Racism And Racism In Othello

Superior Essays
Register to read the introduction… “The meaning of Othello’s murdering Desdemona depends on their marriage and their marriage’s meaning is invested in Othello’s blackness” (Little 306). The racism drove him crazy and Iago didn’t make it better. When Iago tells Othello that Desdemona was cheating on him, he thought that his blackness and Moorish characteristics changed her and made her do it because Iago and other characters like Brabantio said it would. When Othello killed Desdemona, his literal blackness became metaphorical (Little 322). As soon as Emilia found out that Othello murdered Desdemona, she had to bring race into the conversation; she made a racist comment by calling him a “blacker devil.” He ends up becoming a whoremonger, a beast, and a devil (Little 322). The racial and non-racial comments that most of the characters made towards him must have been true or became …show more content…
“To understand Othello’s position, one must appreciate not only his African characteristics, but his position as a black man in a Venetian society; he is the Moor of Venice” (Berry 318). Othello’s alienation played a big role in the play. Othello’s dark skin color isn’t only a mark of his physical isolation, but it also represents several different symbols. They were very stereotypical. Othello’s skin color is black and in the Elizabethan era, being black symbolized ugly, treachery, lust, bestiality, demonic, dishonest, and unintelligent (Berry 319). Those are just a few of the …show more content…
He starts to get more helpless against the plots of Iago as he later tries to manipulate him and after that he is left to adapt to his issues alone in the light of the fact that he has nobody that he can trust and express his feeling and emotions to.
In summary, Othello’s race and the racism that was around him staggeringly affected his life. The theme of racism in Othello was one of the most important themes. His blackness and the racism affected his life by ruining his marriage with Desdemona, alienating him from everybody in Venice, and by making him an easy target to be manipulated by Iago. Othello is one of Shakespeare’s most relevant and well known plays because of how accurate and relatable it is. Most of the things that happened in Othello still happen today like racism, stereotypes, manipulation, and

Related Documents

  • Superior Essays

    In this particular story of Othello the questions of humanity and inhumanity were told in the entire story. To beginning, Othello was the odd man out in this story. A well-respected black man who is a general of the army of Venice. One of the first cruel acts that Shakespeare bares is through Iago when he told Brabantio “I am one sir, that comes to tell you your daughter and the Moor are making the beast with two backs (Diyanni)”. Othello darkness or blackness was mention many time in the story.…

    • 1677 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Good morning fellow aspiring directors, I’m here today from the Australian Film School and will be discussing the well known play Othello by Shakespeare, the play to this day is still very relevant, Shakespeare has done this by incorporating the themes jealousy, appearance and reality and racism which still occurs in our society today and can often appear in our day to day life. By including these themes in the play it keeps the relationship with the now modern audience despite the original plays age. This is seen in Geoffrey Sax’s 2001 film Othello, where Geoffrey has appropriated the film following the original plot but has changed many aspects of Shakespeare’s Othello to suit todays audience, while keeping the themes showing the same universal…

    • 1179 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Role Of Race In Othello

    • 109 Words
    • 1 Pages

    Race is very important in Othello. The color of his skin is the reason that most of the events happen that leads to his downfall as the tragic hero. It is why he is doubted by most of the characters in the play. Othello isn’t give the confidence he needs because he is portrayed as some “devil” just for having darker skin. Desdemona’s father doesn’t even trust him because of his skin color.…

    • 109 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Great Essays

    Othello: A Racist Play

    • 2387 Words
    • 10 Pages

    It “leans on racism” (Is Othello A Racist Play? Highlights with subtitles) and uses it dramatically and for symbolism. Even though Iago is a Venetian and has white skin, he is the “pole of moral negativity” (Garber 592), and Othello, even though he is a moor, has been given the characteristics of an upstanding white man. Iago is black on the inside and white on the outside while Othello is white on the inside and black on the outside. This symbolic comparison is only possible with the archetypal meanings of the words black and white and Iago’s race and Othello’s race.…

    • 2387 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Early on in the tragedy the reader is aware that Othello it looked down on society because he is a black man. In the time periods when Shakespeare wrote the play, racism was a big factor in society that could make or break someone. In the world of Othello race also plays a main role, Othello is a character with a high ranking in the army, but even with his respected job when he marries…

    • 915 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    1 Othello is the only man in Venice with a different color skin, so he feels insecure about being born black. Othello knows he lived in a world where the white people are the majority of the population. He is worried about what others will think him marring Desdemona, so they eloped at the beginning of the play. Othello believes Iago so easily about Desdemona is cheating on him because he does not know why she chose him over a man that is her own skin color. Othello says “Haply, for I am black,” (Act 3.3.303)…

    • 762 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    I will use this source as an introduction to my writing about Shakespearean themes used in Othello. "From being an outsider of some kind, Othello is, in fact, a very central play, locking together some crucial Shakespearian themes and preoccupation." (Rees 185). Smith, Shawn. " Love, Pity, and Deception in Othello.…

    • 1094 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Identity In Othello

    • 1074 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Throughout his whole life, Othello has had to deal with racism and stereotyping to the point where he has internalized the negative perceptions of his blackness. Karen Newman, an English professor at Brown University, describes how Iago’s deception of Othello was was rooted in Othello’s own prejudices against his racial identity (133). Iago put words to Othello’s deepest insecurities about his interracial marriage, including the belief that the“fair” Desdemona would prefer a white man, and Othello is convinced that “Haply for I am black/ And have not those soft parts of conversation/ That chamberers have.../ I am abused, and my relief/ Must be to loathe her” (Shakespeare 3.3.260-265). Othello’s projected facade of “honorary white”, as University of Pennsylvania professor Ania Loomba labeled him, is starting to disintegrate; he starts to believe that he possesses the unrefined black stereotype instead.…

    • 1074 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Othello’s many shortcomings, from his insecurities, personality, and pride, were the ultimate reasons for his and Desdemona’s downfall; Iago simply accelerated the process. Othello’s vulnerability to those around him—from pressures of being a black man in a white society, to his all-trusting naiveté in a man who despised him, to his clouded judgment and rash behaviour with his final confrontation of Desdemona; drove him to the brink of insanity and was the cause of his death. Othello represents the incompatibility of marriage that comes with some due to the complete fault of one…

    • 1407 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    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.…

    • 884 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Race Quotes In Othello

    • 889 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Othello Othello’s race plays a major role throughout this play. Othello's race is a dividing element, which causes him to be seen as an outsider. Essentially, the leader and dukes are happy with Othello just working for them but because of his ethnicity, he is not entirely trusted when given control. His race, an element of difference, plays a distinctive role in his downfall. For Example, Iago seizes on the fact that Othello is so self conscious about his race, and convinces Othello that Desdemona may come back to reality liking her own “clime, complexion, and degree of men(3.3.230).…

    • 889 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Othello’s race is undoubtedly Moorish, but his skin tone is ambiguous. However, Olivier donning brown paint and an exotic accent implies that Othello was intended to have dark skin. What makes this portrayal chilling is that the role was chosen to be played by a white man with brown paint during the civil rights movement, and that Othello had been played by a man of African descent in many previous renditions of the tragedy. This was over fifty years ago and the problem of whitewashing is still surprisingly relevant to this day, as even in the upcoming fantasy film Gods of Egypt. The cast of this film is exclusively white except for a sole African American actor portraying a god.…

    • 1577 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    He dies as a result of deeply implemented societal racism and takes Desdemona with him as a result of the anger directed at others, including his fellow characters and society, as well as himself. In all, the death of Desdemona in the play Othello is where the themes of the play culminate. Through her death, William Shakespeare brings to life the harsh realities of pervasive racism and sexism that ran rampant in both the society that Othello lived in as well as Shakespeare himself. In the end, it is Othello’s hamartia, pride, that is brought on by the racism he has faced throughout his life combined with the time period’s sexism that ultimately leads to the destruction of both his and Desdemona’s…

    • 1170 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Iago looks at Othello as a lesser human being due to his different racial background which is evident when Iago wakens Brabantio with the news of his daughter’s recent elopement with the Moor. Iago tries to turn Brabantio against Othello saying “Even now, now, very now, and old black ram is tupping your white ewe” (1.3.90-91). Iago uses animal imagery and compares Othello to an old black ram which introduces racial association of black versus white. Iago discriminates Othello as a human being and compares him to an aggressive animal, leading Brabantio to become more enraged and think that Desdemona is under certain witchcraft for falling in love with a black man.…

    • 1005 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    True Love Defeated Othello, by William Shakespeare, illustrates Othello and Desdemona’s love and the tragedy behind it. They oppose to the will of Desdemona’s father and get married. However, Iago’s tricks leads Othello to murder Desdemona. Shakespeare points out that although Othello and Desdemona belong to different social classes, have different backgrounds and races, they still hold true love between each other. Othello and Desdemona, with different racial backgrounds, live in a time that racism occurs commonly in the grand Venice.…

    • 736 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays