This week in British Literature, we will begin our work with William Shakespeare's famous tragedy, Othello. In class today, we watched several short video clips that all focused on the issue of race and "blackness" in the play. We heard from literary critics, actors, professors and others who all offered opinions on whether the play is racist, whether Shakespeare was a racist, whether racism even existed at the time of the play's production, etc. What these questions prove in their multitude is that race certainly matters, regardless of how you answer any of those questions.
Above, I offer you six examples of posters created for various theatrical productions of Othello. Since the Brit Lit students are just jumping into the play for the very first time this week, I thought it would be interesting for them to reflect on what themes they see emerging simply based off of these images. Without knowing much, what do they think the play is about? How do the posters make them feel? Is there one that is particularly striking or thought provoking?
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