Katie Lovell -- A Turkish Spin on Shakespeare's Othello

  Your analysis of the differences and connections between the Shakespeare
  play and the Sanlikol opera is very good.  I think you see clearly that the 
  Sanlikol opera's plot is related to the Shakespeare plot by a series of substitutions or 
  reversals in the Venice-Turkey relationship, or in the basic traits of 
  characters or the relationships between characters, that all have the effect 
  of shining a light on those relationships "from the other side," so to speak.  

  The main comment I have is that I think you are underestimating the *status*
  of the Sumbul character.  Yes, he is old, not very attractive, and a eunuch.
  But he's also supposed to be an extremely powerful person in the Ottoman 
  court -- the program notes say in fact that "Sümbül rose above other palace 
  eunuchs to his high station as chief black eunuch, a position reserved exclusively 
  for Africans. Few ministers or servants of the palace in the sixteenth and 
  seventeenth centuries had more intimate contact with the sultan (i.e. the ruler of 
  the empire), or wielded more personal influence."  So I think the reversal here
  is not so much one of status or power.  It is rather a reversal of the arena in 
  which that power is expressed:  Othello is a super-manly warrior, while Sumbul is a 
  eunuch--probably a rather effeminate man.  But he is also a courtier who has
  has a lot of trust and influence (he can be trusted around the sultan's harem, 
  for instance, because he cannot have normal sexual relations with the sultan's 
  wives) and gets sent on diplomatic missions for the sultan.  
 

  Grade:  92 (A-)