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Preface to shakespeare analysis
Shakespeare drama literary analysis
Notes on Shakespearean drama
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Firstly, Othello’s race and the racism around him ruined his marriage with Desdemona. Othello and Desdemona was a good couple, but you know what they say, all good things must come to an end. Almost everybody had a problem with their relationship. In that time, interracial relationships and marriage wasn’t allowed. While Brabantio was sleeping, Iago and Roderigo woke him up out of his sleep saying that Othello was having sex with his daughter Desdemona at that very moment. Brabantio didn’t believe them at first, but when he found out that they were telling the truth and his white daughter was with “the Moor” Othello, he didn’t take it lightly. He couldn’t believe that she would want to be with someone like Othello. He said that Othello must’ve used some type of magic to get Desdemona to fall in love with him. At that time it had to be a miracle for a black person to be with a white person, it was unheard of. Then he started calling Othello a Moor to his face and orders his guards to get him.
It’s obvious that mostly every character in Othello is racist. If the color of Othello’s skin was white, Othello and Desdemona would’ve lived happily ever after. Racism was shown in many ways in Act I of Othello. When Iago and Roderigo talked about Othello, they called him an “old black ram,” (I.i.88) and made a sex reference with Othello and Desdemona by saying that they were “making the beast with two backs” (I.i.115-17). “The Moor” is a reference to his black skin color, features, and represents the people from North Africa (Bartels 434). Most of the characters, including Desdemona called Othello a Moor.
Othello’s blackness, his marriage with Desdemona, and the murder of her are all three important structural elements of Othello and are a...
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...ate a plan to bring Othello down. Iago literally regulated Othello throughout the play like a puppet. He projected racist beliefs into Othello’s psyche (Adelman 144). He made Othello so hesitant and frail about his race that he loses his own life and killed his wife. Othello’s blackness turns into a powerful vehicle for Iago (Adelman 140). Iago was just driving Othello all around Venice causing chaos.
Race influenced Othello’s mind in many ways, making him feel distinctive and disengaged from others and highlights his differentness by making him feel more responsible and accepts that Desdemona might be cheating on him. 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.
Racial prejudice against Othello is introduced early in the play and is present throughout. Iago and Roderigo approach Brabantio with news about his daughter Desdemona. They inform Brabantio his
The motif of black is a big theme the characters are always mentioning. Othello is a black character in a white dominated society. “What full fortune does the thick lips owe”(1.1.62). At the beginning of the play, Roderigo and Iago only refer to Othello in a racist way, such as the Moor and thick lips. The characters are certainly trying to get the point
The early modern definition of race very much differs from the current usage and definition of race today, according to Margo Hendricks, “the word race referred not to the linking of character with physical appearance, but to family and lineage” in addition to cultural customs. In Shakespeare’s Othello, Othello is esteemed for his military power; he is welcomed by Barbantio, and invited into his homes to tell of his adventures. Yet, in many instances the fact that he is a moor takes precedence over any military prowess he may possess. As a general in the Venetian Army, it is expected that utmost respect be shown at all times, yet this is not the case for Othello. Regardless of his acclaimed position of general in the Venetian military, the prejudices held by Iago and Barbantio outweigh his credentials as a civilized human being. His ally Barbantio questions his methods of getting Desdemona to marry him, and concludes that it had to be of some sort of Moorish witch craft or drug. Othello is also disrespected by Iago, a trusted confidant; his very essence is degraded and compared to that of a wild animal while Desdemona is seen as a pure white lamb, whom Othello has corrupted. Iago purposely uses the preconceived notions about Moors to convince others that his culture represents chaos, sexual immorality, and corruption. Iago also preys on Othello's jealousy to twist Othello’s emotions and convince him that Desdemona has been unfaithful.
By analyzing this play, we can come to understand the dangers of racial injustice. If I may take the liberty of paraphrasing: "O beware, my lord, of racial prejudice! It is the green-eyes monster, which doth damage the society it thrives in." In the character of Iago, Shakespeare demonstrates the dangers of holding racial prejudices. Othello is the victim of the pervasive social stereotypes which lead to his downfall. This play should serve as a warning of the horrid plague of racism which festers in our society.
At the beginning of the play, the audience is made aware that Othello is a Moor working in the service of Venice. During the time the play was written, racism was strong. Despite Othello’s carefully built up life in which he managed to rise from being very poor to a powerful general, he still experienced racism from characters such as Roderigo and Brabantio. In Act One Scene One, Brabantio is appalled at the idea of his delicate daughter Desdemona secretly marrying a black man without his consent. He openly insults Othello, oblivious to Othello’s power: “That thou hast practiced on her with foul charms, Abused her delicate youth with drugs or minerals.” Brabantio is accusing Othello of witchcraft and trickery, and suggesting that no one could ever love him without the influence of his evil witchcraft. The audience feels pity for Othello because they know that Othello loves Desdemona and that he is a kind man, and is receiving these insults because of his race. The audience realises that he is already at a ...
Othello, from the onset, is shown to us a play of love and jealousy. There is however more to this play than just love and jealousy; there is underlying racism, hate, deception, pride, and even sexism between these pages. Othello is a transcendent play, one that will survive the perils of time simply because it is still relevant. Even today, over 400 years later, there are still issues of racism and sexism. Hate is as natural as love in humans and Othello gets right to the root of that. We witness this from the very first scene, “…you’ll have your daughter covered with a Barbary horse/ you’ll have your nephews neigh to you” (I.i.112-14); to the very last, “Moor she was chaste. She loved thee, cruel Moor” (V.ii.258). Moor however is used as an insult all throughout the play; not so much the word itself but the feel of the word. Between these pages we see many different ways as to how the cultural differences between Othello and the other characters.
The interracial marriage of Desdemona and Othello is in the forefront of the play. As mentioned above, this was extremely unusual in Elizabethan England. In fact there is one case when an English woman, Millicent Porter, a seamstress, slept with a black man and had to do a public penance for it (Elizabethan England Life). Also just three years prior to the release of Othello in 1603, Queen Elizabeth threw all of the Africans out of England ("Othello- An Interpretation" Critical Essays 39). All of this makes the marriage of Othello, a famous black general, and Desdemona, a senator’s daughter, who is white and beautiful, very bizarre to the viewers in Elizabethan England. Most if not all of the characters seem to be just as appalled at the interracial marriage as the audience. Specifically the racism the other characters show toward Othello is apparent. Rodrigo, a man who pays Iago to hel...
Because of racism, Othello becomes much more vulnerable to manipulation and is easily tricked by Iago. Racism assures that Othello will remain isolated from his peers while Iago tinkers with his mind by separating him from his white peers and making him the outsider. Although Othello is not solely the tragedy of racism, it truly could not be a tragedy without the negative pressures of racism. Work Cited Shakespeare, William. The.
To begin with, Othello’s race and the racism around him ruined his marriage with Desdemona. Othello and Desdemona made a good couple, but you know what they say, all good things must come to an end. Almost everybody had a problem with their relationship. In that time, interracial relationships and marriage was not allowed. While Brabantio (Desdemona’s father) was sleeping, Iago and Roderigo woke him up saying that Othello was having sex with his daughter Desdemona at that very moment (Shake...
Brabantio is also racially prejudiced. He is upset when he discovers that Othello, the Moor, is the man that Desdemona has chosen. He feels that Othello is not worthy of his daughter's love because he possesses darker skin and is of Arabian descent.
... moor but Shakespeare is instead discussing the, "amalgam of the noble and the jealous, the soldier and the fool and the Christian and the barbarian who is reduced to stammering brutality." A modern audience would not see Othello as the guilty and barbaric moor but as a victim of Iago and his deception. The audience instead would take would take with them a message that colour does not play a part in character. Instead those who discriminate people racially are the truly devious characters and Shakespeare shows this clearly through Iago and Barbantio. Iago himself is clear evidence that Shakespeare is not in any way condoning racism but instead he is attacking racism. The attack on Barbantio's hidden racist views also prove that this is the case. The main message of Othello would be very positive foe a modern audience; that racism in all forms is totally unacceptable.
Othello: The Moor of Venice is probably Shakespeare's most controversial play. Throughout this work, there is a clear theme of racism, a racism that has become commonplace in Venetian society which rejects the marriage of Othello and Desdemona as anathema. The text expresses racism throughout the play within the language transaction of the dialogue to question the societal ethos established by Othello, thereby making him nothing less than a cultural "other." Furthermore, the character of Desdemona is displayed as mad, or out of her wits, for marrying such an "other," and the audience sees her slip from an angelic state of purity to that of a tainted character. Also, the menacing Iago, a mastermind of deviant rhetoric, is able to play Othello and Desdemona against one another until their marriage fails, while at the same time destroying his adversary and friend, Cassio. Thus Iago has a specific agenda, not only to get back at Othello for choosing Cassio instead of him, but also to make Cassio the victim of his plan to destroy the forbidden marriage referred to by Brabantio as a "treason of the blood" (1.2.166-167). Essentially, Iago is a representative of the white race, a pre-Nazi figure who tries to inform the public of the impurity of Othello and Desdemona's marriage. He demonstrates how this miscegenation is threatening to the existing social order. Thus, through analysis of racism, the play represents the hatred possessed by mankind -- a hate so strong that society sees the mixing with an "other" to be a curse to humanity and a terrible threat to Aryan culture.
The director uses specific language and tone to stress the issue of race in Othello. The controversy of racial relationships is expressed through Brabantio's negative attitudes and words. He refers Othello to a 'foul thief, implying that his daughter could never love a man of a different colour, and that therefore Othello has stolen her from him. Brabantio compares Othello to someone that no one would want and he is disgusted that Desdemona would "run from her guardage to the sooty bosom". Thus implying that Othello is dirty and undesirable. The choice of language from the director highlights the other characters pessimistic and disrespectful attitudes towards Othello due to his skin colour.
In the tragedy Othello, Shakespeare creates a mood that challenges the way a person sees his or her self and the world. Subjects like racism, sexism, love, hate, jealously, pride, and trickery are thoroughly developed in the play of Othello to enable the audience to view the characters and also themselves. The Shakespearean tragedy of Othello was written in a time of great racial tensions in England. According to Eldred Jones, in 1600 just three years before Othello was written, Queen Elizabeth proclaimed an Edict for the Transportation of all "negars and blackmoores" out of the country ("Othello- An Interpretation" Critical Essays 39). It is in this atmosphere that Shakespeare began the masterpiece of Othello, a drama about a noble black Arab general, Othello, who falls in love with and marries, Desdemona, a young white daughter of a senator. From the above knowledge one may conclude that Shakespeare wrote Othello to express that all people, of all ethnicity, are basically the same in human nature. Shakespeare borrowed the idea of Othello from an Italian love story by Giraldi Cinthio. However, Shakespeare focuses more on the differences in color and age between Othello and Desdemona than Cinthio. Shakespeare does this to escalate Othello’s isolation from the rest of Venetian society and to display Othello’s vulnerability due to his color. In the tragedy not only is Othello susceptible to weaknesses but so is every major character . The tragedy reminds humans that even one’s good nature can be taken advantage of for the worse. The drama Othello expresses, through relationships and emotional attitudes, a theme that all humans are vulnerable to destruction even if they are in positions of power and glory.
A society consists of different cultures with people of diverse looks, values, and beliefs. In a world with one predominant culture, those perceived as different from the norm are associated with negative images, treated inferior to the superior culture. The negative images associated with color, specifically blackness, has a detrimental effect on the victims who are racially stereotyped. The character of Othello is a unique character in English literature, because unlike the other members of society, Othello was an outsider in Venice, a black man living in a white world, marrying a white woman, and leading white men as a soldier. Othello is persuaded that his wife, Desdemona, is cheating on him leading him to