Examples Of Discrimination In Othello

Racism is the belief that all members of each race possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race, especially so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races. Racism is ugly thing. Racism separates us into groups that have specific abilities and/or skin color.

Race is still a common subject that people deal with in their daily life. In Othello, race is one of the issues that is dealt with. Othello is a black General among whites. Even though he is black, he marries a white woman named Desdemona. In the beginning, Desdemona’s father has an issue with Desdemona marrying Othello, even though Othello is respected and honored in the society. The issue Desdemona’s father has with Othello is his race. This issue about marrying a different race is looked down upon, even in today’s society. Manny people who have these sentiments like the father or are in a similar situation to Othello and Desdemona, can relate.

At first glance, Othello is explaining his feelings about killing Desdemona. However, if one reads in between the lines, this becomes a metaphor for the racial problems of the Renaissance. First, Othello does not explain his reasons to why he

Externally, In Othello’ society, other’s racist comments against him incorporate some impact on Othello’s downfall. Characters such as Roderigo, Iago, and Brabantio referred Othello as an inhumane being. Othello was known as “the moor” and “thick lips” by Iago and Roderigo. Almost everyone discriminates Othello verbally because of his skin colour. Yet, Iago is the most racist towards Othello, he attempted to aggravate Brabantio by telling him an “old black ram” (I, III,23) is “making the beast with two backs” with your “white ewe”. Iago referred Othello as black and Desdemona as white, where two of them contradict each other. Iago intended to upset Brabantio by using racist animal imagery to prove to Brabantio about his daughter’s elopement. We can see that Iago have no respect for Othello as a person, but only sees him as a black animal. Nonetheless, Desdemona’s father, Brabantio also have a racist attitude towards Othello. Brabantio doesn’t seem to believe that Othello won his daughter over with his personality. He believes Desdemona is “abused, stol’n, corrupted by spells and medicine” (I, III,60-61). Brabantio considered her daughter’s elopement unnatural because he just cannot believe his daughter “fall in love with what she feared to look on”( ). Others racist comment around Othello exposes his inner insecurity step by step, up to a point that Othello can no longer take it and causes his downfall.

This point can be proven in the very beginning of the play. The time period of the play is in a society that is not content with interracial marriage, and even though Othello is much respected, he is still black and this is still a problem that he is married to Desdemona. With this being stated, Desdemona and Othello still married and love one another without regards to the society and especially Desdemona’s

Moreover, in the play Desdemona grew up in the luxuries of Venice and was part of a wealthy royal family. However, she married Othello a man of color, who had come from an African Heritage where slavery played a major role during that time. Because of Othello’s background, he was greatly impacted by the judging eyes and the criticising thoughts. Othello was constantly insulted because of his

In the play Othello by William Shakespeare, Examples of racism are visible throughout the story. That racism is geared toward Othello who is a Moor from Africa and general of the Venetian army. The character of Othello is a nobleman and a very respectable general in the army but, nonetheless, there are three crucial structural elements of Shakespeare’s play are Othello’s blackness, his marriage to the white Desdemona, and his killing of her. Throughout the play, Othello struggles with personal conflicts that eventually leads to his predetermined downfall.

In the 19th century, many scientists supported the belief that the human race could be categorized into different ethnic groups. Racism is generally defined as discrimination, prejudice, or antagonism directed against an individual(s) of a different race or ethnicity based on a certain belief. Every society that once lived on this Earth has essentially been affected by this global issue. Racism has been one of the most malicious aspects of the human race since the very beginning of history, and is still a topic of great debate in modern society. As all the major events of the human race are imperative, the issue of the race is one of the most significant themes that play a huge role in worldwide literature. In Othello, a tragedy written by

People discriminate for many different reasons: terror, jealousy, the desire for power, or a need to dissociate themselves from other people. They can, thus, use someone's skin color (a hereditary trait that cannot be altered) to express their hatred. In Shakespeare’s play Othello, Othello, is a happily wedded man and despite his African heritage, is a well-respected general in the Venetian army. At the beginning of the play, Othello has not experienced any type of discrimination, as of yet. However, by Iago pointing out to Othello the existence of racist concepts and persuading him on taking action against the individuals who are presumably harboring racist fueled indignations, Iago successfully causes the ruin Othello and his wife Desdemona.

In the play, “Othello”, Shakespeare explains that Othello was a victim of racism. Shakespeare supports his focus by narrating Othello state,“I am black and have not these soft parts of conversation that chamberers have, or for I am declined into the vale of years- yet thats not much- She’s gone”,”Had it pleased Heaven to try me with affliction, had they rained all kinds of sores and shames on my bare head, stepped me in poverty to the very lips, given to captivity and me and my utmost hopes”,”Yet I’ll not shed her blood, nor scar that whiter skin of hers than snow, and smooth monumental alabaster”. The authors purpose is to argue about Othello in order to know he was a victim of racism.

In Shakespeare’s play Othello a reoccurring theme is racism. Othello being a solider was well known; he became the supreme commander of the army. Othello is a black man who many call a moor by many in this play. A moor refers to dark skinned male usually from the Muslim culture that descends from Africa. In this play Othello falls in love with Desdemona and then get elopes with her without her fathers permission.

reference to the example of William Shakespeare's “Othello” . I will focus on sexism in the drama and if it should be censored. My topic is inspired by the current debate of censorship in the Manchester Art Gallery. First of all, I note well, that every feminist topic takes a certain antipathy with it. Feminism is a word that triggers many people.

A quick reading of the beginning of Othello would lead the reader to believe that this play is a racist text considering that there is no initial description of the central character given other than his racial differences. There are numerous disapproving terms used to define Othello. Instead of Othello being referred to by his name, he is mentioned as “the Moor” or other racist names. The concept of race was directly included in the title with its subtitle: “The Moor of Venice”. (Sanders, pg. 203)

Many characters show racism towards the character Othello. Iago seems to show racism towards Babanito when he calls him "an old black ram is tupping your white ewe". Also Desdemona says, I prithee call him black" (Othello 1293). Emilia calls Othello a "blacker devil" when she finds out that he has killed Desdemona. It seems to be that most of the racist comments during the play are starting to be fueled by the anger in the characters. For example Iago tends to be racist towards Othello for giving Cassio the job of being a Lt. Or when Barbantios gets mad at Othello based on the marriage between himself and Desdemona. If you look deep into the play Othello seems to be living up to the so called racial stereotypes.

Have you ever been mistreated by someone before? Imagine being mistreated and being looked down upon everyday just because you think differently than someone else. Before Shakespeare’s time Jews were banished from England so there would be no more Judaism by Edward I in 1290. This was just the beginning. Discrimination continued into Shakespeare's time, in 1607, a person attacked the Pope for not banishing Jews like Edward did before him. Especially in England, anti-semitism was very prominent in Western Europe (Saunders, Walter). Shakespeare wrote to please his audience so he kept to the current times. "After all, Shakespeare would fit the profile of that era's most stereotypical nemesis, the Jew" (Traylor, Dean). It was consider the normal thing to do, discriminate against Jews. In Shakespeare's time and in the Merchant of Venice, Jewish people were discriminated in many instances in the book and in real life.