Racism And Racism In Othello

Brabantio shows his racist ways clearly here; he feels that his daughter could never love Othello unless she had been somehow tricked! When one looks deeper into this mindset we understand how loving Othello, the Moor, could be seen as such an issue to her father. Then and even today color is associated with, “sin, damnation, and eventually, sexual promiscuity” (Hall, 182). White on the other hand is associated with, “purity, virginity, and virtue” (Hall, 183). For Desdemona to love Othello she must give up her innocence. For a “pure” and “virtuous” woman to love a man such as Othello she must be a “sinner” and a “whore.” This “realization” of his daughter’s lack of purity causes Brabantio to die due to pure grief as Gratiano explains to us:

Othello or The Moor of Venice by William Shakespeare is a tragedy of race. Shakespeare creates a hero who does not fall under a racist stereotype, Othello is a nobleman, a decorated soldier, very well respected by his men (with the exception of Iago). One of the few characteristics that harms, rather than helps him, is that he is dark-skinned in a society utterly dominated by men prejudiced against those with dark skin. At the start of the play, he appears confident that, "My parts, my title, and my perfect soul / Shall manifest me rightly." (Shakespeare, 1, 2, 36-37) But Iago makes sure to use Othello's race against him as much as possible. As a brave soldier from Africa and recently instated supreme commander of the Venetian army, Shakespeare still allows Othello to succumb to the subtle racism that surrounds him. Most of it comes forward through the dialog, and is directed toward Othello. Shakespeare makes no effort to hide this colorful language, nearly every character uses a racial slur to insult Othello at some point in the play. Even Emilia, who doesn’t trust her own husband, sinks to the level of insulting Othello based on the color of his skin. Though the main character to make racist remarks in Othello is Iago, making him a representation of white supremacy. The effect of racism on Othello is quite evident and is one of the main causes of his insecurity about his marriage. These black stereotypes show up in the play and lead to the problem with trying to produce

Othello by William Shakespeare raises the issue of how rampant beliefs and attitudes in a society can cause a person to question their sense of self. In a society where racial equality is near non-existent, Othello, a black skinned foreigner in the Venetian society, is constantly reminded of his status as an outsider. Othello, however, is not depicted in a stereotypical manner and despite occupying a highly respected position he is often confronted with blatant racism throughout the play. The prevailing attitudes and beliefs of Venetian society towards Othello are exploited by Iago in order to manipulate Othello’s self confidence and emotional state.

“Othello” is a tragic play of jealousy, racism and struggle for power. Right from the beginning, Shakespeare has created vigorous dialogue and conflicting situations. There is a direct contrast between black and white in this play, with black meaning something negative and evil and white meaning pure and fairness. The clash between these two colours leads to severe hatred and enmity between a few people.

Racism is a theme that is prominently evident throughout Shakespeare's Othello. Through this theme, there are several perceptions of an individual's race which are exhibited to establish the

The play, Othello, is certainly, in part, the tragedy of racism. Examples of racism are common throughout the dialog. This racism is directed toward Othello, a brave soldier from Africa and currently supreme commander of the Venetian army. Nearly every character uses a racial slur to insult Othello at one point in the play. Even Emilia sinks to the level of insulting Othello based on the color of his skin. The character that most commonly makes racist remarks in Othello is Iago. It is very apparent that Iago uses racism as a scapegoat to hate and blame Othello. Societal racism takes its toll on its victims. The effect of racism on Othello is quite evident and is one of the main causes for

Racism seems to be a big concern in Shakespeare’s tragic play, Othello. Because the hero of the play is an outsider, a Moor, we have an idea how blacks were regarded in England, in Elizabethan times. There are many references that bring about the issue of racism from the very beginning to the end. In the tragedy, where Othello is coming from is not mentioned, yet through the descriptions the reader is informed that he belongs to one of the Eastern nationalities such as African, Ottoman Turk or Arab. In this paper I am going to analyze some episodes involving a prejudicial, racist attitude and try to discuss whether Shakespeare was a racist or not. Even though the play is full of offensive definitions of black

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.

Racist comments from others were not the only derogative negativity Othello experienced. He also made racist remarks about himself. As stated in the text, “My name, that was as fresh As Dian's visage, is now begrimed and black as mine own face”. Othello plainly uses a racial discourse. He compares a good nature to that of a white face, and a soiled nature to that of his own black face.

Prejudice is an act of dehumanization. Throughout the Shakespearean play The Tragedy of Othello the theme of prejudice dominates the society in which the characters are restrained to. For the duration of the play the character Othello encounters various verbal slanders of racism and slurs leading to his spiral and demise. To the extent in which it contributes to him murdering his wife out of jealousy and, later, executing himself. The discrimination present in the play casts an influence on his character, consequently leading to pivotal downfalls. The act of prejudice is evident through Iago’s promotion of racial bias, the prevalence of racial attitudes, and the exemplification of Othello as an outcast in their society. Thus, the story becoming a tragedy for the existence of racial bias. Allocating that the influence of prejudice can obstruct one’s mindset, ultimately leading to the disintegration of one’s character.

Shakespeare deliberately puts black man as a protagonist, who is victimised and completely destroyed by an evil white man. The roles that Elizabethan audience would expect are reversed in the play to show how racist ideas are wrong and can put everyone in danger. For the Elizabethan audience back then, they would laugh off at the racist jokes and languages in the play and feel catharsis when Othello kills Desdemona because they would have expected to see the “true nature” of the “moor” which they believed to be “evil”. However, Shakespeare thought ahead of his own time period and wrote Othello to show how racism is wrong and it leads to inevitable

Othello’s race does not prominently impact his demise, although Shakespeare touches upon the issue of race, the reason for Othello’s demise lies somewhere else. However, the allegations of race directly lead to its tragic ending. Feelings of inadequacy and distrust without question aid in the tragedy. The fact that Othello’s skin color is important alters the interpretation of the tragedy within the play. The racism represented in Othello is not just about an instance of prejudices and prejudgments made by a crowd of people against another, but in fact has much more subtle and devastating consequences, specifically, that it is proliferated not only by the discriminatory section of society, but also by the target of this discrimination.

Whilst looking on the internet many people ask 'Is Othello, by William Shakespeare a racist play,' in my opinion yes, yes it is. Despite todays' hate on racism, during the time of the play, 1622, racism is considered amusing and part of day-to-day life. Othello by William Shakespeare, first began on a cold night in the town of Venice, two gentlemen, Rodrigo and his close friend, Iago, stood on the streets discussing recent events of when Iago was denied the promotion he had longed for. He was frustrated by the news, as he needed the promotion to pay back Rodrigo, as he owed him a lot of money.

In the play Othello, William Shakespeare discusses some conversations that can be rather racist. For example, in Act III Scene III, Othello adds, “Farewell, farewell! If more thou dost perceive, let me know more. Set on thy wife to observe. Leave me, Iago.” Another example is used in Act IV Scene III, Desdemona says, “My mother had a maid called Barbary. She was in love; and he she loved proved mad and did forsake her. She has a song of “Willow”;.”Last example used is in Act V Scene II. “And say besides that in Aleppo once, where a malignant and a turbaned Turk, beat a Venetian and traduced the state, I took by th’ throat the circumcised dog, and smot him - thus” As explained above, the play, Othello, uses many forms of racism.

Thesis: The sole character with dark skin, Othello, is isolated by casual discrimination that indicates underlying racism in not only Othello’s society, but also Shakespeare’s.