Page "Othello" Paragraph 33
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Michael Neill, editor of the Oxford Shakespeare edition, notes that the earliest critical references to Othello's colour, ( Thomas Rymer's 1693 critique of the play, and the 1709 engraving in Nicholas Rowe's edition of Shakespeare ), assume him to be Sub-Saharan, while the earliest known North African interpretation was not until Edmund Kean's production of 1814.
Honigmann discusses the view that Abd el-Ouahed ben Messaoud ben Mohammed Anoun, Moorish ambassador of the Arab King of Barbary to Queen Elizabeth I in 1600, was one inspiration for Othello.
While Shakespeare's play was written only a few years afterwards Honigman questions the view that ben Messaoud himself was a significant influence on it.
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