A Choice of Emblemes and Other Devises

            Geffrey Whitney’s compilation of fables includes a story in which a group of several white men attempt to turn a black man’s skin white. Despite their efforts, the men are unsuccessful and the man’s “hue” remains the same. The interaction between the white men and the moor is highly reminiscent of Othello’s relationship with the white, Venetian men with whom he works. While they never literally attempt to alter the color of Othello’s skin, they do frequently attempt to convince him to let go of his own ways and conform to their customs and take up their mannerisms. Thus, the men are frequently confused, going back and forth, attempting to decide whether Othello is a white man or a Moor.

            Their frequent attempts to change Othello’s way are even more interesting when considering the similarities that Europeans believed to exist between Moors and animals. These similarities would have made the characters of the play even more uncomfortable with Othello’s high rank in the army and government. Not only would the majority of these men be either working with or for a black man, they would be working with or for a being that they saw as neither man nor animal, but a creature somewhere in between the two.

            They held so much disdain for a man unlike them that they could not just walk away from him, but felt the need to change him. While Whitney does little to show a comparison between Moor and animal, he does show the extreme reactions Europeans had to the other.