In the early 17th century, Shakespeare had hit his stride as a playwright with a proliferation of works, including some of his most complex tragedies Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet. By the time Shakespeare wrote Othello, he had seen a decade of tremendous success in London theatres. He also experienced profound loss; perhaps the death of his young son in 1596 brought such gravity and maturity to his writing.
Scholars believe Othello was written between 1603 and 1604. However, E. A. J. Honigmann, editor of the Arden Othello, third series edition, argues the play must have been written between 1601 and 1602. With Honigmann’s earlier dating, Othello would seem both an Elizabethan and a Jacobean tragedy. Straddling the reigns of Queen Elizabeth and King James, it was written with the sensibilities of one in mind while debuting for the other.
In Elizabeth’s England, Shakespeare was in good company; arts and letters were flourishing. The political landscape, however, was rocky, and the country in turmoil. In the winter of 1600, Shakespeare’s company performed Twelfth Night at court when Abd el-Ouahed ben Messaoud, the Moroccan ambassador, was in attendance, allowing Shakespeare to experience the Moorish embassy firsthand. Did this glimpse at England’s foreign ally inspire Othello? The perpetual Anglo-Spanish War waged on, 20 years of conflict between England and Spain during which Spain made major land grabs in the New World. Audiences of Othello would have understood the analogy of England to Venice, which was warring with the Ottomans. Though her sights were set on growing a British Empire, Elizabeth I was aging and ailing, with no heir-apparent. Perhaps this impotence is echoed in Othello’s fears, or Iago’s. By 1604, when Othello was first performed, she was dead, and James I was king.
Shakespeare’s company, newly dubbed The King’s Men, served at the pleasure of the new king. The theatre-loving James, a father, diplomat, a sworn king of peace, and a studied theologian with a fascination for witchcraft, commanded Othello at court on at least two occasions. The play, certainly now a Jacobean tragedy, perhaps inspired by events of Elizabeth’s reign, resonated deeply for the new king.
—Dawn Monique Williams
Reprinted from OSF’s 2018 Illuminations, a 64-page guide to the season’s plays. Members at the Donor level and above and teachers who bring school groups to OSF receive a free copy of Illuminations.