The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 17.0588 Friday, 23 June 2006
From: Cary DiPietro <
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Date: Friday, 23 Jun 2006 00:37:22 +0900
Subject: RE: Shakespeare and Islam
A brief search through the SHAKSPER archives shows that little
discussion has been given over to Shakespeare's possible encounters with
Islam, though the question has come up in the context of Othello's
Moorish identity. Emily Bartel's 'Making More of the Moor' (SQ, 1990)
would seem to be the definitive word on this subject as it draws out
Shakespeare's Moors through early modern texts such as Hakluyt's
_Principal Navigations_, and Shakespeare's possible engagements with
such cultural discourses.
I also have Nicholas Moschovakis' more recent article on religious
pieties in _Titus_, which situates Shakespeare's treatment of excessive
violence in the context of Reformation and post-Reformation
Protestant/Catholic antipathies. As he goes on to discuss how
Shakespeare potentially attacks 'pretexts for religious violence', he
describes Aaron as 'more than just a Machiavellian atheist; he also
incarnates the unsettling consequences of widening religious and
cultural divisions in early modern society.' Moschovakis, however,
stops short of discussing Aaron's Moor status in great detail.
The question I'm posing is obviously very topical in light of current
global rifts (and especially in the context of _Titus Andronicus_ and
piously motivated revenge killings), but I wonder how Shakespeare's
possible resistance to religious pretexts for violence intersects with
his characterization of Aaron as a Moor and with Shakespeare's possible
encounters with or understanding of Islam, especially in the early to
mid-1590s? I also wonder how Edward Said's argument about Orientalism
as an enabling discourse of European colonialism might be read back to a
play such as _Titus_ and in light of the play's own treatment of Roman
Empire?
I'll pose these questions to the list, but I'll also gladly entertain
any suggestions for source materials offlist.
Cary DiPietro
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