Wherein to catch the conscience

Professor Virginia Vaughan's research

Professor Virginia Vaughan's passion for Shakespeare has also infected her student Stacie Swoboda '01. While Stacie's research analyzes Lady Macbeth's murderous and decidedly unfeminine behavior, Vaughan's attention was captured by another of Shakespeare's tragic characters, Othello. Her research findings, discussed below, have been published in Othello: A Contextual History.

Who's Othello?
The conflicts
Performances and interpretations

Who's Othello?

The play's hero, Othello, is

a black man who is the devoted husband of a white woman, Desdemona- and her killer.
a soldier for hire and the commander of a white army.
a man respected for his virtue and integrity, but the victim of deception by Iago, a subordinate white officer.

Racism, sexual relations, the conduct of the military, the issues and conflicts in Shakespeare's play, Othello: the Moor of Venice, are as relevant to today's society as they were to English audiences 400 years ago. In her book Othello: A Contextual History, Professor Virginia Vaughan reveals Othello as a complex play with the potential for multiple interpretations.

The Conflicts

In Othello: A Contextual History, Vaughan "historicizes" Shakespeare's famous tragedy; that is, she places it in the context of the time it was written. By examining literature available to Shakespeare and his contemporaries, she shows how several social issues important in 17th century England were reflected in the play:

Christians vs. infidels

Othello is hired to command an army of Venetian Christians fighting the feared and vilified non-Christian Turks. Europeans had long seen the Turks as a threat.

knights vs. mercenaries

Othello personifies the military in transition-he is a mercenary with the chivalrous soul of a medieval knight. The military in Shakespeare's time was becoming professionalized: hired armies with new standards of military conduct were replacing the chivalric knights.

white people vs. black people

Many English viewed the African's dark skin and lack of Christian faith as indications of racial inferiority. Travel narratives of the time were notable for their ignorance of African cultures.

men vs. women

Desdemona, a white Venetian noblewoman, defies her father to elope with Othello. Unlike the ideal Renaissance maiden promoted in literature of the time, she is sexual, independent, and disobedient. She dies violently.

Performances and interpretations

In part two of her book, Dr. Vaughan analyzes selected performances of Othello from the 17th to the 20th centuries in the context of their times. She shows how text cuts, make-up, costume, and staging were used to emphasize, downplay or suppress the play's issues of racism, sexism and military conduct according to prevailing social attitudes. A few examples:

Othello as the gentleman soldier

In Restoration England, many actors were ex-military men. Othello himself would always be shown in uniform, emphasizing his primary identity as soldier.

Othello as an African of primitive emotions

Racial tensions in post-Civil War America and the British Empire contributed to an image of the African as a creature of emotion set apart from civilized, rational European society. Othello was frequently costumed in non-European clothing to emphasize his "otherness."

A play suitable for polite society

The sensibilities of 19th century Victorian audiences were accommodated by eliminating lines dealing with sexually improper topics.

A black man married to a white woman

A black man finally plays a black man. Actor Paul Robeson's 1943 Broadway portrayal of Othello forced actors and audiences alike to confront issues of racism and mixed marriage.

Desdemona as passive victim

Orson Welles' film adaptation in the late 1940's echoed Hollywood's objectification of women and reflected his own troubled relationships with the opposite sex. To achieve Welles' visual image of female purity and innocence as embodied in Desdemona, actress Suzanne Cloutier dyed her hair blonde and wore white. (Re-released in 1992)

Iago the deceiver

Trevor Nunn's 1989 Royal Shakespeare Society production reflects modern society's preoccupation with intimacy and human relationships. The fragility of those relationships is emphasized by a focus on Iago, Othello's trusted subordinate. While in outward behavior a caring and solicitous comrade, Iago, consumed by jealousy, deliberately destroys the marital relationship between Desdemona and Othello.