswithinthebody of theSame. This was thecase partlybecause of the
notoriousindeterminacy
of thetermMooritself:insofaras itwas a termofracial
it
refer
to theBerber-Arab
could
quitespecifically
description,
people of thepart
ofNorthAfricathenrathervaguelydenominatedas "Morocco,""Mauritania,"
or
of thewhole North
"Barbary";or it could be used to embracethe inhabitants
Africanlittoral;or it mightbe extendedto referto Africansgenerally(whether
"white,""black,"or "tawny"Moors); or,by an even morepromiscuousextension,it mightbe applied (like "Indian")to almostany darker-skinned
peopleseven, on occasion,those of the New World.15Consequentlywhen Marlowe's
Valdesrefersto thesupineobedienceof "IndianMoores"
to "theirSpanishLords"
ll Foran outstanding
in earlymodernculture,
accountoftheculturalfantasies
see
surroundingJews
and thie
JamesS. Shapiro,Shiakespeare
Jews(New York:Columbia UP, 1996), esp. 167-94. See also
AvrahamOz, TheYokeofLove:Projphetic
RiddlesinThe MerchantofVenice(Newark:U ofDelawareP,
1995), 93-133, esp. 100-103.
12Fortheresemblances
betweenMoor andJewas figures
ofalterity,
see LeslieA. Fiedler,iTheStranger
in Shakespeare
(New York:Steinand Day, 1972), 103-6 and 195-96. Cf. Shapiro,171-72,on Jewish
"blackness."
13:23.This version,fromthe1560 Geneva
to thefigure
Bible,givesparticular
'3Jeremiah
prominence
"The blackeMore" as a titleat thehead of thecolumn.On thehistoryof thismotifin litby printing
eratureand in thevisualarts,seeJeanMichelMassing,"FromGreekProverbto Soap Advert:Washing
theEthiopian,"
andCo-rtauld
Institutes
58 (1995): 180-201; and KarenNewman,
oft/eWarbulg
Journal
"'AndwashtheEthiopwhite':femininity
and themonstrous
in Othello"
in Shakespeare
Thetext
Reproduced:
inhistoay
andideology,Jean
Howardand MarionO'Connor,eds. (London:Methuen,1987),143-62. For
Best'sstory,see RichardHakluyt,Tle Principal
oft/eEnglish
T-f'atuesandDiscoveries
Voyages
.Javigations
Nation(1589), 12 vols. (Glasgow:James
MacLehose and Sons,1903-05),7:263-64.
14On theforcible
conversionof theSpanishMoors and thesuspicionto whichitparadoxicallyrenderedthemvulnerable,
see HenryCharlesLea,
thereby
exposingthemto themaliceoftheInquisition,
TheMoriscos
andExpulsion
Conversion
CT: GreenwoodPress,1968). The near
ofSpain:T'heir
(Westport,
desangre
ofblood) in Spainissueddirectparanoiathatinspiredtheofficial
campaignforlimpieza
(purity
ly fromthisfearof thehiddenstranger
masqueradingas one of thefamiliar.
15 See also
Bartels,"MakingMore of theMoor,"434.

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OTHELLO AND EARLY MODERN CONSTRUCTIONS OF DIFFERENCE

365

(Faustus,
1.1.148),16it is usuallyassumedthatthetwotermsare simplymutually
and thatthemagicianmeanssomething
like"duskyNew
intensifying
synonyms,
Worldnatives."But Moorcould oftenbe deployed(in a fashionperhapsinflectas a religious
ed, even fortheEnglish,by memoriesof the SpanishReconquista)
category.Thus Muslims on the Indian subcontinentwere habituallycalled
to describe
"Moors,"and thesame termis used in East India Companyliterature
the Muslim inhabitantsof SoutheastAsia, whethertheybe Arab or Indian
traders,or indigenousMalays. So Valdes's "IndianMoores" could equallywell
be MuslimsfromtheSpanish-controlled
PortugueseEast Indies.In suchcontexts
it is simplyimpossibleto be surewhetherMooris a description
of color or relior
some
the
and
in
the
of
intoxicated
exoticismof
two,
gion
vague amalgam
Marloviangeography,
suchdiscriminations
hardlymatter.
But in less fantastical
contextstheycould mattera greatdeal-as, forexample,
when renegadeEuropeansin theEast Indies weresaid to "turnMoor,"just as
in theMediterraneantheyweremoreusuallysaid to "turnTurk."17
In travelliteratureof the period these two expressionsare sometimesinterchangeable,
"Turk"being used even in descriptionsof the East Indies as a loosely generic
descriptionof the people otherwisecalled "Islams" or "Mahomettans."The
Dutch voyager William Cornelison Schouten, for example, describes an
encounterwiththemen of Tidore, "some [ofwhom] . . . had Wreathesabout
theirheads,whichtheysay wereTurkesor Moores in Religion."18
Turkishness
or Moorishnesshereis a matterofreligiousallegiance,renderedvisible(likethe
malignancyof Othello's "turbannedTurk" [5.2.351]) in details of costume.
Thus when Othello,theMoor turnedChristian,accuses his brawlingVenetian
Turk... " (2.3.166),his hyperbolehas a disturbing
followersof "turn[ing]
irony
that(as criticsnow routinely
observe)resonateswitha suicidein Act5 thattakes
theformof a re-enactedslaughterof theTurk.Moreover,because thereligious
and racial parametersof Moorishnesswere seldom entirelydistinct,the exact
implicationsof the metamorphoseswherebyChristians"turnedMoor" and
Moors "turnedChristian"were disturbingly
blurred.If a Christianturned
Moor, did he in some sense "blacken"himself?If a Moor "turnedChristian,"
did he therebycease in some important
senseto be a Moor? Ifhe did not,would
residualMoorishnessturnout to be a matterofblood,color,or faith?19
It is true
thatthepurelyreligiousconnotations
of "Christian"producea significant
asymmetrybetween"turningChristian"and "turningTurk (or Moor)," makingit
seem as thoughthe "racial"componentof identitycan be transformed
in only
one direction;yetthesequestionswere difficult
to answerwithany assurance,
so longas thelanguageofdifference
remainedas shifting
and uncertainas itwas
beforethe emergenceof themoderndiscoursesof race and color.The history
of the simultaneous(and largelyinseparable)campaignsforpurityof blood
and purityof religionin Spain are onlyextremesymptomsof
desangre)
(limpieza
a largerEuropean difficulty
thatthreatenedto turna phrasesuch as "Moor of
16 The

phraseis commonto bothA and B texts;see Bowers,ed., 2:165.

usefulaccountof the significance
of "turningTurk" in thisperiod,see DanielJ. Vitkus,
The Conversionand Damnationof theMoor,"SQ48 (1997): 145-76.
"TurningTurkin Otiello:
18 William CornelisonSchoutenof
Home, "Voyageof 1615-17" in Samuel Purchas,Hakluytus
orPurclas
Posthumus
HisPigl'es (1625),20 vols.(Glasgow:James
MacLehoseandSons,1905-07),2:232-84,
esp. 280.
19Cf. Shapiroon theambiguities
"whathappenedto racialothernesswhenJews]consurrounding
verted"(170).
17 For a

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366

SHAKESPEAREQUARTERLY

Venice"intoa hopelessoxymoron.20
That,indeed,is whatRichardBromeclearMoore
ly feltit to be when he dubbed his comedyof senilejealousy TheEnglish
of a "Masque of Blackamoors"
(1637). Brome'splot turnson theperformance
in
(a self-conscious
travestyof his old masterBenJonson'sMasqueofBlackness),
the course of which it is prophesiedthat the princessof Ethiopia will be
blanchedby marriageto an Englishman.But in theplayproper,metamorphosis
neveramountsto anythingmore than the sheddingof the heroine'sblackface
disguise.And just as (in the words of the insetmasque) "'tis no betterthena
Prodigee/ To haue white childrenin a black Contree" (4.4.22-23),21so it
appearsthattherecan be no such thingin natureas an "EnglishMoor."
cultural
Of coursetheEnglish(likeotherEuropeans)broughtsome important
their
encounters
with
ideas
about
to
baggage
foreignpeoples:
genealogy,about
thebiblicalseparationof humankind,and about themoralsymbolismof color,
difference.
all ofwhichpushedthemtowardan essentialist
readingofphenotypic
Yet,as Karen Ordahl Kuppermanhas recentlyargued,because theywere precreatedcategories,"
disposedto think"in termsof sociallyor culturally
treating
most"differences
betweenpeople ... [as] 'accidental'. . . [consequencesof] environmentor experience,"theyhad not yet learnedto "dividehumankindinto
As withthedisdemarcatedby visibledistinctions."22
broad fixedclassifications
dainfulattitudesof theEnglishtowardtheIrish-a people whose physicalsimilaritiesto theEnglishwereconveniently
obscuredby theirculturaldifferencescategoriessuch as "civil"and "barbarous,""naked"and "clothed"wereoftenof
in establishing
theboundariesof othernessthanthemarkfarmoresignificance
In the latersixteenthcentury,however,the
ers of mere biologicaldiversity.23
rapidexpansionofnationalhorizonsthroughexplorationand tradeincreasingly
facedtheEnglishwithforeigncultureswhose sophisticated
ways of liferesisted
had tradiintotheculturalcategoriesby whichthethreatof alterity
assimilation
been
contained.
tionally
In theearlypartoftheperiod,theEnglishoftenapproachedthesepeopleswith
a certainethnographicobjectivity.
Much of the travelliteraturecollectedby
of color,
Hakluytis quite assiduous in cataloguingthe various "distinction[s]
and variNation,language[,]... condition"thatdividethepeoplesoftheearth;24
and (above all)
ationsof dress,weapons,manners,custom,social organization,
ofskinand feature.
as differences
But as we
religionfigureat leastas prominently
moveintotheseventeenth
thepressureofencounterwithso manyunfacentury,
20

For a usefulaccountof thecomplexentanglement

of colorand religionin earlyIberianracism,
andMaryQuarterly,
3rd
seeJamesH. Sweet,"The IberianRootsofAmericanRacistThought,"William
ser.,54 (1997): 143-66; in thesameissue,see also RobinBlackburn,"The Old WorldBackgroundto
65-102, esp. 77-78. On theuncertaindenotationofMoorin theplay,see
EuropeanColonial Slavery,"
Vitkus:"Othello,thenobleMoor ofVenice,is ... notto be identified
witha specific,
accuhistorically
rateracialcategory;ratherhe is a hybridwho mightbe associated,in themindsofShakespeare'saudiIndianTurk,
ence,witha wholesetofrelatedterms-Moor,
Ottomite,
Saracen,
Mahometan,
Egyptian,
/udean,
all constructed
and positionedin oppositionto Christianfaithand virtue"(160). The opposition,
however,is neversimply
religiousor evencultural.
21QuotationsofRichardBrome'sTheEnglish
Mooreare fromTheEnglish
Moore;orTheMock-Marriage,
ed. SaraJayneSteen(Columbia:U ofMissouriP, 1983).
22 Karen Ordahl
of Civility:English Reading of AmericanSelfKupperman,"Presentment
Presentation
in the Early Years of Colonization,"William
and MaryQuarterly,
3rd ser.,54 (1997):
193-228, esp. 193.
23 See
Neill,"BrokenEnglishand BrokenIrish,"6n.
24
SamuelPurchas,PurcliasHis Pilgrimage
orRelations
and theReligions
Observed
inAll Ages
oftheWorld
(London,1613),546.

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OTHELLO AND EARLY MODERN CONSTRUCTIONS OF DIFFERENCE

367

ofalterity
miliarpeoplesbeginsto shiftdefinitions
awayfromthedominantparaitis possibleto see coloremerging
digmofculture.In anothertellingasymmetry,
as themostimportant
criterion
fordefining
evenas nation
becomesthe
otherness,
The gradationsof color appear to cause significant
key termof sefdefinition.25
difficulties
fortheDutch traveler
Van Linschoten,forexample,in his influential
in 1598), as he
(translatedand publishedwithHakluyt'sendorsement
Voyages
to
define
the
nature of the
(in
struggles sometimes-contradictory
language)
differences
betweenthe variousAsian peoples he encountered.
The people of
Ormuzare "whitelikethePersians,"thoseof Bengal "somewhatwhiterthenthe
Chingalas";"The people of Aracan,Pegu,and Sian are . . . muchlike thoseof
China, onelyone difference
theyhaue, whichis, thattheyare somewhatwhiter
thenthe Bengalon,and somewhatbrownerthenthe men of China"; in China
itself,"Those thatdwellon theSea side ... are a peopleof a brownish
colour,like
thewhite
Moores in Africaand Barbaria,and partoftheSpaniards,butthosethat
dwellwithintheland,areforcolorlikeJfetherlanders
Yet"[t]hereare
& highDutches."
while"[i]nthelandelyingwestwardfrom
manyamongthemthatare deaneblacke"
China, theysay thereare whitepeople,and theland calledCathaia,where(as it
is thought)are manyChristians."26
The East Indian archipelagoposed particularproblemsof definition
sincethe
islandswerethemselves
a
cultural
as
a
transformation,
militant,
undergoing rapid
Islamprogressively
Hindu and surviving
expansionist
displacedwell-established
Buddhistand animistpractices.The proliferation
of religious,cultural,and ethnic differences
musthave been bafflingto the Englishnewcomers,subjecting
theiravailabledefinitions
to peculiarstrains.The variousindigenouspeoplesand
therivalgroupsof traderswho clusteredin theirtownscould of coursebe classifiedaccordingto thegeographicalor politicalentitiesto whichtheybelonged
as 'Javans,Chineses,Men ofPegu,Bandaneses,"and so forth;or theymightbe
categorizedaccordingto religionas "ethnicks,"
"pagans,"or "Moors"; or they
of theIndian subcontinent,
as
mightbe grouped,togetherwiththeinhabitants
"Indians"or "East Indians" (in a regionaldesignationthattheuncertainties
of
had
with
of
confused
differences
compost-Columbiangeography permanently
plexion). What preciselythis meant in termsof color was a littleconfused:
(1578),forexample,had
ofthelatevoyages
ofdiscouerie
GeorgeBest'sA TrveDiscovrse
describedEast Indians,alongwithAmerican"Indians,"as being"notblacke,but
to
white,"thoughthis was alteredin Hakluyt'sversionof the TrueDiscovrse
a
that
and
white,"27
distinction
other
observers
with
"tauney
typicallyaligned
(in thewordsofThomas Cavendish)that"althoughthemen
gender,remarking
bee tawnieof colour . . . yet theirwomenbe faireof complexion"-something
of clothingand exposureto thesun.28In thefamilto theeffects
theyattributed
25 In his
"The Sons of Noah and the Construction
of Ethnicand Geographical
richlyinformative
Identities
in theMedievaland EarlyModernPeriods"(William
andMa7yQuarterly,
3rd ser.,54 [1997]:
of Africanpeoplesbetween
103-42) BenjaminBraude discernsan analogousshiftin the treatment
1589 and 1625, as thebiblicalCurse of Ham was increasingly
as an explanationofboth
interpreted
colorand moralcharacter:"slavery,"
he argues,"had startedto makeit credible"(138).
IohnHvighenVanLinschoten
hisDiscours
into
26JohnHuighenVan Linschoten,
ofVoyages
yeEaste& West
Indies(London,1598), 14, 28, 29, 40, and 37.
27 GeorgeBest,A Trve
Discovrse
the
ofthelatevoyages
ofdiscouerie,for
ofa passagetoCathaya,
finding
bythe
Jforthwest
(London,1578),28; citedin AldenT. Vaughanand VirginiaMason Vaughan,"BeforeOthello:
ElizabethanRepresentations
of Sub-SaharanAfricans,"
3rd ser.,54 (1997):
William
andMaryQuarterly,
19-44, esp. 27; cf.Kupperman,207-8 and 226-27.
28 Thomas Cavendishin
2:181.
Purchas,Haklhytus
Posthumus,

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368

SHAKESPEAREQUARTERLY

iar (and deeply ambiguous)troperoutinelyemployedin both West and East

Indian contexts,thehue of thenativesis figuredas "thesun's livery."So we are
toldofPrincessQuisara in Fletcher'sTheIslandPrincess
(1621) that"The verySun
I thinke,affects
hersweetnesse,
/And daresnotas he does to all else,dyeit/Into
his taunyLivery"(1.1.60-62).29The princess'swhitenessis the signof inward
"sweetnesse"thatwillbe expressedin theconversionto Christianity
thataccompaniesherbetrothalto thePortugueseheroArmusiaat theend of theplay.The
issue of color cannotbe entirelyerased,however;and the cynicalPynierois
allowed to suggestthat there is somethingunnaturalabout the princess's
"wear[ing]her complexionin a case,"because if exposed to the sun's kisses,it
would so readilyconvertto a duskyhue: "lethimbutlikeit/A week or two,or
three,she would look like a Lion" (11.63-64). East Indian tawniness(whether
actualor,likeQuisara's,merelypotential)mayconstitute
an accidentof culture
and geography,
butitis also a kindof servile"Livery,"
thebadge of allegianceto
thefalsereligionto whichtheprincessand her countrymen
are in thrall.30
And
it resonatesdangerouslywith those contemporary
discoursesthatinterpreted
dark skin (in both Africanand West Indian contexts)as a sign of natural
servitude.31
One way of dealingwith the taxonomiccomplicationsexemplifiedin Van
in TheIslandPrincess
Linschotenand reflected
was to developa notionofdifference
thatwouldeffectually
obscuretheconfusing
variationsofhue thatVan Linschoten
in bothEuropeanand non-European
a
acknowledges
populationsby establishing
moreabsolutedivisionbetween"them"and "us".Duringthefirstthreedecadesof
the seventeenth
about thenatureof humandifference
are
uncertainties
century,
flattened
out
in
the
of
East
Indian
the
literature
as
peoplesof
gradually
voyaging,
theregionbeginto be categorized,
to
the
of
crudest
distinction
color,as
according
"black"-a designationthat serves solely to distinguishthem from "white"
Europeans.32
This idea ofEuropeannessas a formofgroupidentity
delimited
by colorseems
itselftohavebeen something
new.In a probinganalysis,"'The Getting
ofa Lawful
race,"' Lynda Boose has posed the question whetherEnglish notions of
forexample,wereshapedbyanything
"themodemsense
Moorishness,
resembling
ofsomedefinitively
racialshared'Europeanness'?Or was thedifference
betweena
'Moor' and someonewe would call a 'European'conceptually
organizedaround
thereligio-political
geographyof Christianvs. Muslimmorethanarounda geogIn thisregard,itmightseemsignificant
thattheOxford
raphyofskincolor?"33
English
29
Te IslandPrincess
in TheDramatic
intheBeaumont
Works
andFletcher
ed. Fredson
Canon,
JohnFletcher,
Bowers, 10 vols. (Cambridge:CambridgeUP, 1966-96), 5:539-642. For Americanexamplesof
thistrope,see Kupperman,207.
descriptions
featuring
30 In a deliberate
confusionofreality,
theIslamicallegianceoftheactualMoluccansis assimilated
in
theplaywithidolatrythroughthedisguiseadoptedby thevillainousGovernorofTernata,who is at
once a (presumably
Priest"
Mahometan)"Moore
(4.1. s.d.) and thefalseprophetof"theSun and Moon"
of mercantilecolonialism,see
(4.5.70). For more detaileddiscussionof thisplay as an instrument
ShankarRaman,"Imaginary
Islands:StagingtheEast,"Renaissance
Draman.s. 26 (1995): 131-61; and
my essay "'Materiallflames':The Space of MercantileFantasyinJohnFletcher'sTheIslandPrincess"
in Renaissance
Drama.
forthcoming
31 See
Sweet,146-47,149, 155-56, and 166.
32
See, e.g.,"TheJournallofMasterNathanielCourthop"in Purchas,Hakluytus
Posthumus,
5:86-125,
ofCourthop'sjournalby RobertHayes in Purchas,Hakluytus
Posthumus,
esp. 109. Cf. thecontinuation
5:126-37, esp. 126 and 135; and "An Answereto the HollandersDeclaration. . ." in Purchas,
Posthumus,
5:155-74, esp. 170.
Hakluytus
33 Boose in Hendricksand
Parker,eds.,306n.

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OTHELLO AND EARLY MODERN CONSTRUCTIONS OF DIFFERENCE

369

to distinguish
theinhabitants
earliestciteduse of European
of Europe
Dictionary's
from "Indians" is in Massinger's 'he CityMadam (1632)-"You are learn'd
Europeans,and we worse/Than ignorantAmericans"(3.3.127-28);34forin this
case thegroundsofdistinction
are clearlyculturaland religiousratherthanracial.
Moreover,the dictionaryoffersno exampleof the word as a generictermfor
"white"peoplebefore1696.Butin factSamuelPurchashad usedEuropean
todefine
a community
of coloras earlyas 1613,when,in describing
thedividedcondition
of postlapsarianhumankind,he contrasted"the tawneyMoore, black Negro,
duskieLibyan,ash-coloredIndian,oliue-colored
American.... withthewhiter
In
unitedby a commonwhitePurchas's
are
European."35
taxonomyEuropeans
ness,whileotherpeoplesare dividedby differing
degreesof color,even as those
colorstakentogether
associatethemin a commonnon-Europeanness.
It is important
to recognize,I think,thatthisway of discriminating
othernessin
motivated
whatever
itsultimate
have
been-was
not
itself
effects
byan aggresmay
Posthumus
sive colonialism.On thecontrary,
as thesectionof Purchas'sHakluytus
devotedto East Indianvoyagingsuggests,it seemsto have arisenfromtheproembattled
foundsenseofinsecurity
experienced
by theincreasingly
Englishtradin
the
an
felt
as
a
ingcommunity
region, insecurity
disorienting
challengeto their
own identity.
IncludedamongPurchas'sdocumentsis EdmundScott'sAn Exact
a narrative
Discourse
andCeremonies
Religion
Fashions,
oftheEastIndians,
oftheSubtilties,
thatoffers
a particularly
revealingglimpseoftheprocessesbywhichan acuteanxand community
oftheirenterprise
helpedto shapean
ietyaboutthesustainability
a
with
of
In
Exact
text
almost
color.36
An
Discourse,
ideology
exactlycontemporary
and demonstration
ofvariouskindsofdifference-in
thenegotiation
Othello,
rank,
of theidentity
of thevulnation,and color-becomecrucialto thepreservation
nerableenclavethatScottcalls "theEnglishnationat Bantan."37
At theheartofScott'snarrative,
is an acuteanxiety
as I have arguedelsewhere,
about thethreatto Englishidentity
experiencedby themercantile
representatives
of theEast India
of "theEnglishnation"in thenewlyestablishedtradingfactory
initially
by theperplexing
Companyat BantaminJava.This threatwas triggered
that
their
Dutch rivals
to
in
Purchas's
elsewhere
documents)
(referred
discovery
had been passingthemselvesoffas English:"thecommonpeople knew us not
fromthe Hollanders,for both they and wee were called by the name of
Englishmen,by reason of their usurpingour name at their firstcoming
ofidentities
is registered
to trade."38
The potentialforviolencein sucha confusion
34
PhilipMassinger,TheCityMadam,ed. CyrusHoy (Lincoln:U of NebraskaP, 1964), 61. In this
episodeLuke Frugalsalutesthesupposed"Indians"oftheplay(infacta groupofdisguisedLondoners
led by his own brother)fortheirworshipofPlutus,God ofRiches.
35 Purchas,Purchas
moralizedconHis Pilgrimage,
546. On Purchas'sshifttowardan increasingly
struction
ofblacknessin his laterwriting,
see Braude,135-37.
36PublishedinLondon,theExactDiscourse
different
texts-the
survivesin twosignificantly
originalpambased on a separatemanuscript)
and annotatedversion(apparently
phletof 1606 and theabbreviated
The different
His Pilgrimage.
by
manuscript
originsofthetwoversionsaresuggested
publishedin Pirchas
citations
ofScottfollowthe1606 edition.
numerousminorvariants.Unlessotherwise
indicated,
cuts,also includesa numberof shortpassages
Purchas,whilehe acknowledgesmakingsignificant
of theDutch. At one point,it is true,he
missingfromthepamphlet,whichenhanceits vilification
claimsto have "mollified
theAuthorsstile,and leftoutsomeharshercensures"oftheHollanders(483,
blacken
marginalgloss);but thisdefensivetactic(likeothersin thecollection)servesonlyto further
theserivalsby implyingthatthereare evenworsethingsto be said.
37Scott,Alr. See also Michael Neill,
"PuttingHistoryto the Question:An Episode of Tortureat
25 (1995): 45-75.
BantaminJava,1604,"English
Renaissance
Literary
38

Scott, C2v.

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370

SHAKESPEARE QUARTERLY

in thequibblingchaptertitlethatPurchasadded to Scott'snarrative:"Differences
and
themselves
[i.e.,quarrels]betwixttheHollanders(stiling
English),theJavans,
otherthingsremarkable."
The problemwas an especiallyvexingone because the
with the
was partiallydependenton theirsense of affinity
Englishself-image
in
of
whom
Scott
writes:
wee
were
mortall
enemies
our
Dutch,
trade,in
"though
all othermatterswee werefriends,
and would haue liued and dyed one forthe
a display
other."39
But themerchants
wereable to overcomethisdifficulty
through
fromthe
of self-fashioning
whentheyresolvedto stagetheirdifference
pageantry
Dutch throughan improvisedAccessionDay triumph:marchingin elaborately
sinuouspatternsup and down theircompound,clad in theirbest finery,
with
thetinycompany("beingbutfourscarvesand hatbandsofred-and-white
taffeta,
teenein number")waved theirbannersof St. George,beat theirdrums,and dischargedvolumesof shotintotheair.This swaggering(ifundermanned)performanceofEnglishness
so impressedthenatives,accordingto Scott,thathe and his
companionsfeltempoweredto delivera briefdisquisitionon thelinguisticand
betweenDutch and English,therebyensuringthat this
politicaldistinctions
confusion
would
neverbe repeated.40
unhappy
But evenas Scott'sband succeededin shoringup theirsenseofnationaldistinctivenesson one front,
withdissolution
on another:forthis
theyfounditthreatened
crisisof identity
withtheDutch was quicklyfollowedby a secondin whichthe
weremuchless easy to defineand whosemenacetheEnglish
termsof difference
couldonlydisarmbyappealingto a rhetoric
ofcolor.This "Tragedie"(as Scottcalls
ofPegu"(i.e.,a man ofmixedracefromBurma)who,as a
it) concerned"a Mullato
resultofhis ambiguousroleas a servantin theEnglishtradingfactory,
was taken
foran Englishman.
The storybeginswithwhatwe mightnowreadas an explosion
ofracialresentment
on thepartofitsprotagonist.
witha secHavingbeendrinking
ond mulatto,"one ofhis countreymen"
who belongedto a visiting
Flemishvessel,
the"English"mulattobecameenragedwhentheFlemishprovostattackedhis fellow Peguanand beat himback onto theFlemishship.41"Seeinghis countryman
misused,and beingsomewhattickledin theheadewithwine" themulattoplanned
to "reuengehiscountryman's
A smallorgyofkillingensued:themulatquarrell."42
to soughtout and stabbedboth the Flemingand the othermulatto(whomhe
hostilewitness);he thentriedunsuccessfully
to kill
allegedlyfearedas a potentially
a Philippinoslave who accompaniedhis victims;and finally,"beingnuzled in
blood" as Scottputsit,and "meeting
witha pooreIauan... [he]stabdehimlikeforthekiller,
theFleminglivedlongenoughto give
wise."43
however,
Unfortunately
ofhisassailant;and themulatto,
somecluesas to theidentity
incriminated
byinconsistenciesin his own storyas well as by the testimony
of the slave,was at last
broughtto confessall threemurders.
Scott,who was now the seniorEast India Companyman in Bantam,found
himselftornbetweena righteousdesireto appease "thebloud ofthoseChristians
thatweremurthered"44
and a proprietorial
insistenceon his exclusiveclaimto
39Scott,H3r.
40
Scott,C2v
41 For Scottthewordmulatto
seemsto describeanypersonofpart-European
althoughthe
ethnicity;
termis nowadaysconsideredoffensive,
I have feltbound to replicateScott'susage,sincetheprotagonistofhis storyis identified
in no otherway.
42
Scott,DIv-D2r.
43Scott,D2r.
44

Scott,

_D3

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OTHELLOAND EARLYMODERN CONSTRUCTIONSOF DIFFERENCE

371

administer
He resistedbothwhathe
justiceto membersof his own community.
saw as extravagant
Javan demandsfor compensationand an arrogantDutch
insistencethathe hand over the killerfora lingeringdeath: they"sayinghee
shouldhaue thebones of his legs and armesbroken,and so he shouldlye and
dye,or else haue his feeteand hands cut off,and so lye and starueto death."45
Treatingtheissue as one of both personalpride ("I answered,thatit lay not in
themto put him to death,ifI listto saue him") and nationalprestige("foran
Englishmanscornesto giue place to Hollandersin any forrainecountrie"),he
roundlydeclaredthatthemurderer"shoulddye theordinarydeathof thecounScottmade himpromiseto dispatch
try,& no other."46
Hiringa local executioner,
themulattoas swiftly
and humanelyas possible,evenlendingthe"hangman"his
own well-sharpened
kris(shortsword),"whichwas veryseruiceableforsuch a
The choice of thisquintessentially
purpose."47
Malay (thoughEnglish-owned)
ofjudicial Englishnessseems fraughtwith
weapon to be the proxyinstrument
ironiesat least as complicatedas those that attendOthello's flourishing
of
steel
reassert
of
the
to
his
as
"Moor
Venice."
But
choice
Spanish
hybrididentity
had a certainappropriateness
to a situationin whichthecontradictions
ofmixed
became a sourceof significant
unease-an unease strikingly
I
illustrated,
identity
think,in Purchas's brutalabridgmentof this sectionof Scott's narrative.In
Purchasall but the bare detailsof the killingand of the murderer'sexecution
have been excised-reducingScott'scomplex"Tragedie"to a simplemonitory
accountof physical"Dangersbya Molato."48
There are numerousothercuts in
Purchas'sversionofthepamphlet,
butthisis theonlyone forwhichhe feelsconstrainedto apologize,in a marginalnote thatdisingenuously
pleads thedanger
ofprolixity.
to do withthe
No doubt Purchas'sanxiety,like Scott'sown, had everything
ambiguousstatusgivento the killerby the contradictory
identitythatthe text
ascribesto him-thatof a man "ofPegu"who is, at thesame time,"ourmulatto."
Scott'spossessivepronounmediatesas uneasilybetweenownership,
community,
and kinshipas the deeply equivocal "mine" that announcesProspero'sfinal
of Caliban. It is the same unstablepronounthatboth defines
acknowledgment
and maskstherelationship
ofShakespeare'smercenary
to theVenetian
"stranger"
state when "the Moor" is transformed
into "ournoble and valiant general"
(2.2.1-2). In Scottthe dangerousambiguityof the connectionthathis "our" at
once declaresand mystifies
becomes apparentat the point where the dying
is
said
to
have
claimed
that"an Englishman
had slainehim."A deputation
provost
of Dutch wentat once to theEnglishhouse to informScottthat"one of ourmen
had slaineone of theirs
The Dutch
. . . [and]theythoughtit was ourMulatto."49
hereis pointed:theycontriveto tainttheEnglishby associationwiththe
rhetoric
mulattokiller,who is denouncedas "one of ourmen,"whileholdingthemselves
alooffromtheirownmurderedmulatto,who is carefully
excludedfromtheoppositecategory,
"one of theirs."
thisunhappyconfusion
Subsequenteventsintensify
butalso provideScottwithan opportunity
to purgeitand to realignhis own peoHollanders.
ple withtheirfellowEuropeans,theoffended

45Scott,D4r.

46
Scott,D3V,D3r,and D4'.
47 Scott,D4V.
48

Posthumus,
Purchas,Hakluytus
2:461, marginalnote.
emphasisadded.

49 Scott,D2r,

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372

SHAKESPEAREQUARTERLY

When the mulattodeniesthe Dutch accusation,he is dispatched,along with

Scott'sdeputy,GabrielTowerson,to questionthe mortallywounded Fleming:
"whentheycame,theyasked himwho had hurthim,hee said an Englishman.
Maister iowerson
askedhimwhetheritwas a whiteman,or a blacke,... because
he namedstillan Englishman,wee werein some doubt:theFlemingbeingalso
in drinkesaid,a whiteman,thenpresently
hee said againe,itwas darke,hee knew
notwell,and so gaue up his life."50
Resonatingwiththesymbolismof Othello's
"Put out the light" soliloquy,darknesstemporarilyeffacesthe markersof
about thepassageis thealmost
difference
here;but whatis reallyextraordinary
casual way in whichtheEnglishseem to accede to themulatto'sinclusionin the
category"Englishman"-almostas iftherecouldbe sucha creatureas a "Mulatto
of kinshipwas perhapspartlyenabled
of England."This temporary
recognition
he was a Peguborne,yethe was a
statusas Christian-"though
by themurderer's
thatScottwas at charitable
Christian,& broughtvp among the Portingalls"-so
pains to have themurderer
broughtto repentancebeforehis death.The chosen
agentofreligiousinstruction,
fittingly
enough,was anotherhybridfigure-areneborne[who]belongedto theDutchships,and spakethe
gade Muslim,"an Arabian
convincedthemurdererof the
tonguemaruellouswell"; thisgo-between
Spanish
powerofGod's son "toredeemevs, and towash awayour sinnesweretheyneuer
so bloody."51
The inclusive"us" herebringsthereadermomentarily
close to the
when he imaginesa future
pietiesof Purchas'sclimacticvisionin thePilgrimage,
in whichthedividedbranchesofhumanity
willbe reunited,
"their
redemption
long
robes
madewhite
inthebloudoftheLambe. . . withoutany moredistinction
of color,
But theefficacy
of thisemulsifying
Nation,language,sexe,condition."52
mystery
momentofpenitence:it cannotaffectthedaybelongsonlyto theextratemporal
in a situationwhere any loss of distinction
to-daymanagementof difference
of "theEnglishnationat Bantan."Hence thenarrative
threatens
theelimination
now goes on to detachthecondemnedman fromtheEnglishcamp and to link
him,throughtheindeliblemarkofcolor,withtheproperdenizensofBantam,the
East Indian and Chinese,whose vicious and guileful"subtilties"
Scottfindsso
to
interests.
threatening English
rhetorical
sleight,themulattois firstkinnedwithhis own exeBy a convenient
cutioner.
Scottrecordswithsomesatisfaction
thehangman'spromiseto servethis
whose punishment
he
prisonerbetterthanhe had earlierserveda counterfeiter
theman protests,"he did not
grievouslybotched:"whenhe killedthe coyner,"
executehis own father."
Scottexplainsthisas a reference
to thecustomwhereby
"whena Iauan of anyaccountis put to death[,]. . . theirnearestofkindothexecute[thecommonexecutioner's]
and itis heldthegreatest
fauourtheycan
office,
do them."53
The executioner,
we can surmise,intendsa compliment
to Scottby
the
of
the
own
humblest
as
his
senior
But
kinsman.
identifying
"Englishmen"
Scott'sfailureto spellout themeaningofthehyperbolehas theeffect
ofstressing
the tie betweenthe headsmanand his victim,rhetorically
severingthe mulatto
fromtheEnglishcampand consigning
himto thecommunity
ofOthers.Butthen,
as thecondemnedman is led intothefieldsoutsidethetownofBantamto meet
his death,a largecrowdoftownspeople,
"bothIauansand Chyneeses,"
comes"flock50Scott,D2v.
51
52
53

Scott, D4r.

His Pilgrimage,
546.
Purchas,Purclase
Scott,D4v.

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OTHELLOAND EARLYMODERN CONSTRUCTIONSOF DIFFERENCE

373

ingamaine,"excitedbytherumor"thattherewas an Englishmanto be executed."

They are disconcerted
by theirsightof thevictim,however:"manywereblanke,
and wee mighthearethemtellone anotheritwas a blackman."Scottand hismen
which
seize theopportunity
to delivera secondlessonon difference
immediately
completesthe alienationof "our Mulatto":"wee told them,he was iustof their
own color and conditionand thatan Englishmanor whiteman would not doe
sucha bloodydeed."54At thismomenta commonblacknessis announcedas the
conditionofall who are notEnglishor white,regardless
ofwhetherthey
defining
are Chinese,Javan,men of mixedrace,or men of Pegu (groupswhose various
catalogued).By thesame token,
gradationsof colorare elsewherequitecarefully
themulatto'scrimebecomesa proofofhisracialdifference,
just as hiscoloris the
badge ofhis reprobatecondition.
throughthe sysSomethingverysimilar,it seems to me, happensin Othello
fromVenicethat
tematicblackeningof theMoor and thesymbolicdetachment
it involves.To begin with,Othello's blacknessseems to be an almostcasual
ofIago's improvisatory
maliceand of Roderigo'sand Brabantio'sgullibileffect
could even be underity.It is at best an accidentwhose superficial
significance
which
has
alerted
to
(in
us55)
by theaudience's
pinned ways
DympnaCallaghan
that
it
a
cosmetic
consciousness
is
illusion:
"Othello"
is, after
pleasurable
only
all, a whiteman; so his appearanceofblacknessis something
easilyannulledby
theduke's invocationofthatessentialwhitenessthatunitesall Christiansunder
theskin("yourson-in-law
is farmorefairthanblack" [1.3.291]).Yetby theend
of theplay,theVenetianworld-and the audience,too, iftheyare not carefulwillhave come to see it as thesignnotonlyofhis reprobateconditionbutofthe
irreduciblealteritythatthe languageof racial abuse insistsis inseparablefrom
it: "blackerdevil,""filthy
bargain,""gull... /As ignorantas dirt,""dullMoor"
(5.2.129, 153, 159-60, 223).56In thereadingof theMoor's body so successfulthe sustaining
ly propagatedby Iago, none of Othello's effortsto reinstitute
paradoxes of his mixed condition,as an "honorablemurderer"whose suicide
enactsand cancelsout thecontradictions
thathave been exposed
triumphantly
in the designation"Moor of Venice,"is sufficient
to overcomethe suggestion
thatsuch a creaturecan onlyconstitutea kind of "civilmonster."Othello'sreenactedkillingof the "circumciseddog" is also a re-enactment
of his original
one
whose
forces
him
to
"turn,and turn...
contradictory
apostasyby
position
/And turnagain" (4.1.253-54). But such desperateiterationis as hopelessas it
is compulsive.For,as the outcastconditionof Scott'smulattoimplies,while a
Moor mayturnChristian,he can never"turn"Venetian.Like themulatto'sthinOthello'soverdetermined
ly motivatedstabbingof his own countryman,
killing
of the "turbannedTurk" is on one level a demonstration
of his own essential
unkindness;on another,like the executioner'shyperbolickillingof "his own
father,"it enacts a violent re-absorptioninto the domain of the Othertherhetoricalestrangement
confirming
by whichtheVenetiansreturn"he that
was Othello" to the conditionof anonymous"Moor" in which he was first
54
Scott,D4V
55See DympnaCallaghan,"'Othellowas a whiteman': properties
of race on Shakespeare'sstage"
in Alteonative
Shakespeares
2, TerenceHawkes,ed. (London:Routledge,1996), 192-215.
56"[D]ull Moor"-involvingas it does a complicatedquibblethatdependson theresemblances
and
links(supposedor otherwise)
betweenMedievalLatinMorzs= Moor; Latinmorus
(from
etymological
= blackberry
= black,dark-colGreekpcop6o)= dull,stupid;and morum
or mulberry(hencemorulus
inversionoftheoxymoronic
"Moor ofVenice."
ored)-canbe construedas a contemptuous

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374

SHAKESPEARE QUARTERLY

broughtintotheplay.It is in thissense thatwe can speak of theplay'sprogressive racializationof theprotagonist.

on Othello's
YetEmilyBartels'sinsistence
opennessis notentirely
misplaced,and
and
it is not")
think
this
is
I
think
racist,
("I
play
VirginiaVaughan'sperplexity
remainsunderstandable.
Even EdmundScott,afterall,is onlypartiallysuccessful
in his attemptto purge"theEnglishnationat Bantan"of theconfusionscreated
body lies "gaspby thehybridizing
presenceof "ourMulatto."As themurderer's
it
the
Dutch
on
Scott
cannot
forbear
to
as a reproofto
the
ing
offering
ground,"
theirown vices-"I openlytoldtheHollandersthat,thatwas thefruiteof drunktheboundary
ennesse,& bydthemeuerafterbewareofit"-thuscarelessly
blurring
betweencolors and conditionswhichhis lesson to the townspeoplehad estabon thefatalsicknessofyetanotherofhisfellowlished.And as he pausesto reflect
the chieffactor'sanxietyat the fragilestateof the Englishtrading
merchants,
seemsto readmittheghostlypresenceofhisscapegoatto membership
community
unstable:"wehad lostin all,
of a "we" thatis once againexposedas dangerously
thatwasexecuted,
and
sincethedepartureof our shipseightmen besides
theMulatto
The "MulattoofPegu"is once againone
we werenow tenliuingand one boy."57
it is preciselythedesof "our"men,a "MulattoofEngland,"as itwere.In Othello
the
efface
the
haste
with
which
Venetians
seek
to
admonitory
spectacleof
perate
Let
it
that
/
be
hid"
calls into
[5.2.362-63])
slaughter("The objectpoisonssight,
oftheracialscapegoating
thatIago has broughtabout,
questionthesustainability
us to pay attention
to a verydifferent
narrative-the
one thatends notin
forcing
theself-alienating
and murderousexpulsionof a Moor turnedTurkagainbut in
a kissthatself-consciously
proclaimsan actofunion.The play,however-andthis
is why it continuesto tormentus-refusesto align itselfwitheithernarrative,
insteadintotheobliquityof thetaunting
pleonasmwithwhichIago at
retreating
once challengesand disablesjudgment:"Whatyou know,you know./Fromthis
timeforthI neverwillspeakword" (11.300-301).

57Scott,Elr, emphasisadded.

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