Apparently, it’s because there’s nothing to be gained from changing it.
I went to our local Theatre this week to see Othello with a "person of question". I’ve been avoiding it for weeks but I wanted to see it…anyway back to my bouffant thoughts between my temples.
Of all Shakespeare’s heroes, Othello — in the original, a moorish mercenary employed by the regime of Renaissance Venice in its ongoing struggle against the Turks — is the only one who is black [or, at any rate, not European]. While I looked forward to this local revisionist production in which a white Othello was cast against an otherwise all-black cast, I didn’t hold my breath, I held my hands instead, under my thighs leaning predisposed to a more likely undesired wedded hoary favor to my right and leaning quite obvious, I claimed "I cant see and my hands are cold". For many, "Othello" is the only play Shakespeare got right and this is because, unlike any other Shakespearean drama, "Othello" speaks to our contemporary political concerns, our bad conscience, our desire to overcome a history of racial injustice. For once, Shakespeare picked the right hero and, just as importantly, the right villain.
This is more or less what happens in the "today world". Part of Othello’s appeal has always been its ruthless depiction of social envy and natural hierarchy[sp?]. Othello’s downfall, just as much as his power, derives from an innate nobility not shared by the other characters. His nobility is of the classical kind, a sort of fact of nature in which makes him stronger, bolder and more direct than most men. But Othello’s nobility is also the source of his weakness and, ultimately, his downfall. White or black dramatis, I witnessed rural Louisiana.
Having no need of deception, "he", is not untrained in the ways and for that reason especially susceptible to the low cunning of Iago also a noble character and, like Othello, stronger, bolder, and more direct than other men. The source of Lago’s nobility, however, is quite different from that of Othello. Where, Othello’s nobility is of a metaphysical kind, Lago’s is cultural in nature. Lago, in this play, in short, is noble because he is black. His tragedy, to that extent, is not his own. Rather, it is a tragedy of which is, at least by implication, common to all black and white Americans still to this day.
[...'tap' 'tap' 'tap'...]"Ahem, Hello?" "Is this thing on?". " CHANGING SHADES IS A VERY AMBITIOUS ADVENTURE REGARDLESS OF THE COLOUR OF YOUR BLINDERS". echo...echo...echo... [off my soap box once again] ~ That's mine and you can quote me on it ~
Teresa.
