Yes, there are racist elements to Othello, but Othello is the hero of the play, of high and pure morals, courageous, and an extraordinary commander. (Even Iago concedes this in the play, and Iago does not give a lot of credit to anyone.) In Merchant, however, Portia has the racist lines. When the Prince of Morocco is coming to have a try at the caskets, she says he has the “complexion of a devil,” and when we first meet the prince he apologizes for his color, and asks her to overlook it. When he goes away, she sighs with relief, and says that she hopes that all of his color should meet the same losing circumstance. While Portia has some brilliant speeches later in the play, specifically “The quality of mercy” discourse during the trial, she is a brat in that and other “casket” scenes, so I portrayed her thus through most of my story.

More interesting for me than race, when the story is set in the context of the Crusades, is that a Moor would have been from North Africa, a predominantly Muslim culture, and now he is in command of a force that may lead a major attack on the Muslims. Othello, we are told by Iago, is not a Muslim, but a Christian, but, you know, he might be a secret Muslim. I mean, he’s so African looking, and he has that funny name . . .

Yeah, I went there.

Anyway, I don’t think that Shakespeare was a racist, and his sonnets 127–151 are about the famous mistress he refers to as his “dark-lady” who is, by description, of African descent.

The point of this, I suppose, is that I didn’t intend The Serpent of Venice to be a story about discrimination, although discrimination is manifest among the characters. For me, it’s a story about hypocrisy and greed, courage and grief, anger and revenge. But most important, I wanted it to be a story that shows how cool it would be to have your own dragon, which I have wanted since I was five.†

Christopher Moore

San Francisco, California

January 2013

*Interesting bit of trivia I found: the first time the name “Jessica” appears in print, anywhere, in any language, is in The Merchant of Venice, although it may be derived from the Hebrew name Iscah.

†No, I didn’t and don’t want to have sex with a dragon, I just thought that would be funny.

About the Author

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

CHRISTOPHER MOORE is the author of thirteen previous novels, including Lamb, The Stupidest Angel, Fool, Sacré Bleu, and A Dirty Job. He lives in San Francisco, California

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Also by Christopher Moore

ALSO BY CHRISTOPHER MOORE

Sacré Bleu

Bite Me

Fool

You Suck

A Dirty Job

The Stupidest Angel

Fluke: Or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings

Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal

The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove