For many years, people have been keen in associating Shakespearean plays with racial prejudices, perhaps to determine whether Shakespeare was a racist or not. Shakespeare’s use of characters of color, for instance, has raised controversies and even curiosity on what role does race contributes in his plays. It should be noted that racism or the belief that one’s race is superior to another is already observed in 16th century Europe. It was during this time when Europeans become increasingly engaged with people of different racial origins, especially with the dark skinned people of the East. The crusades, for instance, have greatly contributed to the interaction of Europeans with the Oriental people of Asia Minor and Northern Africa. These …show more content…
As observed by scholars, “While blackness and Mohammedism were stereotyped as evil, Renaissance representations of the Moor were vague, varied, inconsistent, and contradictory” (Bartels 434). In understanding Shakespeare’s ‘Othello,’ the question about race could not be ignored primarily because the main protagonist, Othello, was described as a Moor. Moreover, there were certain lines in the play that suggests racial insults such as when Iago referred to Othello as a ‘Barbary horse’ and that by letting Desdemona marry Othello, Brabantio, Desdemona’s father is going to taint his bloodline with Moorish blood, which Iago compared to a horse (Othello, The Moor of Venice 10). As stated by Iago, “you’ll have your daughter covered with a Barbary horse; you’ll have your nephews neigh to you; you’ll have coursers for cousins and gennets for germans” (Othello, The Moor of Venice 10). It is quite easy to confuse that these lines reveals Shakespeare’s racial prejudice towards blacks. But looking into the context of English culture during the Elizabethan era, it would appear that Shakespeare’s racially charged statements in Othello may be regarded as insignificant primarily because racial prejudice during his time is not as severe as it is …show more content…
Most likely, Shakespeare used the race issue to describe his protagonists in order to create controversy and not to suggest racial prejudice. In fact, if there is any racist hint in Othello, successfully countered it by portraying Othello as a noble and eloquent foreigner, worthy of respect of his Venetian employers. In a time when Moors are ridiculed because of their barbaric nature, Othello was a contradiction because he is not barbaric or uncivilized at all. On the other hand, one might point out to Othello’s race as Shakespeare’s leverage for justifying Othello’s aggressiveness towards his wife at the later part of the play. It is quite possible to speculate that Shakespeare consciously made Othello a Moor so he can validate the death of Desdemona from Othello’s hands. As if to say that Othello’s barbaric side emerged when he became jealous of Desdemona. Such assumption, however, would violate the development of Othello’s character. Apparently, his downfall was not of his doing. In fact, one might say that Othello was powerless because he knows nothing about the conspiracy led by Iago to ruin him. Othello’s responses, for instance, are just natural responses to anyone who faces a similar scenario. If given a similar scenario, it is quite likely that an English gentleman would also act similarly out of rage and jealousy. It was, therefore, human nature that motivated Othello from acting
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.
The European Renaissance forever changed the life of the contemporary individual. Explosive advancements in education, technology, and trade broadened geographic and mental horizons; however, in England these developments were paired with population crises of poverty and unemployment. In addition, the increased interaction with foreign cultures fomented by various commercial and diplomatic engagements gave rise to apprehension in English sensibility. Eventually, Christian England would attempt to reshape these ‘strangers’ in their image and modern racial tensions sprung forth. Recursion of the trope of race, under the guise of blackness, heathenry, or even femininity occurs extensively in literary tradition, and especially within Shakespeare’s oeuvre. “There exists in all literature an archetypal figure who escapes both poles of the classic definition – appearing sometimes as hero, sometimes as villain, sometimes as clown…[he] has been named variously the ‘shadow,’ the ‘other,’ the ‘alien,’ the ‘outsider,’ the ‘stranger.’” It is with this borderline figure, mired in ambiguity, that this investigation is concerned: primarily with the stranger as the Moor in Othello, the Welsh in Henry IV, Part 1, and the woman in both.
F. R. Leavis discusses the breakdown of sympathy for Othello, arguing that ‘Othello is too stupid to be regarded as a tragic hero’. Other critics also argue that Shakespeare ‘fully exploits the unique cultural opportunity to develop a more complex and sympathetic representation of black experience’ [The Noble Moor – Othello and Race in Elizabethan London, Roger Lees], implying that the sympathy that a contemporary audience would have felt for Othello was based oncultural context, given that the audience were predominantly white. However, it could be argued that it cannot just be the cultural context to Shakespeare’s audiences that has allowed Othello to become one of his most renowned tragedies; if this were the case, the play would have lost all critical interest by the 18th Century. It is Shakespeare’s use of the conventions of tragedy in attributing Othello with hubris that, although making it hard to empathise with at times, in the...
...I,iii,507) Before he kills Desdemona, he notes how white her skin is, describing it as "that whiter skin of hers than snow / and smooth as monumental alabaster." (V,ii,4-5) Othello, we know, has been driven to kill Desdemona by his jealousy. However, it is clear that his jealousy is inspired by the racial prejudice that is prevalent throughout the play.
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.
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.
The interracial marriage of Desdemona and Othello is in the forefront of the play. As mentioned above, this was extremely unusual in Elizabethan England. In fact there is one case when an English woman, Millicent Porter, a seamstress, slept with a black man and had to do a public penance for it (Elizabethan England Life). Also just three years prior to the release of Othello in 1603, Queen Elizabeth threw all of the Africans out of England ("Othello- An Interpretation" Critical Essays 39). All of this makes the marriage of Othello, a famous black general, and Desdemona, a senator’s daughter, who is white and beautiful, very bizarre to the viewers in Elizabethan England. Most if not all of the characters seem to be just as appalled at the interracial marriage as the audience. Specifically the racism the other characters show toward Othello is apparent. Rodrigo, a man who pays Iago to hel...
The play, Othello, is certainly, in part, the tragedy of racism. Examples of racism are common throughout the dialog. This racism is directed toward Othello, a brave soldier from Africa and currently supreme commander of the Venetian army. Nearly every character uses a racial slur to insult Othello at one point in the play. Even Emilia sinks to the level of insulting Othello based on the color of his skin. The character that most commonly makes racist remarks in Othello is Iago. It is very apparent that Iago uses racism as a scapegoat to hate and blame Othello. Societal racism takes its toll on its victims. The effect of racism on Othello is quite evident and is one of the main causes for his insecurity about his marriage. However, Othello is not wholly the tragedy of racism. The theme of jealousy is also extremely important in Othello. Racism may play a large part in the tragedy, Othello, but it certainly does not adequately explain the entire play.
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.
... 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.
Othello was the black sheep crowded around a herd of white sheep. Racist comments were made by many of the characters like Iago, Brabantio, Roderigo, and Emilia. Iago got the trophy for the most used racial comments. Racism in Othello had a tremendous impact on Othello. Being the only black person in a mostly white ethnicity area influenced him in a bad way. 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.
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.
In the tragedy Othello, Shakespeare creates a mood that challenges the way a person sees his or her self and the world. Subjects like racism, sexism, love, hate, jealously, pride, and trickery are thoroughly developed in the play of Othello to enable the audience to view the characters and also themselves. The Shakespearean tragedy of Othello was written in a time of great racial tensions in England. According to Eldred Jones, in 1600 just three years before Othello was written, Queen Elizabeth proclaimed an Edict for the Transportation of all "negars and blackmoores" out of the country ("Othello- An Interpretation" Critical Essays 39). It is in this atmosphere that Shakespeare began the masterpiece of Othello, a drama about a noble black Arab general, Othello, who falls in love with and marries, Desdemona, a young white daughter of a senator. From the above knowledge one may conclude that Shakespeare wrote Othello to express that all people, of all ethnicity, are basically the same in human nature. Shakespeare borrowed the idea of Othello from an Italian love story by Giraldi Cinthio. However, Shakespeare focuses more on the differences in color and age between Othello and Desdemona than Cinthio. Shakespeare does this to escalate Othello’s isolation from the rest of Venetian society and to display Othello’s vulnerability due to his color. In the tragedy not only is Othello susceptible to weaknesses but so is every major character . The tragedy reminds humans that even one’s good nature can be taken advantage of for the worse. The drama Othello expresses, through relationships and emotional attitudes, a theme that all humans are vulnerable to destruction even if they are in positions of power and glory.
...imes. Fifty eight times he is referred to as “The Moor”. Black and white is juxtaposed frequently, with white the image of goodness and purity and black the colour of evil. Bianca describes Othello as a “black devil” while Iago plans to turn “[Desdemona’s] name, that was as fresh as Dian’s visage…begrimed and black”. These racial slurs correspond with the social context of the Elizabethan era, when black residents negatively viewed. Although much has changed, this is still applicable to present society, where prejudices remain. Nonetheless in Shakespeare’s play, the hero is a black man and the villain a base, amoral white man with crude language.
It’s obvious that mostly every character in Othello is racist. If the color of Othello’s skin was white, Othello and Desdemona would’ve lived happily ever after. Racism was shown in many ways in Act I of Othello. When Iago and Roderigo talked about Othello, they called him an “old black ram,” (I.i.88) and made a sex reference with Othello and Desdemona by saying that they were “making the beast with two backs” (I.i.115-17). “The Moor” is a reference to his black skin color, features, and represents the people from North Africa (Bartels 434). Most of the characters, including Desdemona called Othello a Moor.