Conceptions of Skin Color
The idea of skin color was approached from many different angles in Shakespeare’s time, but one constant many perspectives shared was that of permanency. This is perhaps most clearly illustrated in “Aethiopem lavare”, which depicts “washing” or lightening an Ethiopian’s dark skin as an impossible task that illustrates the power of Nature. The idea of (permanent) skin color is also evident in The natural historie of C. Plinius Secundus. One case examined in this book was that of an interracial marriage and how the child of that marriage had dark skin, and it concluded by saying that the process of children acquiring the appearance (especially skin color) of their parents is largely unknown. These conceptions of skin color might shed some light on how Venetians in the play were always assuming that Othello would “return” to the violent tendencies they assumed were his nature; for them, Othello’s skin color irrevocably dictated his behavior.