Othello Redux
Scott’s Kenilworth and the Trickiness of ‘Race’ on the Nineteenth-century Stage
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 20069466 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Diana E Henderson (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2003 |
| Pages | 14-29 |
| Publication date | 2003-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | CHAPTER |
| Venue | Victorian Shakespeare : Volume 2 (SOURCE_BOOK) |
| Publisher | Palgrave Macmillan UK (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1057/9780230504141_2 |
| OpenAlex | W2481177357 |
| ISBN | 9780230504141 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 1 |
A spectre haunts Sir Walter Scott's historical novel representing the Elizabethan entertainments at Kenilworth castle: the uncanny presence of another fiction, Shakespeare's Othello. Published in 1821, Kenilworth centres on the domestic tragedy of a couple who elope for love and are thwarted by the supersubtle ways of a rigid court culture. Borrowing Othello's central trio of a jealous husband, his villainous henchman, and a slandered wife, the novel likewise culminates in the wife's murder. The lovers here are Sir Robert Dudley (anachronistically referred to by his later title, the Earl of Leicester) and his first wife, Amy Robsart. Scott's reconstruction of their lives derives in part from scurrilous Elizabethan sources such as Leicester's Commonwealth; but the manner and mood reveal the equally powerful influence of Shakespeare's drama in general and Othello in particular. Like Desdemona, Amy is framed by the false accusations of infidelity constructed by her husband's trusted follower, Varney (with the aid of his Roderigo-like assistant Lambourne), and the scenes of temptation, inquisition, jealous rage, and manipulated pseudoevidence' repeatedly echo and mimic Shakespeare's play.1
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| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,1 |
| Citation span | 2016 - 2016 (1) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |