Exporting Othello: Shakespeare, Race, and Adaptation in America (2008-2018)

Abstract

“Exporting Othello: Shakespeare, Race and Adaptation in America (2008-2018)” focuses on Othello’s cultural afterlife in the United States over a ten-year period, from 2008-2018. Using three case studies as the basis for my analysis, I explore such questions as: What does Othello mean to Americans today? Why has it had such a long performance history in the United States? And what are the ways in which Othello is currently being mobilized in the service of the political efforts of Americans of color and of American women? The case studies that I have selected are loosely considered as dramatic adaptations of Othello, or, in other words, plays that were inspired by both the characters and the plot of Othello. They are Desdemona (2011) by Toni Morrison, Othello: The Remix (2012) by The Q Brothers, and American Moor (2013) by Keith Hamilton Cobb, all American authors. Through these adaptations, I also examine what it means to stage adaptations of Othello that tour, require a live audience and actors, and force people to confront uncomfortable social commentaries on race and gender inequality. In this dissertation, I argue that, by attempting to adapt Othello in a manner that conforms to contemporary sensibilities regarding social justice and political correctness, American authors foreground an unresolvable tension regarding the characterization of Othello and Desdemona within the play itself, as well as its subsequent adaptations. It is ostensibly impossible to stage Othello, or to write an adaptation of it, that both conforms to the plot and champions the agendas of women and people of color simultaneously, due to the fact that Desdemona dies at Othello’s hands. The form of toxic masculinity that Othello falls prey to in Shakespeare’s version means that he will forever be confined to the stereotype of the angry black man, unless an adaptation flips the script and avoids the play’s tragic ending altogether. However, based on the retellings of Othello in America today, there appears to be a general consensus that the Othello story requires this tragic ending in order for the production to be Othello. Therefore, the authors of my three case studies were forced to choose between championing Othello’s cause or Desdemona’s; between dismantling misconceptions regarding black masculinity or promoting female autonomy and an end to domestic violence. These authors attempted to create protagonists who were equally sympathetic and likable; however, none of them succeeded in upholding the causes of both Othello and Desdemona equitably.