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Did Shakespeare Know Leo African Us?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2020

Lois Whitney
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Extract

Is Othello a puppet, an Englishman, or a Moor? No less estimable a Shakespeare scholar than Professor Stoll has pointed out what he has called the “great heap of contradictions” in the character of Othello and has come to the conclusion that Shakespeare is merely following a dramatic jealousy tradition in the play of Othello—that he “but leans on the convention of slander and ‘diabolical soliciting’… . Only, in order to expedite matters, Shakespeare leans hard, and Othello presents little or no resistance to temptation, is eager, excited, is, for all his protestations of faith, won over in a trice.” One cannot help feeling, according to Stoll, that Othello is “wrenched and altered” by the dramatist in the temptation scene. A. C. Bradley, on the other hand, whose opinions I cite as typical of the opposite point of view, insists that “any man situated as Othello was, would have been disturbed by Iago's communications, and I add that many men would have been made wildly jealous.” Othello, in other words, is behaving like a normal human being of our own race. Bradley repudiates the “mistaken view” that Othello “retains beneath the surface the savage passions of his Moorish blood.” His nationality is incidental, and “in regard to the essentials of his character it is not important.” He even goes so far as to say that “if anyone had told Shakespeare that no Englishman would have acted like the Moor, and had congratulated him on the accuracy of his racial psychology, I am sure he would have laughed.”

Type
Research Article
Information
PMLA , Volume 37 , Issue 3 , September 1922 , pp. 470 - 483
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1922

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References

1 An Historical and Comparative Study, U. of Minn. Studies in Language and Literature, (Minneapolis, 1915) p. 1-3.

2 Op. cit. p. 17.

3 Op. cit. p. 18.

4 Shakespearian Tragedy, (London, 1916) p. 194.

5 Op. cit. p. 186.

6 Op. cit. p. 187.

7 Lectures on Dramatic Art and Literature. The passage is quoted in the Variorum Shakespeare, p. 431 ff.

8 See L. Wann, “The Oriental in Elizabethan Drama,” Mod. Phil. XII, 163 ff.; R. Withington, English Pageantry (Cambridge, 1918-1920) I, 40 n. 5; 73-4; 215; 218 n. 7; II, 23 f.; and C. R. Baskervill, An Elizabethan Eglamour Play, Mod. Phil. XIV, 759 f.

9 Edited by Richard Simpson in The School of Shakspere (London, 1878) Vol. I. Cf. 1. 2305 ff. and 2393 ff.

10 The Dramatic and Poetical Works of Robert Greene and George Peele (London, 1861) p. 440, V, i.

11 Dodsley's Old English Plays (London, 1875) XIV, 103-4.

12 Cambridge Shakespeare (London, 1892) Vol. VI, II, iii, 37.

13 Op. cit. I, iv, p. 113.

14 Variorum ed. p. 377, 380.

15 Chronicle of the Discovery and Conquest of Guinea (Hakluyt Soc. edition) I, lv ff.

16 For a list of 16c. editions see the Hakluyt Soc. edition p. v-vi.

17 Hakluyt Soc. edition, VI, 169-70. There is an early English book on Africa entitled The description of the contrey of Aphrique, the fyrst part of the worlde with the cituation of al the countreys together with the particular maners, lawes, and ceremonies of dyvers people inhabityng in the same part. Trans, out of Frenche into Englyshe by W. Prat. London, 1554. This is rather puzzling for I find no French book of which this could be the translation. Both Alvarez and Leo Africanus were first translated into French in 1556.

18 Hakluyt Soc. edition, I, lii.

19 Op. cit., I, 103.

20 Shakespeare and the Founders of Liberty in America (N. Y., 1917) Ch. III, cf. especially p. 75-6.

21 There are several passages in the Geographical Historie of interest in connection with the Tempest also. The most specific is the reference to Carthage and Tunis. Gonzalo, when reminded that “Widdow Dido” belonged to Carthage, not Tunis, defends himself with, “This Tunis Sir was Carthage” (Variorum Edition, II, i, 86). The surprise and derision with which his remark is greeted seem to indicate that this was no mere current idea at the time. It is possible that the thing that put the idea into Shakespeare's mind was the description by Leo of the decay of Carthage and the founding of Tunis which shows in what sense Tunis was Carthage: “For the inhabitants of Carthage were loth to remaine any longer in their owne towne … wherefore they repaired unto Tunis, and greatly enlarged the buildings thereof” (III, 715-6). There follows an elaborate description of the King of Tunis and his court (III, 722-725). For the rest, there are descriptions of witches and enchanters who practice raising storms (III, 1002-1003), descriptions which are of some interest but little significance for the idea is common in folklore. Even the description of the conspiracy against the good Gonsaluo who was represented to King Sebastian as being “a Magician, who by witchcraftes and inchantments could turne kingdomes topsie turvie” (III, 1062) does not connect closely enough with the story of Prospero to be of much significance. Of slightly more interest is the long section at the beginning of the work which deals with the islands off the coast of Africa (I, 85-102). The inhabitants of some are described as very primitive (I, 87, 99-100); near to some “as unto that of Bermuda, there are continual stormes and tempestes” (I, 92); and the inhabitants of others are “addicted to Magick and inchantments, and doe bring to passe matters incredible” (I, 87). Current interest in strange and remarkable islands, fostered by the tales of the travelers, may well have played a considerable part in determining the choice of an island setting for the story of the Tempest.

22 My references are to the Rolfe, 1907 edition, unless otherwise specified as here.

23 Op. cit. p. 198-200.

24 Princ. Nav. VI, 143.

25 The idea that the Moors were great travelers is reinforced by two other passages in Leo Africanus, I, 184, and III, 727. In I, 21, Leo speaks of the “vagrant and roguish life” of the Arabians.

26 The argument from names is too unimportant to be insisted on but for the sake of completeness I might mention that the name Iago appears in three different places in Leo Africanus (I, 97-8; III, 1050; III, 1065), the name Roderigo in two places (II, 509; III, 1050), and in one of these passages the name Iago Diaz and Roderigo are associated together (III, 1050).