Abstract
The article explores the disruptive social contexts and inter-racial relationships in Thomas Dekker's Lust's Dominion (c. 1599-1600) [Collier found out about its original performance date, which was in February 1600, and that it was first published in 1657 (Collier 1827, p. 264)] with focus on the Moorish Eleazar. The play is about race, lust, revenge and politics. The Elizabethan experienced a cultural blend and a fear of Africans and other foreigners. Like Dekker, Elizabethan dramatists imparted well-known contemporary prejudices and stereotypes on those of specific origin in Africa based solely on their dark skin. Elizabethan shows reinforced the image of the Moor as cruel, tyrannical and deceitful. The African Moors are portrayed to the Elizabethan expectations as being demi-devil, deceitful, lascivious, unpleasant, merciless egotist as soon as he appears. The depiction of the evil Moor contributes to Elizabethan superiority as an intrinsic right. Dekker illustrates the pervasive racism of Elizabethan Europe and the plain consequences of this institutionalized prejudice.