England, Islam, and the Mediterranean Drama: Othello and Others

JEMCS2.2 (Fall/Winter 2002) England,Islam, and the Mediterranean Drama: Othelloand Others LawrenceDanson Twanttocomplicate theoppositions - EastversusWest, Ottoman Xversus European,Muslimversus Christian - whichtend to structure critical discussionsofEngland'sMediterranean drama in the late sixteenthand early seventeenth centuries. (By "Mediterranean drama"I meanboththeplaysset in theregion and also the less obviouslyscripteddrama enacted in the Mediterranean theaterof commerce, diplomacy, and warfare.) Englishmen abroad,inNorth Africa and theLevant, had tonegotiate , nota single world ofIslamicdifference, buta wholeworld of unstable, relationally shifting differences. Theywerelatecomers: Queen Elizabethchartered the LevantCompanyin 1581, by whichtimeEngland'sEuropeanrivalswerealreadywellestablishedin theeasternand southern trade. Simply toreachtheir destinations they hadtopass thethreat ofSpanishinterference in thewest. Theirencounters withIslamweremediatedbytheir Europeanrivalries: theyconstrued Islamicdifference in lightof Catholic difference; they encountered Turksand Moors(thefluidity ofthetwoterms isvery muchtothepoint) either as their rivals' allies,enemiesorobjectsofcommercial desire.Thistriangulated modeofengagement helpsexplainwhymodern efforts tofix"the image"of the Turk,the Moor,the Jew - the famously elusive "other" ofcritical discourse - occasionally feelinadequateto the unfixedness ofthehistorical actuality.1The proverbially lustful Turkcouldonoccasionseema modelofrectitude ina spacealso occupiedbyoversexed Frenchmen or Italians;in thetreachery department, it could be a toss-upbetweenMoors,on the one hand,and SpanishorPortuguese, on theother;theJewishdog 2 TheJbumalfor Early Modern Cultural Studies couldbe an Englishman's bestfriend whenhe becamethemiddlemanintheintricacies ofeastern business;whileeventheusuallyunbridgeable dividebetweenProtestant and Catholicmight disappearwhere bothwerethreatened bytheubiquitous equalizerofslavery . The playsoftheperiod,however fantastic in otherrespects, reflect the cosmopolitan, polyglot natureofa regionwherethe other is alwaysothers andinprocessofbecoming something other again. Marlowe's playabout a JewofMaltais also about the CatholicKnightsof Malta,and about the competing imperial ambitions ofSpaniardsand Ottoman Turks;whilethedepressingly leveled population onoffer initsslave-market comesfrom all pointson theMediterranean map. Thecharacters act as ifthey knewthedifferences between oneanother butthosesameactions suggestthat,from theEnglishaudience'spointofview,thereis actually little tochoosebetween, morally orinterms ofeconomic alliance. Peele'sTheBattleofAlcazarmakestheEnglishadventurerThomasStukeleyahistorically centralto its depiction of diplomatic treachery and a disastrouswarinvolving Portuguese, Spanish,and Moors-thelatterthemselves dividedintowarring factions. Itsplotis loosely based on an actualhistory ofintricate diplomaticinvolvements among AfricanMuslims, European Catholics, and one free-booting Englishman whomanagesto be bothan Elizabethan heroand an agentofthepapacy'sdesireto wrestIrelandfrom Englishdominance.2ThomasHeywood's The FairMaidoftheWest, Parts I andIIhas a dreamlike adventure plot whichmovesfromEnglandto Fez to Florence,and involves Englishmen (and an incredibly pluckyEnglishwoman),Moors, andItalians, almostanyoneofwhom may,depending oncircumstances ,be alternately idealizedor demonized.3Playssuch as thesecreatea worldunlikeinsularEnglandnotonlybecause it contains Turks, Moors, Jews, and Christiansof both the Protestant andCatholic variants, butbecauseitcontains them, as it were,all at once, in changingrelationsand configurations whichconfound theillusionthata stableus is alwaysdistinct from a definable them. Evenwhenthere arenoEnglish characters literally present in theplot,theMediterranean (and,to be precise,Aegean)drama tendstosuggestan inexhaustible elsewhere teeming withdifferences thatrefuseto remainconstant. TheMerchant ofVenice, localizedin the conflict ofVenetianChristianand alien Jew, invokes an imaginative geography ofvastreach.Antonio's ships ply theirdangeroustrade "FromTripolis,fromMexico,and England,/FromLisbon,Barbary, and India"(3.2.268-69). In Danson 3 Bassanio'sadventurous imagining, Portia'sBelmont is relocated totheeasternshoreoftheBlackSea, and becomesthedestinationfor travelers worldwide : Forthefour windsblowinfrom every coast Renowned suitors, and hersunnylocks Hangonhertemples likea goldenfleece, Which makesherseatofBelmont Colchis'strand, AndmanyJasonscomeinquestofher. (1.1.168-172) One ofthoseJasonsis in factthePrinceofMorocco, "a tawny Moor" (2.1.1s.d),whosescimitar has slainthePersianSophyand "wonthree fields from SultanSolyman" (2.1.26). Ontheprinciple thatmyenemy's enemy is myfriend, thisscourgeofIslamcould be a fine matchfor Portia; butinthisinstance, "complexion" and endogamytrumpmilitary alliance, and the white Christian Venetian Bassaniowinsthewhite Christian Venetian Portia.Still, theplayrequires all ofPortia's forensic talenttodecidethecompeting claimsofjusticebetween Antonio and Shylock: from one pointofview,theproblem is notthattheChristian and theJew are antithetical butthatthereis toolittle difference between the money-men. Portia, injudicialdisguise, asks tohavetheparties tothedisputeidentified: "Which is themerchant here,andwhich theJew?"Ittakesnotonlya legaljudgment butall themystifyingmusicofAct5 tolockthedifference inplace. Thingsarevery different in Othello, theplay111 be taking my cues from in whatfollows.The troubling questionofwho'sin, who's out,who'sus and who'sother,remainsunsettledfrom Othello's first scenethrough theimplied future after Act5: thelettersfrom Cyprus that"shalltheseunlucky deedsrelate" willnever be able to "speakof[Othello] as I am,"withnothing extenuated and nought setdowninmalice(5.2.350-353). Forthecharacters in theplay,and foritscritics, theproblem ofdescribing Othello "as I am" is inextricable fromthe complexities of relational Mediterranean identities.WhenShakespeareadaptedCinthio's ItaliantaleofthegallantMoor, hisvirtuous lady,and thewicked ensign,he broadened itsgeographical reach.Othello rangesnot onlyfrom Veniceto Cyprusbut southward to a Mandevillian region ofantersvastand desertsidle;westtoMauritania where, Iagofalsely claims,Othello intendstoa[take] awaywithhimthe fair Desdemona" (4.2.232-233);easttoEgypt where a sibylsewed the talismanichandkerchief, and from thereto Aleppoin the northeastern cornerofthe Mediterranean world,whereOthello 4 TheJournal for Ecuiy Modern Cuituml Studies finds his"journey's end...