ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the very process of marking, the identification and stigmatization of an immutable somatic mark. In Othello, the language of "marking"—observing, interpreting, remarking, labeling—succeeds in branding, permanently marking its objects. Blackness, like any stigmatized somatic mark, thus comes to mean what it means within a highly regulated system of conduct. Othello is a play about travel; it considers the fate of a traveler who simply seeks to gain and maintain a good reputation, and who submits wholeheartedly to the local conduct system with its arbitrary rules about behavior and its intolerance for foreign customs. Othello suggests that his own blackness is a moral failing: OthelloHer name, that was as freshAs Dian's visage, is now begrimed and blackAs mine own face. In addition, Othello himself has benefited from displaying his own signs of trustworthiness. He has gained the respect of the Venetian Duke and senators for his expertise in military matters and for his past service.
