Representations Of Arabs In Shakespearean Plays English Literature Essay
The early old ages of the 1550s witnessed the first ample visual aspect of black people in England ; those whom English merchandisers took prisoner and brought to England to work as slaves ( Barthelemy 1987 ) . John Hawkins was among the earliest English adventurers to convey black people to England and to sell some other black Africans into bondage in the New Found World. In the 1550s, a black adult male who was brought to England was married to a native white adult female. The kid that the assorted twosome brought to life was described every bit black as “ coal ” .
Arabs include Moors and Moroccan every bit good as the people that originated from the Arabian Gulf, Middle East and North Africa. Others may include other Eastern people such as Turks. The word ” Moors ” is a loose term that is frequently used in the Medieval and Renaissance England. It referred to the “ Moor ” , “ black Moor ” , “ and Negroes ” , “ Indians ” , “ Mahometans and Muslims ” . These footings are more than non used interchangeably.
It has been seen that these people have played assorted functions in Shakespearean dramas. One illustration of which is Othello. The chief character of the calamity, Othello, is a racial and cultural foreigner in Venice.
This paper examines the links between the Arabs and stereotypes and how good they were represented in the Shakespearean dramas. Further, this paper seeks to explicate how the Arabs were viewed in these dramas ; the kinds of stereotypes that were linked to the Arabs ; how these stereotypes influenced that dramas and its supporters ; and the alteration representations and developments of the Arabs in the drama.
Problem Statement and Research Questions
It is apparent that the Arabs played a great portion in the dramas of Shakespeare, particularly in the calamity Othello. These representations have emerged as a major subject in modern and modern-day scholarships. Assorted surveies have representations of Arabs in the English and European literature.
This paper ‘s chief research job is that, on the representation of Arabs in Shakespeare ‘s dramas, what is the nexus between the representation and the stereotypes? Specifically, this survey seeks to reply the undermentioned research inquiries:
1. How were the Arabs viewed in the dramas of Shakespeare?
2. What sorts of stereotypes were linked to the Arabs? These stereotypes were from Shakespeare ‘s modern-day society and clip frame which is 16th and seventeenth century Britain.
3. How these stereotypes affected the dramas and its supporters?
4. How do the Arab representations changed and evolved in the dramas?
Research Aims
The chief aim of this paper is analyzing the nexus between the stereotypes and the Arab representation made by Shakespeare in his dramas. These stereotypes were from Shakespeare ‘s modern-day society and clip frame which is 16th and seventeenth century Britain. This aims to analyze the effects these representation had on the written dramas every bit good as to analyze the development of these representations.
Scope and Restriction
The range of the survey shall stay in the scrutiny of the linkage between the Arab representation of Shakespeare in his dramas and with the stereotypes of his clip. It can be said that this shall include interdisciplinary surveies of history and literature. However, this paper shall stay a paper for literature. Arab will be the term to be used in this survey ; nevertheless, this may besides include other Eastern people such as Turks, as necessary.
Since the chief focal point of the survey is on Arab representation of Shakespearian classics, the research worker will merely be limited to the scrutiny of the same. Therefore, the research worker shall non include other literary plants that have the same topic. Finally, the research worker will non be concerned on the analysis and the unfavorable judgment of the literary pieces that include the representation because of the grounds that were mentioned in the purposes of this survey.
Review of Related Literature
In the calamity, Othello, projecting the male supporter as black, Shakespeare activates all the apparition that have haunted white society about crossbreeding to our twenty-four hours: the thought of the black adult male and the white adult female. The dual criterions of modern-day society, a fortiriori in Shakespeare ‘s clip, do non keep the same choler against dealingss between a white adult male and a black adult female, where the false dominant and submissive gender functions are matched in the racialists ‘ heads with the desired racial functions ( Serageldin 1998 ) . Shakespeare draws out a powerful statement for the profound disaffection of Othello, who-despite arriving at his place by Venetian virtue, which besides requires him to deny himself-is still destroyed because of his race and his erstwhile, if non continued, faith.
When it comes to Morocco and the image of Moors, by and large talking, the relationship between Morocco and England was a friendly one. All along, the dealingss between the two sovereigns were of particular nature in malice of the fact that misdemeanors happened from clip to clip from both sides. As has been pointed out in the debut and throughout this thesis, the Anglo-Moroccan confederation was at some point so strong that the two sides fought side by side in the Cadiz expedition to penalize the Spanish ( the common enemies of the Moors and the English ) and planned to reconstruct the rival of the Portuguese to his Royal place and to dispute the Spanish involvements in the Atlantic and the West Indies. Matar describes the dealingss between England and Morocco in the Elizabethan period as hovering between cooperation and struggle, trade and buccaneering. However, it should be noted here that the Moors, historically talking, were non so much abhorred by Elizabethan Englishmen as many of their European enemies ; chiefly the Spanish and the Gallic. The so anti-foreign sentiment ( whether anti- Spanish, French, Dutch or African ) was common. The Moors, though different in faith, and in colour, were treated by Britons no worse than, may be better than, any other European, Dutch, Flemish, Spanish or Gallic, foreigners, plagiarists, merchandisers or embassadors.
Shakespeare is non the lone playwright who utilized foreign and alien scenes in his dramas, but Shakespeare ‘s differentiation was that he did good what many others have failed to make. He was able to conceive of life from the position of these ‘others ‘ while many of his fellow dramatists could non ( Elaskary 2008 ) . Shakespeare was bold plenty in presenting a revolution in the representation of the Moor, as he did with the Jew. Shakespeare introduced his audience and readers to different types of Moors and blackmoors. The most celebrated, instead ill-famed, among Shakespeare ‘s Moors ( other than Othello ) is Aaron in Titus Andronicus while Caliban in The Tempest deservedly takes the position of his deputy. Aaron is among Shakespeare ‘s articulated scoundrels. He is described as “ cold Canis familiaris, unhallowed slave ” [ Act V, three, 14 ] and he commits atrocious offenses against other characters in the drama. Caliban is a small picaresque dwarfish character.
Shakespeare ‘s Moors are portrayed in a manner that is independent and alone yet non really detached from the clip or society in which the dramas were written. Othello may hold some elements of the stereotypal Moor of his clip but he is far more human, influential, and independent. Though the drama was acted before King James I and his work forces, Shakespeare, unlike the bulk of his modern-day playwrights, seems non to hold been involved in the so stylish wont of idolizing his King and stigmatising the “ Others ” and “ aliens ” to divert the King and his cortege ( Elaskary 2008 ) .
When it came to the representation of Moors in Elizabethan play, it was concluded by Elaskary ( 2008 ) that the image of Moors was non inactive, though stereotypal ; it was varied, inconsistent, contradictory and unlogical. As the dealingss between Morocco and England ranged from friendly relationship to hostility so did the image of Moors. When chalk outing out the dramas that were written in the Elizabethan epoch, the reader may happen the raging Turk ; the good Turk, the juicy, unreliable black Moor, and the baronial Moor. The tendency at that clip, nevertheless, was that in general the “ others ” ( be they inkinesss, Moors, Spaniards, French, or Irish ) would be the scoundrels, the schemers, and the slayers while the white indigens would be the brave work forces and guardians of state and Queen. Sins and offenses have been committed by the black and the white peoples since the morning of history but the cardinal point is, that when the white adult male commits a offense this does non bespeak or affect “ an built-in judgement of his race or the nationality to which he belongs ” as it does with the black adult male.
The representation of Moors in the period under survey ( as has ever been ) was ever politically motivated. That is why the prudent reader will detect that that Moors with darker tegument were more frequently painted in the darkest colourss ; merciless plotters, haters and liquidators, than those light or brown skin Moors. Muly Mahamet, Aaron and Caliban may suit in this class. North African Moors, nevertheless, fared good on the London phase. Abdelmelec, Muly Hamet and Othello come in this class. If nil could hold washed the black Moors white the friendly ties between Morocco and England positively affected the manner Moors from Morocco were represented on the London phase ( Elaskary 2008 ) . It turns out that it was the political component instead than the spiritual, racial or cultural 1s that played the prima function when it came to stand foring the ‘other ‘ in Elizabethan England. It might non hold been safer ( or wiser ) for Elizabethan playwrights to categorically oppose, challenge, or knock the political line of the period. Those who did boldly challenge and inquiry the political tabu at that clip ended up penniless or in gaol. Therefore, John Marston ( and Robert Greene ) was imprisoned and his manuscripts burnt for his anti-James I Hagiographas at the bend of the 17th century ( Farag ) .
Othello ‘s calamity is bared before the audience ‘s eyes, and continues to dispute the racism and gender dual criterions that plague society today. It acknowledges the profound human infirmities that green-eyed monster can feed upon in all of us, but it besides invites us to oppugn the societal context that would forestall people to act in a natural and humanist manner and invites us to inquire why it should be so ( Serageldin 1998 ) .
Methodology and Method of Analysis
Data driven research is an easy pick for the research worker. This is a flexible and antiphonal attack and the research worker will non cognize where the informations can take into. Although the literature is rather hard because at the start of the survey the research worker will non cognize which literature will be relevant subsequently. Reading is hence postponed until the literature ‘s relevancy is judged subsequently on. Consequently, this may impact the construction of the research subsequently on. Second, it is non merely the reading and the apprehension that emerge during the research procedure. The same is besides applied in taking the methodological analysis. The contents of the research and its procedure both develop during the proceedings of the research.
It has been a argument amongst research pupils the misalignment between the philosophical pluralism and methodological pluralism. This misalignment can make confusion during the full research procedure. When associating the quantitative and qualitative methods of research with the understanding reading of doctrine which is positivism and interpretative, the research procedure frequently becomes excessively hard for many. Along with other restraints, research workers face deficiency of clip, strength of plan, through to willingness in prosecuting with literature. This confusion drives research workers to take themselves in the theory and merely transport out the research based on their initial end on what to accomplish in it.
This relationship between the methods and doctrine has caused this current research on the probe of Shakespeare ‘s portraiture of Richard III with so much anxiousness and thought arousing inquiries. In this research, quantitative tools are used together with the inductive and deductive attacks.
Easterby-Smith, et Al ( 2002 ) has highlighted the importance of the relationship between the research doctrine and the research methods. Harmonizing to them, this relationship allows one in taking a more informed determination sing the research attack ; helps in make up one’s minding which method/s are appropriate for the research ; lets the research worker think about restraints that may impede the research.
Checkland and Hollwell ( 1998 ) added the constituent of model which is epistemology. This consists of premises and counted as cognition. It is expected that research workers shall explicate and warrant their several epistemologies, their methodological analysis and methods every bit good as their decisions. Obviously, this attack encourages the research workers in being more aware during the research procedure.
Qualitative research allows the topics being studied to give much ‘richer ‘ replies to inquiries put to them by the research worker, and may give valuable penetrations which might hold been missed by any other method. Not merely does it supply valuable information to certain research inquiries in its ain right but there is a strong instance for utilizing it to complement quantitative research methods. Qualitative research has its roots in societal scientific discipline and is more concerned with understanding why people behave as they do: their cognition, attitudes, beliefs, frights, etc.
Decision
In the calamity, Othello, projecting the male supporter as black, Shakespeare activates all the apparition that have haunted white society about crossbreeding to our twenty-four hours: the thought of the black adult male and the white adult female. The dual criterions of modern-day society, a fortiriori in Shakespeare ‘s clip, do non keep the same choler against dealingss between a white adult male and a black adult female, where the false dominant and submissive gender functions are matched in the racialists ‘ heads with the desired racial functions. Shakespeare draws out a powerful statement for the profound disaffection of Othello, who-despite arriving at his place by Venetian virtue, which besides requires him to deny himself-is still destroyed because of his race and his erstwhile, if non continued, faith.
The representation of Moors in the period under survey ( as has ever been ) was ever politically motivated. That is why the prudent reader will detect that that Moors with darker tegument were more frequently painted in the darkest colourss ; merciless plotters, haters and liquidators, than those light or brown skin Moors. It turns out that it was the political component instead than the spiritual, racial or cultural 1s that played the prima function when it came to stand foring the ‘other ‘ in Elizabethan England. It might non hold been safer ( or wiser ) for Elizabethan playwrights to categorically oppose, challenge, or knock the political line of the period. Those who did boldly challenge and inquiry the political tabu at that clip ended up penniless or in gaol.
Othello ‘s calamity is bared before the audience ‘s eyes, and continues to dispute the racism and gender dual criterions that plague society today. It acknowledges the profound human infirmities that green-eyed monster can feed upon in all of us, but it besides invites us to oppugn the societal context that would forestall people to act in a natural and humanist manner and invites us to inquire why it should be so.
Work Plan and Timetable
Undertaking Description
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Writing of Research Proposal ;
Intensive Review of Related Studies
Execution of Research Methodology
Analysis of Data Gathered
Writing the Research Paper
Presentation and Defense of the Research Paper
