| The purpose of the present study is to see the Turk in the English Renaissance as a threat and yet as a geopolitical adversary. Despite the threat the Turks created during the sixteenth century, the study proposes that they played a constructive role in defining some aspects of English nationhood. Sidney's Letters and Arcadia, Marlowe's Tamburlaine , and Shakespeare's Othello fictionalize their authors' response to and comment on the role of the Turk in the sixteenth century. The study concludes that the Turks were no aliens to the Renaissance. The fact that the English knew and dealt with the Turks in trade, diplomacy, and war made them indeed no imaginary constructs. |
