Kenneth Branagh’s and Lawrence Fishburne’s Othello

Part of my mis-education included academic commentary about Shakespeare’s Othello. I vaguely remember either in written form or in lecture form some authority figure trying to convince me that the motivations of the Iago character in this drama are a “mystery.” Now it just so happens that by making Iago mysterious the teacher is now free not to talk about racism—in fact one is at American liberty to squander the opportunity to talk about the beginnings of racism specifically designed to dehumanize African people. Who would be sick enough to want to talk about such a morose subject? What black evil is indulged to drag the clean and innocent into such muck and mire?

According to some stranger for Wikipedia.org, Othello is “based on the Italian short story ‘Un Capitano Moro’ (A Moorish Captain) by Cinthio (a disciple of Boccaccio) first published in 1565.” You see, 1565 is very close to 1492 and Columbian Thought is at the heart of modern, anti-African racism (at least recall that the Portuguese were the first to enslave Africans for European powers). It is not enough here in the rasx() context to say that Columbus discovered America—he is also involved in the European ‘discovery’ of what we now know as racism. So, for me, when I see Kenneth Branagh as Iago in Oliver Parker’s master film work, Othello, I see so much when they take care to stop the action, to slow the speech and deliberately pronounce, looking right into the camera, “I hate the Moor.” What I am seeing is a historical moment, a declaration of modern “humanity”… Remember that Shakespeare is credited with “the invention of the human” in Harold Bloom’s sweeping monograph Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human.

Now, on the flip side of the Roman coin, I have also heard very, very strong suggestions from the days of my impressionable youth that Othello’s love for Desdemona was blind—to be blunt: colorblind. I don’t know what script my appointed educational authorities were reading but Othello under Oliver Parker’s direction has Lawrence Fishburne at a very pivotal moment explicitly identifying Desdemona’s beauty by her skin color. Lawrence Fishburne in the show says, “Yet I’ll not shed her blood, nor scar that whiter skin of hers than snow, and smooth as monumental alabaster… [Google book]”

These words, spoken by a transplanted child of African descent, are also historical and “monumental” to me. It is important to remember that Othello grew up outside of an African (or Arab) society. He is a culturally alienated being. He has only remnants of his past which (to me) is symbolized by the Egyptian handkerchief from his mother. Moreover, when he gives Desdemona the handkerchief, he is selecting a new direction of his lineage from (I daresay) Egyptian lands. Desdemona only has to know of the tales of Moorish Spain to respect the proportions of what is happening before her—but most of us with serious billion-dollar Hollywood brainwashing don’t give a shit about what is happening here. When most of us think of a relic from a Black mother we are likely to think of some straw broom, hot comb or European handbag and would never imagine Afro-Islamic Moorish splendor or the monumental womanhood of Egypt.

But let’s get back on track: for a writer of Shakespeare’s time the use of the words “monumental alabaster” is in line with the role “we” are told Arabs played for European academia. The Arabs merely “preserved” ancient Greek intellectual achievements so Renaissance Europe could pick it up later—like they dropped this stuff by accident or something… So, to function within the aesthetics of this white history, Othello does well to invoke poetic imagery of monumental whiteness—which suggests the alabaster color of Greek statues—which suggests his Arabized worship of the European ancients, the Greeks. The structural design of Othello’s character can still function to this day and do quite well—perhaps even become a General in the U.S. Army or sit as judge on the Supreme Court.

Shakespeare’s Othello is one of a few remnants of the influential role Africans played in European “civilization” allowed to exist in mainstream “high” culture. For me, it is a wonderful introduction to a book like African Presence in Early Europe and it should provoke the bright child (of any monumental skin color) to think again about why folks in merry old England have the last name “Moore” and the etymology of the word “morose”—and of course we can’t forget about Queen Elizabeth’s cute nicknames for her men at court… one was called “my Moor”…

rasx()