This final paper proved quite tricky for me, simply because I had so much I wanted to talk about. All during this class I have been seemingly obsessed with the idea of Moors and how they were portrayed in Early Modern England. As I delved into this topic, I discovered something different than what I was expecting. Although many people didn’t like the Moors, as I had assumed, I was surprised to find a number of stories and plays that showed Moors as sympathetic characters, and others who had nothing but good things to say about them. I only wish that I had kept my mind open when I was thinking about a topic because, although I enjoyed learning more about the thoughts of Moors, I feel as if I already touched heavily on this subject in my previous paper on Moors. I think this topic is something that can take a while to study, and I would love to have the chance to read some of the original literature on Moors instead of secondhand accounts and scholar’s views on them. First hand sources are always the best, but it was difficult to find them because they are all so old and many have not survived. Although I felt a little burnt out near the end of my paper, I am still glad I got to do this topic overall because it was interesting drawing parallels on characters in Othello and thoughts on Moors during that time period. It was also interesting to see how little the thoughts on outsiders have changed over the years.
This final paper proved quite tricky for me, simply because I had so much I wanted to talk about. All during this class I have been seemingly obsessed with the idea of Moors and how they were portrayed in Early Modern England. As I delved into this topic, I discovered something different than what I was expecting. Although many people didn’t like the Moors, as I had assumed, I was surprised to find a number of stories and plays that showed Moors as sympathetic characters, and others who had nothing but good things to say about them. I only wish that I had kept my mind open when I was thinking about a topic because, although I enjoyed learning more about the thoughts of Moors, I feel as if I already touched heavily on this subject in my previous paper on Moors. I think this topic is something that can take a while to study, and I would love to have the chance to read some of the original literature on Moors instead of secondhand accounts and scholar’s views on them. First hand sources are always the best, but it was difficult to find them because they are all so old and many have not survived. Although I felt a little burnt out near the end of my paper, I am still glad I got to do this topic overall because it was interesting drawing parallels on characters in Othello and thoughts on Moors during that time period. It was also interesting to see how little the thoughts on outsiders have changed over the years.