Reading Quiz 5: Harlem Duet (8 pts) Name: _____________________________
Djanet Sears writes the following in a preface to the play:
“As a veteran theatre practitioner of African descent, Shakespeare’s Othello had haunted me since I was first introduced to him. Sir Laurence Olivier in black-face. Othello is the first African portrayed in the annals of western dramatic literature. In an effort to exercise this ghost, I have written Harlem Duet. Harlem Duet, a rhapsodic blues tragedy, explores the effects of race and sex on the lives of people of African descent.”
For this quiz, I would like you to reflect on Sears’ assertions by addressing two related questions. Use textual evidence to back up your claims.
1) Given thatHarlem Duet in intended as a dialogue with (or comment on) Othello, what do you perceive that the play intends to say about Shakespeare’s Venetian general and the play that bears his name?
2) Given thatHarlem Duetwasconceived as an exploration of “the effects of race and sex on the lives of people of African descent,” what do you see assome of the conclusions at which the play arrives?