'O' is for Othello and Orientalism

William Shakespeare’s Othello was first performed between 1604 and 1605 by the King’s Men.

The period was informed by a number of significant socio-historic events and movements that many interpret as having a direct bearing on the play, which include changes in attitudes towards military might, exploration, orientalism and colonialisation.

One of the predominant trends that had taken hold of political society at the time involved the tensions between the ways in which the {military} was being perceived. For a long time many believed that knights should be characterized by genteel and chivalrous behavior. As the 17th century unfolded however, a greater number had begun to assert that military strategies should be conceived of as a science that was both aggressive and professional.

These tensions between the old ideals and the new assertions are brought directly to bear in the play—Othello is caught between the {two schools of thought}; he continues to believe in the necessary chivalry of military might. This makes him particularly vulnerable to Iago, who in turn, has discounted all need for kindness and compassion in a violent bid to further his own gains. Some have therefore read Iago as a perversion of the newer breed of military men.

Iago as the "new" man of the military and science.

copiousnotes.typepad.com/.../2003_lago.html

Another series of developments that characterized the period in which Shakespeare wrote Othello was that of {exploration}. Men of the Western world were discovering key foreign shores that would transform the Occidental (or Western) imagination forever. In 1580 for instance, the explorer Francis Drake returned to England after his journey of circumnavigating the world. Following this, events such as the founding of a Jesuit mission in China, and the discovery of Virginia by Sir Walter Raleigh (who was a renown poet, explorer, soldier and courtier) fired the imagination of Western Europe with tales of the oriental and the exotic.

Queen Elizabeth I, seen here with the symbols of exploration and conquest; her right hand rests on a globe and her fingers cover the Americas, then a British colony.

http://ahoy.tk-jk.net/macslog/EnglandversusSpainTheDefe.html

Sir Francis Drake

www.britishbattles.com/.../spanish-armada.htm

Drake's route around the world.
www.mrnussbaum.com/drake.htm

Sir Walter Raleigh, famed poet,explorer and courtier

http://www.mainlesson.com/display.php?author=kelly&book=raleigh&story=ships&PHPSESSID=356138158ea66738af178758508636e6

During this watershed period, ideas such as {colonialism} and {Orientalism} (the study and depiction of Eastern cultures by writers and artists in the West) were rife. Later, many argued that such depictions of the East by Westerners was derogatory, biased, and unfair. Nevertheless, the blossoming of exploration and therefore trade as well, had a profound impact on the minds of artists and politicians alike. It is more than probable that a good number of these socio-historical developments left their influence on Othello, which revolves chiefly around the marriage of Desdemona, a Venetian, to the Moor Othello.

A depiction of the Moors.

http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/whitsunday_whitsuntide.html

Significant socio-historic events in the seventeenth century that could potentially have informed Othello

http://www.fleurdelis.com/timetabl.htm

References:

• Wikipedia's entry on Othello {http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Othello}
• Article on Othello and historical context {http://www.answers.com/topic/othello-play-5}
• Excerpts from Virginia Mason Vaugham's Othello: a contextual history {http://books.google.com.sg/books?hl=en&lr=&id=fepct4EClZQC&oi=fnd&pg=PR11&dq=othello+and+the+theme+of+exploration&ots=azPzGSbsgW&sig=j30KgR0sIQXQH6juET2_sek9jag#PPA4,M1}