Race In Othello Essay

What makes you a certain race? Does it signify biological differences or is it the product of social categorization? Race cannot be truly interpreted without reflecting on the purpose of the division of races. We functionally use the concept of race to distinguish or set apart certain groups based upon identifiable physical traits. The idea in hindsight seems practical; in the same way we label animals or even food groups. However, the act of defining races as it applies today, maintains a much less inclusive origin.

In Early Modern England, race was used to reference bloodline or family lineage. Although the word race, is used in a different context than it once was in Early Modern England, qualities of its original meaning are still representative

Upon Feerick’s suggestion, the examination of the situations in which race is described in Othello, reveal race referencing to skin color. This ultimately draws the meaning of race away from bloodline and towards one of social hierarchy. Thus, paving the way for a line of thinking that correlates with discrimination and modern day terms such as white privilege. Feerick provides that this emphasis on one’s skin color works to; “. . . expose, with uncanny similarities of representational strategy, the social dynamics that enable colour to accrue value as a marker of cultural difference . . .” (Feerick 119). This use of skin color to identify one’s diversity reveals how its introduction sparked a decline in the use of race to describe

Whether it is intentional or subconsciously, people base race in accordance with what racial group you appear to be from. It makes sense in an abstract form, to associate the two meanings, considering the scientific definition of race. In biological terms, race references groups of people who, derived from the same ancestors, share similar inherited physical characteristics, such as facial feature, skin color, or build. In society, the meaning of “race” is constantly associated with skin color. However, race has grown to be much more complex than simply representing one’s skin, and has become for some, an embodiment of cultural and ethnic