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Racism in shakespeare othello
Brief analysis of OTHELLO
Critical analysis of Othello
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Othello by William Shakespeare is a play about a black general who is alone in being black. No one else in either Venice or Cyprus is from Africa as the Moorish Othello is. In fact, with such a high position in the Venetian military, Othello appears to fit right into the role as general; his race is almost of an invisible quality. His race seems invisible because his nobility and the respect others have for him transcend the mistreatment that he might receive in being so physically different. However, this play is not free of racism or noticing race and its connotations. Othello does not truly have a race until he either manifests himself into his race or others choose to notice it. Thus, race is a latent quality in Othello, one not fully apparent until he gets too personal with the fair-skinned people around him and they reject him or he feels rejected and searches for reasons.
The important people in Venice replace the awareness of Othello’s race with the great respect that they have for him, which entails that Othello’s capabilities far surpass any racist feelings others feel for him. Iago, who is Othello’s false ensign, even says that he cannot outwardly appear to hate Othello because it would do nothing to get rid of him: each person in Venice needs his skills as a general. Yet, reading what Iago says helps to see what might be the common voice for the other fair-skinned characters in this play on how race and rank interact:
“To be produced …
Against the Moor for I do know, the state,
However this may gall him with some check,
Cannot with safety cast him; for he’s embark’d
With such loud reason to the Cyprus wars,
which even now stand in act, that for their souls,
Another of his fathom th...
... middle of paper ...
...whose solid virtue
The shot of accident nor dart of chance
Could neither gaze nor pierce?” (67)
Lodovico questions Othello’s sufficiency, nature, and virtue. The senate obviously saw all of those things in Othello since they told them to Lodovico but Othello is much changed at this point in the story: he does not feel like the general so does not act like one and in turn loses all of his human qualities. The last step in the characters recognizing Othello for whom they expect him to be comes when Lodovico says “O thou Othello…wert once so good, [but] Fall’n in the practice of a damned slave” (89). The transition is smooth in Lodovico’s mind: he once was the noble general whose skills surpassed his limitations and now he practices the skills of what he truly is, a damned slave.
In William Shaspeare play Othello, Iago make Othello believe that Desdemona is having an affair with Cassio. He does by taking advantage of any situation to make of Othello doubt. Iago make Othello thing a lot of crazy thing on his head, Othello got so jelous leading him to kill his own wife, Desdemona, satisfying iago obseccion for revenge.
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 play Othello by William Shakespeare is based on an Italian story in Giraldi Cinthio's Hecatommithi (Grolier). In Othello we encounter Iago, one of Shakespeare's most evil characters. Iago is an officer in Othello's army and is jealous of Cassio's promotion to Lieutenant. Through deception and appearance, we see unfolded many lies and clever schemes. The astonishing thing about Iago is that he seems to make up his malicious schemes as he goes along without any forethought. Noted writer Samuel Taylor Coleridge describes Iago's plan as "motive-hunting of a motiveless malignity" (Scott 413). Iago seizes every opportunity to further advance his plan to his advantage. Greed plays a major role as a motive for his various schemes and lies.
Racial barriers are often used as a means to manipulate a member of a minority group. in The tragedy, Othello, was written by William Shakespeare(1564-1616) an English poet and playwright, who is often contemplated as the greatest writer in the English Language. The story begins with Othello, a black general in the Venetian army who secretly marries Desdemona, a white woman. Early on, Othello promotes Michael Cassio as his lieutenant over Iago, fostering mass jealousy. Desperate to get even with Othello, Iago creates elaborate plans to ruin his marriage with Desdemona. Iago’s effective manipulation skills lead Othello to take his wife's life and then his own. Iago is successfully able to deceive Othello because of their many differences, mainly racial, and Iago's understanding of how manipulation works.
“I asked her to wear something revealing, so she showed up in a prophet's toga.”(CITE) Jarod Kintz’s words are an example of miscommunication, or failure to comprehend meaning. In this case, it is implied that one person misunderstood the message of another, but incomprehension also applies to problems other than falsely interpreted requests. Incomprehension can occur when people misinterpret another’s words or intentions, or when a person misreads situations or events. The outcome described in Kintz’s quote is unexpected and unintended, but there are instances of incomprehension that have consequences of greater severity. Perhaps a classic tragedy with a high body count falls under these parameters.
Othello seems to have a really rough time finding the truth in people. The reasoning behind this is simply the way he acts around people. Although Othello is a cultural and racial outsider in Venice, his skill as a soldier and leader is nevertheless valuable and necessary. He is after all a man in high power and is respected for that simple fact. Essentially, the first impact that is made upon the reader of Othello is not one of high quality. He was called many names of which had to do mostly with his racial background some of these names include “the Moor” (I.i.57), “an old black ram” (I.i.88), and “a Barbary horse” (I.i.113). The two characters that begin the cruel introduction of Othello are two trusted comrades, one being Iago. Right from the start, Iago already begins the demise of Othello. Now since Othello made this decision to trust and simply see the good in everyone rather than the truth in everyone his life got turned upside down and started to take ...
Racism in William Shakespeare's Othello. The play, Othello, is certainly, in part, the tragedy of racism. Examples of racism are common throughout the dialogue. This racism is directed toward Othello, a brave soldier from Africa and currently the supreme commander of the Venetian army.
Desdemona is one of the protagonists of the play contributes to the play and also fleshes out certain aspects of characterisation mainly where Othello and Iago are concerned. Thus her relevance is highlighted consistently throughout Othello, since without her ppresence, Iago would not have succeeded in manipulating Othello, and Othello's drastic transformation would not have been made evident.
Have you ever thought about how much Othello’s race and the racism around him affected his life? Othello struggled a lot during the play because of his dark skin color. He was called several racist names like “the Moor,” “old black ram,” “Barbary horse,” and “thick lips” (Shakespeare 1.1.40; 1.1.88; 1.1.111; 1.1.66).The term “racism” has been around for several years; it started in the twentieth century (Bartels 433). By the way the Elizabethan era viewed black people was similar to how racism is today with all of the racial comments, and stereotypes. Being a black person in a mostly white ethnicity area at that time had to be challenging based on Othello’s experience. Othello was the black sheep crowded around a herd of white sheep, he was an outcast. Racist comments were made by many of the characters like Iago, Brabantio, Roderigo, and Emilia. If there was an award for most used racial comment towards Othello, Iago would win. Racism in Othello had a tremendous impact on Othello. He was judged by the color of his skin and not his personality. Othello’s race and the racism around him 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.
In the Sixteenth century, as we see clearly from Othello and other works of both Shakespeare and Cinthio's original version of Othello, race was a topic of great debate and discussion. Today, in the twenty-first century the debate retains its controversy and passion. However, attitudes towards race have taken a dramatic turn during the last century. In the developed world people are now living in an increasingly cosmopolitan society would undoubtedly be more tolerant and would reject or even be offended by racial discrimination to any person or sections of the community. Openly 'racist' people today are seen as outcasts. Taking this into account, the way a modern audience would react to race and racism in Othello is dependent upon the way in which that modern audience would interpret 'Othello'. This prompts the questions of what sort of message Shakespeare wanted to send to his audience and was Othello the moor portrayed as a tragic hero or did his character eventually come to resemble the prejudices of which he was a victim. Shakespeare also discusses the issue of race with other characters such as the hateful Iago and the prejudices hidden deep in Barbantio.
In conclusion, studying Othello’s color evokes much more than mere racial category, but the entire chronology of human discrimination. It is evident through both contextual and critical insight that Othello is an indispensable textual work. Philip Koln declares it, “a cultural seismograph, measuring the extent and force of gender, racial, and class upheavals in any society that performs it”(Distiller,340). The evolution of Othello’s critical responses and representations serve to amplify its importance tenfold as it successfully charts the beginning of humanity’s departure from xenophobic tendencies toward a more global community.
Racism is just one of the many problems that we have here in the United States today. Racism isn’t as bad as it used to be but it’s still here. In Othello, written by the one and only William Shakespeare, racism is the main theme and focus. England became involved in the slave trade during the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries (Slights 377). Racism started in the twentieth century after this was written but the way the Elizabethan era viewed black people was similar to how racism is today (Bartels 433). Othello struggled a lot during the play because of his dark skin color. He was called several racist names like “the Moor,” “Old black ram,” “Barbary horse,” and “Thick lips.”
One of the major issues in Shakespeare's Othello is the impact of the race of the main character, Othello. His skin color is non-white, usually portrayed as African although some productions portray him as an Arabian. Othello is referred to by his name only seventeen times in the play. He is referred to as "The Moor" fifty-eight times. Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) states that a Moor is "Any individual of the swarthy races of Africa or Asia which have adopted the Mohammedan religion. In Spanish history the terms Moo, Saracens, and Arabs are synonymous." This indicates that Othello is constantly being degraded and set up as an evil person throughout the play. What this really means is that Othello is being judged by his skin color rather than the person under the skin. The view that whites and non-whites are equal is a relatively new concept in our society. In institutionalized racism, such as American slavery, those of a different color were often viewed as inferior. As Shakespeare wrote Othello, this idea was becoming quite prominent as England entered the African slave trade. One can look at the racial issues from the perspective of color, slavery, and society.
"Othello's color had no connotations of the enslavable inferiority. There were many great Negroes in those days like that Antonio de Vunth, who was King of Congo's ambassador to the Holy See."(Shakespeare, pp.200)
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.