Since the beginning of the human race there has always been social problems and cultural conflicts. Parts of these social and cultural problems changes within the following generation. However the one concepts that doesn’t change is racism. This is shown in social media such as play and in speeches as well. Two examples are Shakespeare’s tragic play Othello and the speech made by Frederick Douglass which was called “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July. These are shown brilliantly for facing the issues of race as their main idea in Othello and What to the Slave is the Fourth of July even do that they are created centuries apart.
Shakespeare’s tragic play revolves mainly on the protagonist Othello. Othello is respected and honoured …show more content…
It was common to witness a black person or a person of a different colour to be seen as a savage and are mainly mindless who have no sense of right and wrong. Nevertheless, Shakespeare decided to have a black character in his play and made him be his central character even if it was outside of the social norm of that era. An example of it is that he is both calm and reasonable when a problem comes at hand. An example of that dilemma is when Desdomona’s father Barbanzio is accusing Othello of using witchcraft in order to marry her daughter. This is where Othello clarifies in a calm manner that he did not use witchcraft to woo her but simply telling her stories of his adventures in order to gain her affection.Now even do Othello in the play is black, he was played in the beginning by a white man in blackface. In those time black people weren’t allowed to act in plays and white people in blackface was normal and still vaguely allowed today. An example of this is the 1981 movie adaptation of Othello where the main protagonist is played by Anthony Hopkins a white person in blackface. Another way that they use the subject of race is the dialogue …show more content…
Now before he gave this speech, he was a born as a slave as his mother was a slave. By the age of 10 he begins to work in the plantation fields in Baltimore. However he did learn how to read and write. By 1838, he escaped to New York with the help of Anna Murray who eventually became his wife. Soon after he joined an abolitionist group and began to write speeches for the Massachusetts Anti Slavery Society for four years. However this concerned him as he was afraid that people would find out that he is a fugitive slave. So under these issues he moved to England were he can buy his freedom. One year later he bought his freedom returned to the US and went on to found the North Star newspaper. This is where Douglass and other black writer activists gain the opportunity to write and say the social problems of their society which was mainly slavery and racism. One of these speeches by Douglass was “What to the Slave Is The Fourth of July?“. This speech gives the reader an alternate view point of the 4th of July from the white people perspective to the slave perspective. Where in the speech he mentions that the 4th of July means nothing to slave considering even do it’s the liberation day from the british empire, it is not the liberation day for slaves in general. This is shown when he
Shakespeare’s tragic play revolves mainly on the protagonist Othello. Othello is respected and honoured …show more content…
It was common to witness a black person or a person of a different colour to be seen as a savage and are mainly mindless who have no sense of right and wrong. Nevertheless, Shakespeare decided to have a black character in his play and made him be his central character even if it was outside of the social norm of that era. An example of it is that he is both calm and reasonable when a problem comes at hand. An example of that dilemma is when Desdomona’s father Barbanzio is accusing Othello of using witchcraft in order to marry her daughter. This is where Othello clarifies in a calm manner that he did not use witchcraft to woo her but simply telling her stories of his adventures in order to gain her affection.Now even do Othello in the play is black, he was played in the beginning by a white man in blackface. In those time black people weren’t allowed to act in plays and white people in blackface was normal and still vaguely allowed today. An example of this is the 1981 movie adaptation of Othello where the main protagonist is played by Anthony Hopkins a white person in blackface. Another way that they use the subject of race is the dialogue …show more content…
Now before he gave this speech, he was a born as a slave as his mother was a slave. By the age of 10 he begins to work in the plantation fields in Baltimore. However he did learn how to read and write. By 1838, he escaped to New York with the help of Anna Murray who eventually became his wife. Soon after he joined an abolitionist group and began to write speeches for the Massachusetts Anti Slavery Society for four years. However this concerned him as he was afraid that people would find out that he is a fugitive slave. So under these issues he moved to England were he can buy his freedom. One year later he bought his freedom returned to the US and went on to found the North Star newspaper. This is where Douglass and other black writer activists gain the opportunity to write and say the social problems of their society which was mainly slavery and racism. One of these speeches by Douglass was “What to the Slave Is The Fourth of July?“. This speech gives the reader an alternate view point of the 4th of July from the white people perspective to the slave perspective. Where in the speech he mentions that the 4th of July means nothing to slave considering even do it’s the liberation day from the british empire, it is not the liberation day for slaves in general. This is shown when he