Shakespeare - othello

[kezia_88]

Can someone please tell me in the play othello why the turks wanted to attack cyprus? Also what sort of date would this have been in? and the price of a newspaper back then?

thanks

[Aschenbach]

In the 16th century the Ottoman navy had much influence in the Mediterranean Sea, and trade there flourished, because of the stability afforded to the shipping lanes. They invaded Cyprus to further these interests.

Othello is set against the backdrop of the wars between Venice and Turkey that raged in the latter part of the sixteenth century. Cyprus, which is the setting for most of the action, was a Venetian outpost attacked by the Turks in 1570 and conquered the following year. Shakespeare�s information on the Venetian-Turkish conflict probably derives from The History of the Turks by Richard Knolles, which was published in England in the autumn of 1603.

In 1621 the first English-language private newspaper, The Corante, was published so probably there were none.

[kezia_88]

ah thanks that is really helpfull!but do u kno what sort of money they worked with roughly because i have to add a price and which date do you think will be sensible for me? say 1570

thanks

x

[Grimalkin]

Hi Kezia - is the newspaper for a school project?  If so I'm guessing it's not essential that you have exaclty the right currency and price for your paper (although of course you want to be along the right lines).  I can't remember any references to currency in Othello (check the "put money in thy purse" scene between Iago and Roderigo), but in other S plays (set in Italy) they always seem to go on about ducats (Merchant of Venice for example).  If you reason that the Venetians in Cyprus are reading a home-produced paper the price could be in ducats...

[jno]

ah yes, I went through a project like this a few years back, for The Merchant of Venice; we decided to price our paper in ducats; lots of STORM AT SEA headlines. Yours can probably have a personal profile of Othello labelled 'WATTAMAN - HE BEAT THE OTTOMANS!'

[kezia_88]

wow thanks guys this is great