Lupton, Julia."Othello Circumcised: Shakespeare and the Pauline Discourse of Nations." Representations, vol. Winter, no. 57, 1997, pp. 73-89, www.jstor.org/stable/2928664.
Lupton asserts that at the beginning of the play, Shakespeare's intent was not to racialize Othello and Desdemona's relationship but to classify this (through Brabantio's perspective) as a cultural difference; Othello being a Gentile and Barbarian and Brabantio's as a Christian convert (from Judaism); with Brabantio's focus on the "family clan" being disrupted from an outsider (Othello), even though Othello is also a Christian convert. (Lupton 76) Lupton supports this premise with writings from "St. Paul's division of humanity Greek, Jew and barbarian..." (74). The Pauline ideology essentially stated that Jews and Muslims were culturally more in common with each other than Christians; a clear contradiction, but apparently justified because of Othello's opaque ethnicity. The author supports part of this premise with the cultural practice of circumcision.
Because of their similarities, this placed both of them (religions) under equal suspicion during the Renaissance. Othello was a "converted" Christian. Shakespeare draws this connection through Othello being circumcised as him being of the Abrahamic class, at least visually. Despite this, Pauline's ideology argues that religion is in one's heart and not necessarily any outward appearances (circumcision). Because Othello hadn't originated from Europe, he had to come from one of two places; the west of Venice, meaning he would have been a possible Gentile/Barbarian, a pagan along with carrying over barbaric and violent tendencies of the darker west of Africa or east of Venice, (Middle East) denoting an Islamic origin, a lighter color, and closer parallels with Judaism. (Ibid)
In effect, Othello was villainized both racially and ethnically/culturally; it didn't really matter where he came from, he was an outsider and ultimately unwelcomed during the Renaissance. His murder of Desdemona supported the "barbarity" of his supposed western background, his ideology of "permanent justice" for Desdemona's purported adultery arises from his possible eastern influence of Abrahamic justice, but his suicide provided some measure of Christian redemption, allowing the Venetians to focus on his service provided for them. (83-4)
--David Kase
