Freud invoked Othello and Shylock to show Jew and Arab convertible identities.

Evidence

Freud’s mind follows turns and conversions that, at the center of Europe, also remain fixed in an Italian vicinity, never too far from Venice. He brings together, under the heading of a strange contrast, shapes of the Abrahamic. Discreetly signaling toward both Othello and Shylock, Freud does more. He does more than merely confirm that a Turk could turn ghost, that a “blessed Jew” could turn Moor, and that such a “Blackmoor” could, in turn, turn “white.” — Gil Anidjar, The Jew, the Arab, 667