"...the Æthiops were as fair
As other dames ; now black, with black despair."
In this quote, the purpose behind the play's action is revealed: the daughters of Niger, once considered most beautiful, have learned that the world now sees paleness as the most beautiful complexion, and they have become despondent in their self-perceived lack of beauty. Now they embark in search of this magical land of "-tania" that will allow them to become lighter skinned in order to again become the most beautiful women in the world.
"For were the world, with all his wealth, a ring,
Britannia, whose new name makes all tongues sing,
Might be a diamant worthy to inchase it."
In this quotation, Aethiopia is revealing her strong admiration for the British Empire – it is the legendary land where blackness might find its redemption. This particular quote dramatically highlights Aethiopia's excessive praise: she essentially calls it the diamond in the ring of the world, standing above and apart from all lesser nations. This praise is a shameless appeal to the play's audience, which is entirely British, and their monarch King James I.
"Ruled by a sun, that to this height doth grace it:
Whose beams shine day and night, and are of force
To blanch an Æthiop, and revive a corse.
His light sciential is, and, past mere nature,
Can salve the rude defects of every creature."
This quote is an example of the exaggerated flattery for King James I that Jonson includes in the play. This work was to be performed in front of him, and naturally the playwright wanted to win the favor of the king, so he included generous amounts of flattering praise for His Majesty. Here, Aethiopia is saying that the King of England is like a sun because of his great, brilliant radiance, and that the light he gives off is so supernaturally powerful that it can cleanse the defects of any person, including the black skin of Niger's daughters. This quotation also suggests that King James I is a Christ-like savior with the ability to perform miracles.
"...in their black, the perfectst beauty growes;
Since the fix't colour of their curled haire,
(Which is the highest grace of dames most faire)
No cares, no age can change; or there display
The fearefull tincture of abhorred Gray;
Since Death hir selfe (hir selfe being pale & blue)
Can neuer alter their most faith-full hew;
All which are arguments, to proue, how far
Their beauties conquer, in great Beauties warre;
And more, how neere Diuinity they be,
That stand from passion, or decay so free."
When Oceanus asks Niger why he has come toward the West, Niger replies that he is there on behalf of his daughters. Here, he describes his daughters and their darkness with praise and pride; Niger suggests that darkness is the true and unalterable beauty that all should seek, as it does not show signs of age or mortality. The beginning of the play therefore includes a significant defense of blackness that some have argued renders the rest of the narrative an ironic criticism of English society.
"Yet, since the fabulous voices of some few
Poore brain-sicke men, stil'd Poets, here with you,
Haue, with such enuy of their graces, sung
The painted Beauties, other Empires sprung;
Letting their loose, and winged fictions fly
To infect all clymates, yea our purity"
After praising his daughters' blackness as the one pure form of beauty, Niger explains that it is the voices of "brain-sick poets" who have altered the world's notion of what is considered beautiful. These poets, Niger says, love not blackness but instead "painted beauties," or fair-skinned women who adorn themselves with makeup. This, Niger says, is what spurred the growing understanding that whiteness is purer than blackness. Here, Jonson pokes subtle fun at his contemporaries, many of whom authored poems about the chaste and pure beauty of fair-skinned women. Again, this is another example of a quotation that has led many to perceive the play as ironic and critical rather than straightforwardly racist.
"...where bright Sol, that heat
Their blouds, doth neuer rise, or set,
But in his journey passeth by,
And leaues that Clymat of the sky,
To comfort of a greater Light,
Who formes all beauty, with his sight."
When the daughters encounter Aethiopia, she tells them to seek a land whose name ends in "-tania." Here, Aethiopia describes why this land is so special – the sun the daughters are used to feeling on their skin is not the same in this land, and is instead replaced by "a greater light" who "forms all beauty." This is an allusion to King James I, who will later be revealed as the one who can transform the daughters. Here, however, Aethiopia speaks metaphorically about the king, portraying him as godly or divine.
"At this, the Moone was discouered in the vpper part of the house, triumphant in a Siluer throne, made in figure of a Pyramis. Her garments White, and Siluer, the dressing of her head antique; & crown'd with a Luminarie, or Sphære of light: which striking on the clouds, and heightened with Siluer, reflected as naturall clouds doe by the splendour of the Moone."
As Niger implores Oceanus to help him discover the correct "-tania" land, the narration describes how the moon transforms into Aethiopia herself. A notable feature of this personified figure is the extent to which she is bathed with light – she is "silver," "white," and surrounded by a "sphere of light." These details emphasize the play's focus on the contrast between light and dark and then further associate light with power, grace, and beauty.
"With that great name B R I T A N I A, this blest Isle
Hath wonne her ancient dignitie, and stile,
A World, diuided from the world."
Aethiopia tells Niger that it was she who appeared to his daughters in the lake and told them to seek a land ending in "-tania." Here, she tells Niger that the correct land is Britannia, which she describes as a burgeoning nation deserving of "ancient dignity." Through this description, the play suggests that though Britain is a young civilization, it is a natural culmination of the cultural, political, and social efforts of antiquity. When Aethiopia says that Britain is "a world, divided from the world," she implies that Britain is greater than and more powerful than all other nations across the globe.
"Inuite them, boldly, to the shore,
Their Beauties shalbe scorch'd no more:
This Sunne is temperate, and refines
All things, on which his radiance shines."
Here, Aethiopia instructs Niger to bring his daughters to Britannia, where they will encounter this benevolent "sun" (King James I) with the power to turn them white. This description of transformation is notable, however, because Aethiopia asserts that Niger's daughters will no longer have their beauty "scorched" by the sun. Her description suggests that the daughters are inherently beautiful, and have only been made less desirable because of the harshness of their climate's sun. Despite the overt racism of these remarks, the play does appear more invested in the praise of King James I as a transformative, divine power than it does in the denigration of blackness or dark-skinned people.
"Thirteene times thrise, on thirteene nights,
(So often as I fill my Sphære
With glorious light, throughout the yeere)
You shall (when all things els do sleepe
Saue your chast thoughts) with reuerence, steepe
Your bodies in that purer brine,
And wholesome dew, call'd Ros-marine."
At the end of the masque, Aethiopia tells the daughters of Niger that they must bathe in sea-dew thirteen times over the course of the year before appearing before the "sun" of Britania and being transformed. Many have noted that these instructions are, relatively speaking, rather mild representations of a racial transformation. There is no violence or outright subjugation involved, and the daughters need only stand before the king in order to be changed. Some early modern political scholars have suggested that this conclusion is a commentary on King James I's political position toward Africa, which was characterized by benign policies and relative benevolence.
