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The treatment of women in othello
Racism in othello
The treatment of women in othello
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This essay will cover the intersection of racism in Othello, with why Othello did not investigate Iago’s accusations against Desdemona, and believed Iago at face value.The three reasons supporting this are; Society already discriminates against Othello, because of his race he was paranoid about Desdemona being influenced by her father’s beliefs, and he was worried about his appearance in the military and society.. These all contributed to Othello immediately believing Iago, and not asking for Desdemona's side of the story.
The first point is- Othello was a Moor. He was from Northern Africa, and he had emigrated into Venice and Cyprus-the colony associated with Venice. He had been dealing with racism since he entered the Army, and became a
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also did not trust Othello. He looks down upon him for marrying his daughter, he looked down upon him for being in the army as a black person. Brabantio was a senator, and fought for their marriage not to be allowed- but was ultimately shut down by the Venetian Senate, them letting the marriage occur. . Je was extremely angry about this, and seemed to try to emotionally manipulate Othello by telling him that Desdemona was “a clever deceiver”- attempting to drive a wedge between them already.. ‘Brabantio may have integrated racism, and racist thoughts into her!’ That may have been Othello's belief, which was another reason he was so paranoid- if Desdemona was hiding this racism and hatred of him from him, he had reason to believe that she would cheat on him the moment that she could,her love for him was all a ruse. Brabantio passed away after Othello and Desdemona’s official marriage, from a heart attack, and Othello might have also believed- ‘what if Desdemona secretly hates me, for making this rift in between her and her father!” A rift that was never truly closed, as he died shortly after they were married. So that is another reason for Othello to possibly believe that Desdemona was not being truthful with him, and that she hates
Brabantio, with just cause, takes the affairs of Othello and Desdemona to the Duke’s court in order to receive a just trial. Brabantio accuses Othello of witchcraft because Brabantio believes that his pure, fair Desdemona would never betray him on purpose easily:
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.
... 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.
Desdemona acts contrary to these plans by choosing to marry Othello who is a Moor, not a Venetian, which automatically lowers his stature. He is also an army general; he does not have a lot of money, only some prestige. In addition, he is old - he could be Desdemona's father nearly; in fact, he is Brabantio's friend. Army life would keep him (and her) out of Venice, and prevent Brabantio from seeing his daughter, or future grandchildren. Consequently, Brabantio is extremely upset when he learns that they have eloped.
Brabantio is a very protective father. He makes sure that his daughter Desdemona lives a sheltered life under his care. She is his only child so he treats her like a prized possession. He also made certain to keep her under a tight leash, especially with male callers. When Roderigo tries to court her, he disapproves, "The worser welcome!/ I have charged thee not to haunt my doors./ In honest plainness thou hast heard me say/ My daughter is not for thee" (1.1.93-95). Brabantio is in disbelief when Roderigo instead tells him of Desdemona's elopement with Othello and says:
Jealousy is his first motive. He then tells Roderigo (a former suitor of Desdemona) that Othello and Desdemona are getting married. The two of them then go and tell Desdemona's father, Brabantio, that Othello and his daughter have just eloped. This infuriates Brabantio and his family. Soon after, Brabantio gets a gang after Othello.
In fact, Desdemona holds herself in such high regard that she almost seems incapable of believing that anyone else may not. Luckily for her, Othello similarly holds her in high regard, at least until Iago begins to manipulate him. Even before Othello, Desdemona’s own father, Brabantio, thought highly of her. When she elopes with Othello, he never believes that she ran away from home willingly. He believes that Othello had enchanted her until she herself says otherwise. Upon this realization, Brabantio, warns Othello against Desdemona, telling him:
Brabantio tells the Moor to “look to [Desdemona]… if [he] hast eyes to see” because “[s]he has deceived her father” and he suspects that “[she] may deceive [Othello] as well” (1.3.292-293). This line served to instigate Othello’s suspicions and ultimately results in the massacre of many characters in Othello. Readers who have read the Shakespearean tragedy cannot resist but question why Othello, such a strong-willed character, begins to suspect of Desdemona’s, his beloved and loyal wife’s, infidelity? What encourages him to remain blind to the reality?
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 ...
The most important relationship displayed in the story is between Othello and Desdimona. Shakespeare uses many examples to illustrate how the bond between them shines in the beginning and then fades as the play progresses. At the opening of the play they are being married without Desdimona's father's consent. In this time period a father owned his daughter in a way, and held the right to choose her husband. When her father ( Brabantio) learns of the news he is furious. He claims that Othello "hast enchanted her! / she had/ run from her guardage, to the sooty bosom of such a thing as thou/(1.3.64-73). This shows that Brabrantio thought his daughter to be unacceptable of choosing a husband ...
Shakespeare does not give specific details of Othello’s background, however, it is apparent Othello is a dark-skinned outsider. The characters in the play call him the Moor. A moor is a member of a northwestern African Muslim people of mixed Berber and Arab descent. He is referred to as black by several characters including himself. Roderigo even calls him thick-lips which is a racial slur towards African Americans.
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.
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.
The society in which Othello takes place is a patriarchal one, where men had complete control over women. They were seen as possessions rather than being just as equally human and capable of duties performed by men. All women of the Elizabethan were to obey all men, fathers, brothers, husbands, etc. Which leads me to the most reliable and trustworthy character of Desdemona, whom goes through many trials just to satisfy her love. Shakespeare brings the thought of Desdemona into the play by Barbantio, her father, “It is too true an evil. Gone she is....Oh, she deceives me Past thought! …” (1.1.163)(1.1.168-169), whom has just found she has taken off with Othello and firstly suspects they have been hitched. Shakespeare gives reader the impression Desdemona is a devious imp full of disrespect towards her father. However, surpassing normal tradition of asking of her fathers’ permission to wed, Desdemona ran off and did marry the moor. This in a sense was her emancipation of her father’s possessiveness and oblivion of Othello’s dominance over her. Othello replies to Barbantio’s accusation, sedating or using black magic on his daughter, by saying, “My very noble and approved good masters, That I have ta’en away this old man’s daughter. It is most true.” (1.3.79-81), which brings me to the claim that Desdemona’s character in this tragedy, was only to become and to serve as Othello’s private possession rather than a typical beloved daughter or wife as in modern time. Shakespeare bases this tragedy on the foundation of Desdemona’s character by the symbol of the discrimination of women in the Shakespearean time era. Desdemona even for the first and only time within the play stands up and challenges her inferiority under her father’s aut...
Firstly, 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...