<P> The race of the title role is often seen as Shakespeare's way of isolating the character, culturally as well as visually, from the Venetian nobles and officers, and the isolation may seem more genuine when a black actor takes the role . But questions of race may not boil down to a simple decision of casting a single role . In 1979, Keith Fowler's production of Othello mixed the races throughout the company . Produced by the American Revels Company at the Empire Theater (renamed the November Theater in 2011) in Richmond, Virginia, this production starred African American actor Clayton Corbin in the title role, with Henry K. Bal, a Hawaiian actor of mixed ethnicity, playing Iago . Othello's army was composed of both black and white mercenaries . Iago's wife, Emilia was played by the popular black actress, Marie Goodman Hunter . The 2016 production at the New York Theatre Workshop, directed by Sam Gold, also effectively used a mixed - race cast, starring English actors David Oyelowo as Othello and Daniel Craig as Iago . Desdemona is played by American actress Rachel Brosnahan, Cassio is played by Finn Wittrock, and Emillia is played by Marsha Stephanie Blake . </P> <P> As the Protestant Reformation of England proclaimed the importance of pious, controlled behaviour in society, it was the tendency of the contemporary Englishman to displace society's "undesirable" qualities of barbarism, treachery, jealousy and libidinousness onto those who are considered "other". The assumed characteristics of black men, or "the other", were both instigated and popularised by Renaissance dramas of the time; for example, the treachery of black men inherent to George Peele's The Battle of Alcazar (1588). It has been argued that it is Othello's "otherness" which makes him so vulnerable to manipulation . Audiences of the time would expect Othello to be insecure about his race and the implied age gap between himself and Desdemona . </P> <P> The title "Moor" implies a religious "other" of North African or Middle Eastern descent . Though the actual racial definition of the term is murky, the implications are religious as well as racial . Many critics have noted references to demonic possession throughout the play, especially in relation to Othello's seizure, a phenomenon often associated with possession in the popular consciousness of the day . Thomas M. Vozar, in a 2012 article in Philosophy and Literature, suggests that the epileptic fit relates to the mind--body problem and the existence of the soul . </P> <P> There have been many differing views on the character of Othello over the years . A.C. Bradley calls Othello the "most romantic of all of Shakespeare's heroes" (by "hero" Bradley means protagonist) and "the greatest poet of them all". On the other hand, F.R. Leavis describes Othello as "egotistical". There are those who also take a less critical approach to the character of Othello such as William Hazlitt, who said: "the nature of the Moor is noble...but his blood is of the most inflammable kind". </P>

What does the title of the play othello the moor of venice mean