Examples Of Racism In Othello

Shakespeare’s Othello features racism throughout the play. The overwhelming evidence of racism brings attention to all of the characters immorality. In Othello, the audience’s knowledge of the tragic hero depends on Iago’s and Roderigo’s description of him. For the first scene, the audience only knows that the Moor does something to enrage Iago. The audience understands what kind of person Iago is with his racializing report to Brabantio referring to Othello as, “an old black ram”. Through the primal scene, the structural elements of the play, and the racist ideology visible in Venice the racism in Othello is clear. The idea of the primal scene is, for example, if a child was to imagine or see their own parents engaged in sexual intercourse. Despite the child’s effort to erase this memory, it is not possible. When the child brings this memory up they distort in some way, shape, or form. Due to the range of accidental associations when this primal scene is forever disfigured. The scene has an effect on the person’s personality permanently. Much like Othello’s skin color, it is what a person responds to and creates. Therefore, because this relationship is always present in one’s being it increases the character’s

However, Othello is an exception for he is a well-respected general by his white leaders. Subsequently, when he marries Desdemona a young white girl everything changes. From here on the racism of the 17th century takes place. The language chosen to describe Othello shows that other races are treated differently in Venice. The use of animal imagery differentiates the characters from one another. Iago tells Brabantio, “You’ll have your daughter/ covered with a barbary horse” (1 i 112-3). At the beginning of the play, Othello is an honest man who never compares people to animals, however as the play goes on he allows himself to be influenced by Iago and begins using animal