Cover: Othello, 1st Edition by William Shakespeare; Edited by Kim Hall

Othello

First  Edition©2007  William Shakespeare; Edited by Kim Hall

ISBN:9780312398989

About

With primary content that contextualizes race and religion in the Renaissance, gender relations, military life, the passions, the notion of the "Other" in early modern England, and the afterlife, this version of Othello contains both the play and six sets of thematically arranged documents and illustrations. With tracts on marriage, travel literature, military manuals, maps, ballads, royal proclamations, and early modern descriptions of Africa and the Middle East, this volume is designed to help you see the many different approaches you can take with Shakespeare.

Table of Contents

ABOUT THE SERIES
ABOUT THIS VOLUME
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Introduction         
AN Othello PRE-TEXT: CINTHIO, FROM Gli Hecatommithi        
 
PART ONE
William Shakespeare, Othello, the Moor of Venice
(Edited by David Bevington)

PART TWO
Cultural Contexts         

1. Race and Religion                                                                                            
 
Othello’s Sword and English Sexuality
 
Blackness and Moors
     Peter Martyr, From The Decades of the New World or West India
     George Best, From A True Discourse of the Late Voyages of Discouery
     Queen Elizabeth I, Licensing Casper van Senden to Deport Negroes
     John Leo Africanus, From A Geographical History of Africa
     The Lady and the Blackamoor

The Ottoman Empire and “Turning Turk”
      Richard Knolles, From The General History of the Turks
      Giles Fletcher the Elder, From Policy of the Turkish Empire
      Church of England, Prayer for the Preservation of Those Christians and Their
      Countries That Are Now Invaded by the Turk
Christianity
     Nicholas Udall, From Respublica
The White Devil
     Geneva Bible, Verses on the White Devil
     Martin Luther, From A Commentary upon the Epistle of St. Paul to the Galatians
 
2. Cultural Geography                                                                                       
 
The Early Modern Mediterranean
The Myth of Venice
     Dedicatory Poems, From The Commonwealth and Government of Venice
     Fynes Moryson, From An Itinerary
Venice: The Virgin/Whore
     Thomas Coryate, From Coryats Crudities
Cyprus: The Birthplace of Love
     Richard Knolles, From General History of the Turks
     James VI and I, From The Lepanto
Aleppo
     Jan Huyghen van Linschoten, From His Discourse of Voyages into the East and
     West Indies
Africa and Barbary
     John Leo Africanus, From A Geographical History of Africa 
 
3. Marriage and the Household                                                                          
 
     Baldassare Castiglione, From The Book of the Courtier
     Juan Luis Vives, From Instruction of a Christian Woman
     William Whately, From A Bride-bush: Or, A Wedding Sermon
     Ste. B, From Counsel to the Husband: To the Wife Instruction
     Hannah Woolley, From The Gentlewoman’s Companion: Or, a Guide to the
     Female Sex
     Martin Parker, From The Married Man’s Lesson: Or, A Dissuasion from Jealousy
     From Cuckold’s Haven
 
4. Masculinity and Military Life                                                                         
 
     Robert Barret, From The Theory and Practice of Modern Wars
     Thomas Proctor, From Of the Knowledge and Conduct of Wars
     Thomas and Leonard Digges, From An Arithmetical Military Treatise, Named
     Stratioticos
     Thomas Styward, From The Pathway to Martial Discipline
     John Taylor, From A Valorous and Perilous Sea-fight Fought with Three Turkish
     Ships
 
5. Passions                                                                                                         
 
     Thomas Wright, From The Passions of the Mind in General
     Pierre de La Primaudaye, From The French Academy
Love and Jealousy
     Thomas Buoni, From Problems of Beauty and All Human Affections
     Benedetto Varchi, From The Blazon of Jealousy
     Robert Burton, From Anatomy of Melancholy
     Francis Bacon, From The Essays or Counsels, Civil and Moral
 
6. Encounters with Othello                                                                                 
 
Critical Encounters
     Thomas Rymer, From A Short View of Tragedy
     Charlotte Ramsey Lennox, From Shakespeare Illustrated
     William Winter, From Othello: As Presented by Edwin Booth
Staging Women
     Thomas Jordan, From The Nursery of Novelties in a Variety of Poetry
     Paula Vogel, From Desdemona: A Play about a Handkerchief
Blackface Minstrelsy
     Desdemonum: An Ethiopian Burlesque, in Three Scenes
     Thomas Dartmouth Rice, From Otello: A Burlesque Opera
Postcolonial Encounters
     Tayeb Salih, From Season of Migration to the North
     Derek Walcott, Goats and Monkeys

BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) was an English dramatist and poet. He is regarded as the greatest writer in the English language.

Kim Hall