Browse Items (42 total)

The anatomy of melancholy explores the causation of melancholy and attempts to explain how to cure such “affectations.” However, the cover page of this folio provides an entirely different perspective on how this text interacts with that of Othello.…

The following image was taken from Robert Burton’s The Anatomy of Melancholy. Burton’s book is fixed on the symptoms of a man’s jealousy; it introduces jealousy as one of the most powerful passions that one can have and specifically describes men as…

The following image depicts American actor, Edwin Forrest playing the character Othello in an 1836 production of the Shakespearean play. Forrest, often viewed as one of the prominent nineteenth-century American Shakespearean actors, became famous in…

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…

Thomas Rymer (1641- 1713), a renowned English literary critic of his time, published A Short View of Tragedy in 1693 with the aim of criticizing the Shakespearean play, Othello. Regarded as “one of the most infamous books in the history of English…

One proposed source of racial otherness that was relevant in the time period of Othello was the notion that the heat of the sun could “draw the blood to the outward parts” (Bacon 87). Because the sun is so much stronger in Africa than it is in most…

The illustrations featured in Andreas Vesalius’ book on anatomy are fascinating and highly detailed. These drawings, including the images of surgeries and autopsies, provide readers with a thorough knowledge of the human body. What caught my eye…

De humani corporis fabrica (On the fabric of the human body) is considered one of the most influential books when it comes to various depictions of the human anatomy. Its author was anatomist and physician, Andreas Vesalius (often considered the…

I find The Anatomy of Melancholy to be particularly interesting when thinking about Othello, due to Burton’s descriptions of jealousy. He describes “symptoms”, such as anxiety and distrust, that align directly with the experiences of Othello when…