One of the most famous images I have seen before and caught my eye once again in the research I have done after reading Othello, is the famous man with a head ‘beneath his shoulders’. I find this image a brilliant one. I saw it a few times studying history and foreign literature in high school. Let’s Start from the connection to the text –
It was my hint to speak—such was my process –-
And of the cannibals that each (other) eat,
The anthropophagi, and men whos heads
(do grow) Beneath their shoulders. These things to
hear. (AI SIII, 165-168)
During Othellos conversation with the Duke, he is revealing a bit of his life history, and in particular parts of his journeys around the world. The most interesting word here in my opinion, is ‘Anthropophagi’, which means “People-Eater”, or cannibal (as more accustomed today) in greek. According to a few sources’ analizing his words in a comparison to other historical facts, Othello was mistaken here by referring to the ‘headless’ men as ‘Anthropophagi’.
However, the correct term, based on these sources is ‘Blemmyes’. The Anthropophagi were more of cannibals, people who eat other people, while the ‘Blemmyes’ were believed to be people who have had no head (technically growing their head reversed, into their chest), resaulting in facial expressions, identical to regular people’s, on their chest. The picture which I chose is the closest thing to a ‘Blemmey’ you can find today –
An “Anthropophagus. From Conrad Lycosthenes,Prodigiorum ac ostentorum chronicon, Basel, 1557″ By permission of the Folger Shakespeare Library.
I find this confusion very interesting. In my opinion, Othello might have had a wrongful connection assuming that these people, which he referred to ‘cannibals’ as well, were eating other people, and as a result, ultimately had faces inside them (as in the picture, from a different perspective).
Either way, it is shedding light over some of the ancient beliefs in those times when the play was written, which clearly disappeared with the technological evolution, especially due to the availability of information and science. With that being said, there are many cases of people with unique physical attributes that science can’t really explain, yet.
Work Cited:
“Internet Shakespeare Editions.” Travellers’ Tales. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 May 2016.
“Headless Men.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 23 May 2016.
http://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/Library/SLT/ideas/new%20knowledge/monsters.html