“On the brow of the sea”—Race and setting in Shakespeare’s Othello
Join Dr Patricia Akhimie, Director of Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington DC, as she discusses race and setting in Shakespeare’s Othello.
Description
“On the brow of the sea”—Race and setting in Shakespeare’s Othello
“Setting” is something of a misnomer on the early modern stage where props and scenery were minimal or altogether absent. Yet setting—locating the action—is a foundational element of early modern playtexts, in which its meaning is socially constructed and mutually constitutive with social identity including race, gender, and class. Through a close examination of the settings of Othello—the street, the bedroom, and the harbour—this talk explores the work of race in the editorial practice and ethics of setting.
Speaker Bios
Dr Patricia Akhimie is Director of the Folger Institute at the Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington DC. She is editing Othello for the Arden Shakespeare (fourth series), and is editor of “The Oxford Handbook of Shakespeare and Race”.