Racism In Othello

Although it looks back on history from a current view, ‘We Should Make A Documentary About Spades’ is an excellent starting point for the development of this theme throughout the four connecting texts. Author Terrence Hayes tackles the issue by focusing on how society has become inherently racist because its majority simply do not understand black culture, including black people themselves. Hayes suggests this is because history has caused a distinct lack of this culture, as slavery essentially led to its loss. African people were traded into America to serve the purpose of white people there, therefore never allowing a true culture to naturally form, as it likely would have under better circumstances. The poem’s narrator states that “so little …show more content…
Historical factors such as the Transatlantic Slave Trade were implementing racist attitudes in society at this time, most notably in Europe and the Americas. This encouraged the perspective that because they were enslaved, black people must be weaker or inferior, as there must be greater reasoning behind their lower role in society at this time than simply the way countries had organised their trading schemes. We see this socially constructed racism in ‘Othello’ through the ways Othello’s race is consistently brought to attention, and how he is demonised by other characters twisting their preconceived notions of black people. One clear example takes place when Othello’s comrade Iago details to the senator, Brabantio, how Othello has eloped with his daughter. Iago plays on the beliefs that black men are animalistic and beastly, describing the horrors of “an old black ram tupping (the senator’s) white ewe”, and referring to their sexual activity together as “making the beast with two backs”. His language is harsh, consistently drawing on this animal imagery to upset Brabantio, and working with existing racist notions of black mens’ supposedly brutal nature to further his anger. Iago also repeatedly refers to Othello as a satanic, ungodly figure, warning Brabantio that “the