2015+AP+P2+Ottoman+or+Ottomites

Aim: Christian



The aim and main goal of the Ottoman Empire was to use their mighty influence to expand their religion, Islam, around the world. The empire came into prominence during the early 14th century and at it’s height conquered most of Eastern Europe and Asia, controlling the land that makes up twelve modern day countries. The Ottomans forced all of their new subjects to be Islamic and enslaved all who refused. "The Ottomans attempted to bring as much territory as possible into the Islamic fold. The non-Muslims living in these areas were then absorbed into the Empire as protected subjects" (TheOttomans.org).

Works Cited “The Ottomans: History.” 21 January 2002. Web. 24 March 2015.

Audience: Joy When Shakespeare’s Othello first started being shown, the Ottoman Empire and their vassal states surrounded the Black Sea and covered the southern coast of the Mediterranean, and the Turks were seen as the “terror of Europe” (Lockett). In this time period the Turks, or the Ottomites, were feared from Europe. The Turks would take children once every three years, convert them, and then train them as soldiers. They would also capture men, forcing them to convert and then keeping them. Many wives petitioned the English government for ransoms to get their husbands back (Bate). Jonathon Bate, a British scholar and novelist, stated that “Othello is a Janizary in reverse, not a Christian turned Muslim fighting against Christians, but a Muslim turned Christian fighting against Muslims,” which was much rarer in that time period. Shakespeare wrote Othello as going against the normal, terror-inducing Turks of the time. This may have been to show his audience, the English, that not all hope was lost, that it was possible for a Turk to convert to righteous Christianity and fight for what Shakespeare and England thought was the right cause.

Works Cited Bate, Jonathon. “Othello and the Other: Turning Turk: The subtleties of Shakespeare's treatment of Islam.” 19 October 2001. Web. 23 March 2015. Lockett, Joseph. “‘That Which Heaven Hath Forbid the Ottomites’: The Turks in Shakespeare's Othello.” //Grist for the Mill//, Joseph Lockett. n.d. Web. 23 March 2015.

Culture: Jonathon The Ottoman Empire was a Sunni Islamic State that at its height surrounded the Black Sea and was the closest Islamic State to Shakespeare's Europe. The Ottoman Empire and its vassal states stretched through modern day from Arabia to Egypt to Mesopotamia, to the Crimea to Hungary. The Ottoman Empire was considered the most dangerous Islamic Country to Shakespeare's Europe because it was the closest to it. They were described in Othello as “That Which Heaven Hath Forbid the Ottomites” (Lockett). Ottomites were considered evil, sinners, and blasphemers by the rest of Europe. Jonathon Bate described the feelings of Europe and the Arab world starting “To Shakespeare and his contemporaries, Turk, Arab and Moor all represented the Islamic "other" (Bate). The europeans saw the Islamic world as one separate from their own. Works Cited Bate, Jonathon. “Othello and the Other: Turning Turk: The subtleties of Shakespeare's treatment of Islam.” 19 October 2001. Web. 23 March 2015. Lockett, Joseph. “That Which Heaven Hath Forbid the Ottomites”: The Turks in Shakespeare's Othello.” //Grist for the Mill//, Joseph Lockett. n.d. Web. 23 March 2015.

History: Meagan

The Ottoman Empire was first founded in July of 1922 by a man named Osman I in which the name Ottoman derived from. At the start of the Ottoman Empire it was not an empire at all, but merely a Sunni Islamic State. Eventually many authors started creating works to display the time period, “The two-part drama charts the rise and fall of the atheistic Tamburlaine, the fall and rerise of the Ottoman Empire,” (Bate). The Ottoman Empire was one of the most powerful states between the 15th and 16th century. When it was the most powerful, “In 1604, when //Othello//'s first recorded performance took place, the Ottoman realm stretched from Arabia to Egypt to Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) to the Crimea to Hungary,” (Lockett). As time passed the Ottoman Empire began to lose power and became weak. In 1922 the Ottoman Empire had fallen and was destroyed. The Ottoman Empire was then replaced by what we now call Turkey.

Works Cited

Bate, Jonathon. “Othello and the Other: Turning Turk: The subtleties of Shakespeare's treatment

of Islam.” 19 October 2001. Web. 23 March 2015.

Lockett, Joseph. “That Which Heaven Hath Forbid the Ottomites”: The Turks in Shakespeare's

Othello.” //Grist for the Mill//, Joseph Lockett. n.d. Web. 23 March 2015.