On the surface, William Shakespeare's Othello the Moor (1604) and Tayeb Salih's The Season of the Migration North (1966) are very similar. Othello's title character, the Moor of Venice, is a black man whose marriage to a white woman, Desdemona, is tested by his father, Brabantio. Season of Migration to the North revolves around Mustafa Sa'eed, an African man who faces similar challenges in courting white women. It is precisely Othello's foreign origin that conquers Desdemona. Mustafa falsifies his past to seduce several white women, namely Ann Hammond, Sheila Greenwood, and Isabella Seymour. However, Mustafa's wife and only love, Jean Morris, is not because of her estrangement, but in spite of it. Othello is convinced by his ensign, Iago, that Desdemona is having an affair. In Season of Migration to the North, it is Jean herself who arouses Mustafa's suspicions. Othello and Mustafa eventually kill their respective first wives in “the bed which [they] have defiled” (4.1.195-196). Othello subsequently commits suicide, while Mustafa serves prison time. Through intertextuality, Season of Migration to the North deconstructs the simplistic handling of race relations in Othello, the Moor of Venice. Othello, the Moor of Venice and Season of Migration to the North both feature interracial love stories, dampened by parental disapproval. The news of Othello and Desdemona's marriage follows: Brabantio: My daughter! Oh, my daughter! All: Dead? Brabantio: Yes, for me. (1.3.59) Similarly, in Season of Migration to the North, Sheila tells Mustafa, “my father would kill me if they knew I was in love with a black man” (pp. 115). However, a more suitable counterpart for Brabantio would be Ann's father, Colonel Hammond, who “said he considered himself an unprejudiced liberal person. Yet he was a realistic man and saw that such a marriage [between Mustafa and Ann] would not work” (pp. 57). Both fathers betray racism in their inability to conceive of a healthy marriage between a white woman and a black man. While Brabantio suspects, without reason, that Othello “has enchanted [Desdemona]” (1.2.63), Mustafa himself admits that he “deceived [Ann], seducing her by telling her that we would be married and that our marriage would be a bridge between north and south” (pp. 57). However, unlike Brabantio, Colonel Hammond not only has the opportunity to condemn his daughter's “deceiver” in court, but instead opts for neutrality. To varying degrees, Othello and Mustafa find their romantic prospects hindered by their parents' disapproval. However, in Othello, the Moor of Venice, this disapproval is unfounded but enduring and in Season of Migration of the North, this disapproval is well-placed but tempered by sympathy. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Despite society's objections, Othello and Mustafa manage to seduce women with their respective backgrounds, fictional or otherwise. Othello says of Desdemona: “She loved me for the dangers I had run” (1.3.167). In Othello, the Moor of Venice, this relationship is framed in a positive light, meeting an unfortunate end only due to external pressures. Yet, a white woman falling in love with a man because of his background, which is alien to her, almost seems like a fetish. It is precisely this fetish that Mustafa exploits. Mustafa seduces women with his “life story,” a capitalization of racist stereotypes. His conquests would say "that in my eyes he saw the glimmer of mirages in the hot deserts, that in my voice he heard the screams of wild beasts in the jungles" (pp. 120) or described his skin as "thecolor of magic and mystery and obscenity" (pp. 115). Mustafa “felt that in [Isabella's] eyes I had transformed into a naked and primitive creature” (pp. 33). Mustafa's relationships with Ann, Sheila and Isabella are depicted as superficial and end in suicide. These relationships show the dark side of Othello and Desdemona's "love". Mustafa even “saw tears welling up in [Isabella's] eyes” (pp. 33) during her “education”; Othello “often deceived [Desdemona] with tears when I spoke of some painful blow my youth suffered” (1.3.156-158). The parallel becomes explicit when Mustafa tells Isabella: “I am like Othello, Arab-African” (pp. 33). Therefore, Mustafa's seduction tactics are a parody of Othello's seduction of Desdemona. Desdemona appears to be the only person Othello has ever been in love with; on the contrary, the only woman to whom Mustafa professes his love seems contrary to his past. Jean tells Mustafa that he must allow her to destroy a Wedgwood vase, an Arabic manuscript, and an Isphahan silk prayer rug (pp. 129-130) – "the den of lethal lies that [he] had deliberately built" (pp. 121 ) – to win his love. Jean is not only immune to Mustafa's Othello-like racial seduction tactics, but he actively mocks them. The fact that Jean is the only person Mustafa develops genuine feelings for is a further insult to Othello and Desdemona's relationship. Both Othello and Mustafa question the faithfulness of their respective first wives. In Othello, the Moor of Venice, Iago sows doubt in Othello's mind without openly implicating Desdemona, for example: Iago: In Venice they let God see the jokes they dare not show to their husbands; their best conscience is to leave nothing undone, but not to remain unknown. Othello: Do ​​you say so? Iago: He deceived his father, marrying you (3.3.202-206) In Season of Migration to the North, Jean fills the roles of both Desdemona and Iago, causing Mustafa to question his own faithfulness. Mustafa tells the narrator, “She liked to flirt with every Tom, Dick, and Harry when we went out together” (pp. 133), but Mustafa never caught her understanding the flirting. When Mustafa found someone else's handkerchief in their house, Jean was as evasive as Iago: “'Supposing it is not your handkerchief,' he said, 'what will you do about it?'” (pp. 134). A handkerchief also serves as evidence of an affair in Othello, the Moor of Venice. Othello gives Desdemona a handkerchief, which Iago leaves in Cassio's lodgings. When Othello sees Cassio with the handkerchief (4.1.150), this confirms his suspicion that Desdemona and Cassio are having an affair. Mustafa comes to suspect his wife through similar means to Othello, but while Mustafa's suspicions are probably correct, Othello's are not. Convinced of infidelity, Othello and Mustafa both decide to kill their respective wives in bed. Othello kisses Desdemona before killing her, but Mustafa and Jean go even further. As narrated by Mustafa: “I bent down and kissed her. I put the blade between her breasts and she wrapped her legs around my back. Slowly I pressed. Slowly. He opened his eyes. What ecstasy was in those eyes!” In Othello, the Moor of Venice, the kiss is Othello's last indulgence before presumably sending his wife to hell. However, in Season of Migration to the North, Mustafa and Jean seem excited by the murder itself. The romance of these climactic scenes is not purely physical. While Desdemona is on her deathbed, both literally and figuratively: Othello: Think of your sins. Desdemona: These are loves that I bring you. (5.2.40) Desdemona's declaration of love is an attempt to dissuade Othello from killing her. In contrast, Jean clearly has no interest in stopping Mustafa. But it also expresses. 1156-1238.