Muslims in Elizabethan Drama: History and Fiction

There has been a sort of misunderstanding between the East and the West since the emergence of Islam more than 1400 years ago; even some Muslims misunderstand and misrepresent their religion adding to the already beleaguered relations between the two sides. The correlations between 16-17 centuries world affairs and our modern era are striking: the then Turkish and North African skirmishes and piratical attacks against European ships and interests and modern day violent attacks by extremists against Muslims and non-Muslims alike. Western counties, as well, have committed horrible crimes against the East between the 18th and 20th centuries. There have been calamities and reciprocal accusations on both sides with no reconciliation looming in the horizon. It is against such historical and political background that the representation of Moorish/Muslim characters has been examined. The book argues that Moors/Muslims were more often than not misrepresented than represented yet at the same time the author acknowledges that Moors were only the only "others" who were misrepresented in Elizabethan drama, Catholic French and Spaniards were pretested in similar vein.