Othello

When I read dated texts, such as historical fiction or informational literature, I don't tend to wonder about whether or not the author is condoning the subject matter. Perhaps all period pieces should be viewed as historical text. After all, isn't the text more so a documentation of the conventions and beliefs of its time than anything else? We can get a feel for the culture, and historical time-frame from which an author writes. The exception to this rule is fantansy. But maybe if we even dissect it, we could come up with inferences into the time-frame in which it was written. I believe this is how we should view Shakespeare. It wouldn't fit that a man who was such a radical in his time, would condone or justify its practices. Perhaps his work is just a way of documenting the forms that were typical to his culture. One could even look at his work as a sort of social commentary...At any rate, who knows what any dead author was thinking when they wrote anything? We can only speculate, and even then, we're just grasping at straws.

Peace, Love, and SooooulTrain;)