L’«insolente turco inturbantato» tra bianco e nero. Un esperimento ottico attorno all’“Otello” di Shakespeare

Abstract

Othello is a Moor who fights against the Turks. This article proposes a reading of Shakespeare’s play considering the military and religious implications of the wars with the Turks. The gaze is that of King James I, given his fascination with the “Turkish” theme in an apocalyptic perspective, combined with the performative stereotyping of the “black” theme typical of the era. The counterfactual representation of the defeat of the Turks connotes both the Spanish Armada and the Battle of Lepanto. The implicit Lutheran eschatology is elevated to a European level through a parallel with the performative practices at the court of the King’s brother-in-law, Christian IV of Denmark. Read in the context of the double enemy image, the Moor and the Turk, Shakespeare’s protagonist appears paradoxically complex.