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Othello racism eassay
Racism in the othello play
Racism in the othello play
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The academic recourse I have chosen, titled Racism in Othello, starts out to by talking about how race has been a problem throughout history. About how your race can affect you depending on what race you are and where you happen to be. It then continues on and explains how Othello is a story that heavily grasps this subject. The writer of this academic paper even goes into great detail so as to prove his point. This resource would be very useful to my paper because it goes into great detail about how racism is present in the story of Othello and it does not stop there. It gives the ‘so what?’ The ‘so what?’ of the racism present is that it affects the main character of the story heavily, thus giving it a story.
The second academic resource I have chosen, titled ‘Proper’ Men and ‘Fallen’ Women; The Unprotectedness of Wives in ‘Othello’, starts out by stating that many Elizabethan and Jacobean plays that are considered tragedies have become known as “domestic tragedies. There is then a more indepth examination and explanation of of both Othello and The Winter’s Tale. The examination and explanation of Othello goes far more indepth than The Winter’s Tale. The paper makes a good argument, backed by a great deal of textual evidence,
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The writer states that the readers of this story are able to connect more with Emilia after the death of Desdemona because she is able to express all the feelings the readers may be feeling at the time. The writer goes on to make a compelling argument that by what she does in the end makes her a type of heroine. While I do like the overall theme and argument of this paper, I will not be using it. The reason for this is that is does not go with the theme of my own paper I plan to
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.
To begin, race is the first and clearest of differences between Othello and other major characters. However race is also the least seen issue in the play. Racism is, as stated by Martin Okin “confined to Iago, Roderigo, and Brabantio” (Orkin, “Othello: and the”). Emilia herself has her moments of racism, going from using Moor as a describer of Othello to using it as an insult. Brabantio shows this racism when he discovers that Othello has wed his daughter stating:
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.
Vanita, Ruth. "'Proper' men and 'fallen' women: the unprotectedness of wives in 'Othello.'" Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900 Spring 1994: 341-356. InfoTrac EF Expanded Academic ASAP 1993-April 1996. CD-ROM. Information Access. April 1996.
William Shakespeare’s Othello gains fame for its thematic conflict between appearance and reality, Iago’s motiveless malignity, and the downfall of Othello when he naively believes Desdemona’s without any substantial proof. While all these factors are important, the historical aspects of Othello are even more important because they are the foundation of the more complex concepts the play explores. The context in which the play is written has underlying distinctions between races. Race plays a huge role in Othello because it sets boundaries that cause the tragic hero’s downfall. The introduction to racism occurs when Brabnatio finds out about the marriage of Desdemon and the Moor.
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.
American history is a cornucopia of racial tension, beginning with the slave trade and spanning the centuries to the Ku Klux Klan and to the days of Martin Luther King. There is evidence that racial prejudice was just as prevalent in sixteenth century England as in modern day America. Othello can be seen as Shakespeare’s condemnation of racial prejudice.
Essential to the success of Othello is the fact that the issues and themes explored in this tragedy, written by Shakespeare in about 1604, are still relevant to the modern audience. The interest of an audience is held by themes that are fundamental to the human condition, as these reflect our world and examine human nature. Othello explores the issues of racism, gender, domestic violence, the supernatural and the pathology of the entirely evil person, which are all remarkably relevant to our time. Thus the interest of the audience is held, as issues that affect the viewers and readers of the play spark individual opinions, reflection and thought.
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.
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.
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.
The two main male characters, Othello and Iago, go to wildly extreme lengths to punish their wives, even though neither of their wives had explicitly done anything wrong. Iago’s ploy to sabotage Othello begins with his idea to use Desdemona’s “fresh and delicate” nature against her, picking her as the first and easiest target to get through to Othello (II, iii, 20). He spreads irreversible rumors on Desdemona’s fidelity; planting seeds of jealousy and doubt into Othello’s mind. Iago sees Desdemona as the weakest of his pawns, an object he can control and manipulate, and forces Othello to look at her that way as well. Then when Othello believes Desdemona is a whore, he exclaims that his marriage is “curse[d]” because he is unable to control Desdemona’s sexual “appetite” (III, iii, 309-311), demonstrating the societal standard for men to be in complete control of their wives (Papp and Kirkland).
In the 19th century, many scientists supported the belief that the human race could be categorized into different ethnic groups. Racism is generally defined as discrimination, prejudice, or antagonism directed against an individual(s) of a different race or ethnicity based on a certain belief (Brooks). Every society/generation has essentially experienced or been affected by this issue; it has been one of the most malicious aspects of the human race since the beginning of history. This subject continues to be a topic of great debate in modern society, and is one of the most significant themes that play a huge role in worldwide literature. In Othello, a tragedy written by William Shakespeare in the 17th century, racism is certainly displayed
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-