According to author Chinua Achebe, “The whole idea of a stereotype is to simplify. Instead of going through the problem of all this great diversity…you just have one large statement; it is this.” These broad simplifications have been found throughout history and often reflect the attitudes of an entire society at a specific time period. In particular, one can discover much about the prevailing attitudes of a society through its literature. Shakespeare, specifically, has written multiple works that incorporate generalizations of his era. For example, Shylock from The Merchant of Venice served as the archetypal Jew of the late 16th century. Othello explicitly includes race and religion as a fundamental part of the motivations behind the characters’ actions. In Othello, Shakespeare portrays Othello as a character that transcends stereotypes yet still has some connections to his cultural and religious origins. Shakespeare illustrates how early 17th century Venetian stereotypes are not entirely accurate but have some basis and history behind them. In doing so, Shakespeare is able to convey how stereotypes do have some historical basis surrounding them; however, but one cannot be expected to act in a manner solely defined by others. Othello attempts to depict and break down stereotypes of a particular group of people who were viewed as strange and dangerous to a traditional, prejudiced audience and does so successfully.
Othello’s characterization as a non-typical Moor is what initially begins to question the validity of stereotypes held by the audience at the time of writing. From the opening of the play, Shakespeare immediately removes the religious aspect of Othello out of scrutiny, as he makes Othello a Christian Moor, rather than...
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...ing expectations but also sees him as a fellow human.
Works Cited
Aubrey, James R. “Race and the Spectacle of the Monstrous in Othello.” CLIO 22.3 (Spring 1993): 221-238. Rpt. In Shakespearean Criticism. Ed. Lynn M. Zott. Vol. 68. Detroit: Gale,2003. Literature Resource Center. Web 8 Mar. 2012.
Levistsky, Ruth M. “Prudence versus Wisdom in Othello.” Dalhousie Review 54.2 (Summer 1974): 281-288. Rpt. In Shakespearean criticism. Ed. Michael L. LaBlanc. Vol. 72. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Literature Resource Center. Web 8 Mar. 2012.
Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1890. Print.
Tiffany, Grace. “Othello: racist or anti-Islamist?” Shakespeare Newsletter Winter 2009: 111. Literature Resource Center. Web. 6 Feb. 2012.
Vaughan, Virginia. Othello: A Contextual History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996. 22-24. Print.
Shakespeare’s fictional character Othello, General of the Venetian Army, has an eminently respectable reputation as a result of his plentiful exploits in battle and because of his notoriety to command “Like a full soldier”. Nevertheless, the rough-and-ready commandant is not as emotionally callous as, not only his war-time resume would suggest, but also how Iago and Roderigo portray his as a character in Act 1, Scene 1. Despite his triumphs, numerous characters throughout Othello do not shy away from the casual racist jab towards their black-skinned General. Exposure to repetitive, often overt, verbal-degradation leads Othello to believe that he is racially inferior as the play progresses – this infectious discrimination of Elizabethan racists
Orkin, Martin. “Othello and the “plain face” Of Racism.” 2nd ed. Vol. 38. N.p.: n.p., n.d. 166-88. Shakespeare Quarterly. Folger Shakespeare Library in Association with George Washington University, Summer 1987. Web. 12 Mar. 2014. .
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.
Neill, Michael. "Unproper Beds: Race, Adultery, and the Hideous in Othello." Critical Essays in Shakespeare's Othello. Ed. Anthony Gerard Barthelemy.
The polysemic nature of the play Othello enables a myriad of interpretation and perspectives take explained and accepted. This is evident through the various critics and films that have all interpreted Othello in different yet plausible ways. Issues such as racism, sexism, jealousy and love have been frequently noted in the play allowing Shakespeare to convey how he felt about his society at the time. Applying these matters to his works, not only has he expressed his views on the society, he has also allowed us to grasp what it was like during that period of time. Though that is the case, Othello is still able to leave its audiences feeling ill at ease no matter which perspective they view it from.
Texts and their appropriations reflect the context and values of their times. Within Shakespeare’s Othello and Geoffrey Sax’s appropriation of Othello, the evolution of the attitudes held by Elizabethan audiences and those held by contemporary audiences can be seen through the context of the female coupled with the context of racism. The role of the female has developed from being submissive and “obedient” in the Elizabethan era to being independent and liberated within the contemporary setting. The racism of the first text is overtly xenophobic and natural, whilst the “moor” is unnatural whereas the updated context portrays Othello’s race as natural and racism as unnatural. Therefore these examples show how Shakespeare’s Othello, and it’s appropriation, Geoffrey sax’s Othello, reflect the context and values of their times.
---. “The Tragedy of Othello the Moor of Venice.” The Norton Shakespeare. Ed. Stephen Greenblatt. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1997. 2100-2174.
Shakespeare's portrayal of Othello is of a Venetian general but at the same time as an outside to the society that he resided in. His status as an alien is given to him by the people that surround him, including his so called acquaintances, due to his one supposed imperfect... ... middle of paper ... ... ay, such as the supposedly "Honest" Iago. Othello was a great man within the play, a gracious general and a passionate husband, but it was the fault of himself and his lethal
William Shakespeare’s “The Tragedy of Othello” shows how a manipulative villain can create chaos within a society. The play was written around the year 1603 and takes place in Venice Italy before it is repositioned to Cyprus. This Shakespearean tragedy shows the effects of jealousy, love, desire, betrayal and passion in a society with an imbalance of power in a race, gender, and social position.
In both of Shakespeare’s plays, "Othello" and "The Merchant of Venice", there are several instances in which the non-white and non-Christian characters are marginalized and are often the victims of prejudice and outright racism. This occurs in both "Merchant of Venice" and "Othello" particularly through the use and power of language and terms of reference. What is most fascinating about this seeming racism and bias against these characters, Othello and Shylock, is that they aren’t represented in either text as completely fitting the villainous or negative stereotypes other characters wish to put them in. Both Othello and Shylock are presented as sympathetic to varying degrees and although they posses several character flaws that some of the white and Christian characters wish to attribute to their race (Jewish as greedy and heartless and Moors as savage and barbarous) Shakespeare does not completely rely on these stereotypes to draw his characters of these two men. Although Shylock is indeed money-hungry, greedy, and oftentimes heartless, he is still portrayed sympathetically at points and his faults are not shown to be something associated with his race. Othello, most notably at the end of the play commits a savage act, but throughout the rest of the text, he is shown to be mild-mannered and exceptionally “civilized” as a general and aristocrat. This softening allows the characters to be represented as more rounded, but the fact still remains that racial bias and outright racism and prejudice are present in both texts.
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.
Little, Arthur L. “’An Essence that's Not Seen’: The Primal Scene of Racism in Othello.” Shakespeare Quarterly 44.3 (1993): 304-24. JSTOR. Web. 17 Feb. 2014.
Gender roles and racism play a big part in Shakespeare’s Othello. “Othello is unique among Shakespeare's great tragedies. Unlike Hamlet, King Lear, and Macbeth, which are set against a backdrop of affairs of state and reverberate with suggestions of universal human concerns, Othello is set in a private world and focuses on the passions and personal lives of its major figures. Indeed, it has often been described as a "tragedy of character" (Locklear). Adding well-developed female characters to the play Othello creates a dimension of gender conflict and feminist views. The play’s behavior towards sexual differences as well as gender roles both solidifies Othello’s racist tones and complicates ethnic tensions.
Everyone who reads The Merchant of Venice must bear in mind that it is, like any other literary work, a creation of a skillful writer, rising a case that can be a subject for many interpretations and not necessarily revealing a specific view of its writer, however it aims to convey a certain moral to the readers. Therefore, the character of shylock, being stereotyped or not, with its controversy is a tool manipulated to convey a moral message: when people live in a society that is open to cultural diversity and that values the contributions of all society members – regardless of cultural and ethnic backgrounds, race, life styles, and beliefs – they will be one step closer to living in a civil society. Works Cited 1) Encyclopaedia Britannica, the definition of "Anti-Semitism". 2) E. E. Stoll, Shylock (an essay in Shakespeare Studies, 1927). 3) John Palmer, Comic Characters of Shakespeare, Shylock. 4) John Palmer, Comic Characters of Shakespeare, Shylock.
Kermode, Frank. “Othello, the Moor of Venice.” The Riverside Shakespeare. Ed. G. Blakemore Evans. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1974.