Tuesday, October 4, 2011
The Moors in Spain
Today in Spanish, my teacher showed us a documentary on the history of Islam in Spain. The narrator explained that when the Catholic Monarchs first came to rule, they tried to destroy all evidence of Muslims in Spain; these Muslims were called the Moors. I know we talked a little bit about this in class, but the Moors were descendents from northern Africa who conquered and ruled the Iberian Peninsula, which they called Al Andalus, for nearly 800 years. Al Andalus was made up of what are now Spain and Portugal. The documentary went on to say that propaganda sparked by the Crusades depicted the Moors as dark-skinned, savage, blood-thirsty enemies, which was not true. The rest of the video was about the cities and Islamic castle that the Moors built. I really like it when my classes overlap, and I thought it was interesting learning more about Othello’s background.
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That is pretty interesting! It's now eaiser to understand why the characters in the play attack Othello's ethnicity when they are angry with him or want to insult him. Even towards the end of the play, when Othello starts to dwindle into paranoia Shakespeare has him behave like his stereotype: short-tempered, unruly, and eventually violent.
ReplyDeleteThis is really helpful. I hope the class takes a look at these comments. If we have time, maybe that documentary could work into our class! Thanks, Kate. I like classes that connect, too.
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