Examples Of Racism In Othello

How is Othello an exploration of institutional racism?
In Othello racism played an important role throughout the play. When Othello was originally written in England things between white and black people where not where they are at today. When Othello was written it was around the time of the beginning of the slave trade in Britain, so the way people viewed African were terrible. During this time it was odd to see two people of different races together. Throughout the play Shakespeare did a good job in bringing that sense of institutional racism alive, by having Othello constantly facing problems from the characters because of his race. In this story the main reason for Othello terrible fate is because of the fact that he was black. Othello was a powerful figure, he played a solider and even though he had many accomplishments people still made it hard for him because of his race. Othello wasn’t a character that was easily jealous or unstable, but was driven unstable by one of the character, Iago. I believe that Shakespeare used the typical stereotype of black males and tried to portray this image in Othello. Shakespeare used Othello and their interactions to reflect the racial inequality of his time. Shakespeare used this to imply that racism was a terrible problem in Europe, showing the viewers the effects of stereotyping and cultural inequality.
The viewing of racism …show more content…
Othello was tricked and lied to but because of his insecurities it made him more vulnerable. Throughout the play Shakespeare tried to make Othello character the opposite of stereotypes by making him a nobleman with achievements and respect but toward the end it made Othello character embrace the stereotype of being a dangerous black male. Shakespeare let institutionalized racism become the center of what the play was about to show society how they are corrupting and judging people based on the color of their