Analyses of Race and Gender Issues in OthelloThe discussion of race in Shakespeare's Othello has received much critical attention. Virginia Mason Vaughn, in her book Othello: A Contextual History, reviews this critical history, beginning with Marvin Rosenberg's 1961 book The Masks of Othello (a book documenting the 19th century tendency to depict Othello as having the light skin), and continuing to Jack D'Amico's 1991 book, The Moor in English Renaissance Drama. According to Vaughan herself, "the effect of Othello depends... on the essential fact of the hero's obscurity, the visual signifier of his otherness" (51). Arthur L. Little, Jr., in his article "'An Essence Unseen': The Primal Scene of Racism in Othello," asserts that "the three crucial structural elements of Shakespeare's play are the blackness of Othello, his marriage to the white Desdemona. , and his murder” (306, emphasis added) as if there were no other “crucial structural elements.” I do not intend to minimize or undervalue the attention that has been given to the discourse on race, to the opposition of black and white, in Othello; However, I argue that an exclusive focus on this discourse radically reduces and simplifies the play, and I wish to focus on a different discourse, a different opposition in the play - the discourse of honesty and prostitution, the opposition of falsity and loyalty. Callaghan, in her book Women and Gender in Renaissance Tragedy, points out that "mysogynistic discourse...leads, directly or indirectly, to the death of the tragic transgressor [among whom, in Renaissance drama, she counts Shakespeare's Desdemona and Cordelia , and Duche by John Webster... middle of paper ...... White Devil New Jersey: Humanities Press International, 1989. · Gataker, Thomas "God's Gift of a Good Wife", Some Sermons, Preached for the first time, and after being published several times. London: printed by John Haviland for Edward Brewster, 1637. · Little, Arthur, Jr. "'An essence that is not seen': the primordial scene of racism in Othello," Shakespeare Quarterly 44 (1993), 304-324 . · Raynolds, John. A Defense of the Judgment of the Reformed Churches. Printed by George Walters, 1610. · Swetnam, Joseph. The indictment of lewd, idle, rebellious and fickle women: or their vanity, choose if. London: Printed for Thomas Archer, 1616. · Anonymous, An Apology For Womenkinde. London: printed by Ed. Allde for William Ferebrand, 1605. · Vaughan, Virgina Mason. Othello: A Contextual History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994.