The Significance of Othello’s Ethnicity.
In William E. Cain’s essay, “The Triumph of Will,” he clearly states, as is represented by James that Othello’s race is not an issue in the play. I strongly agree with James and believe that if Othello’s skin was white it would not affect the outcome of the play at all. Desdemona’s marriage to any other man, black or white, would have been just as upsetting to Barbantio and Roderigo, and in this paper I will further discuss my reasoning.
As I have mentioned in the introduction, the outcome of the play would have been exactly the same whether or not Desdemona’s husband in the play happened to be black or white. One of the reasons is the fact that Barbantio was not necessarily mad at Desdemona for marrying Othello. Although this might have made him a little upset he got over that very quick, but what made him really mad was that Desdemona married Othello secretly behind his back without his approval. Basically Barbantio felt betrayed by his own daughter. This made Barbantio feel that he wasn’t able to do his part as a father, and play that major role in his daughter’s life anymore. Since Othello is now Desdemona’s new husband it is his responsibility to take over those important roles. Barbantio would feel this way regardless of who his daughter married. Understandingly and respectively enough Barbantio knows that Desdemona loves Othello, and that Othello loves Desdemona just as much as he loves his daughter. In the end, Barbantio easily accepts the marriage. If the racial issue was the initial root of all evil here he would not have accepted the marriage as easily. In his acceptance to the marriage he joins the hands of Othello and Desdemona and gives them his blessings. “I here do give thee that with all my heart which, but thou hast already, with all my heart I would keep from thee for your sake, Jewel, I am glad at soul I have no other child, for thy escape would teach me tyranny, to hang clogs on them.” (Shakespeare, 31)
As for Roderigo, his main conflict is the simple fact that Desdemona has married a man whom is not himself, as he would rather love to have it. Although Iago is supposed to be a friend if Othello’s he sides with Roderigo and secretly is against Othello.
Othello’s blackness, his marriage with Desdemona, and the murder of her are all three important structural elements of Othello and are a...
Desdemona is a stunning, youthful, white, Venetian debutante. She is her father's pride and joy, but she refuses to marry any of the rich, handsome Venetian men that her surroundings expects her to spend the rest of her life with. Instead, she elopes with Othello – an older black man, an outsider to Venetian society. Turns out, this is a pretty intrepid move – Desdemona not only defies her father's expectations (that she marry a white man of his choosing), she also thumbs her nose at a society that largely disapproves of interracial marriages. In this way, Desdemona's relationship with Othello speaks to the play's concerns with Sixteenth Century attitudes about sex, gender, and race. Desdemona withholds many attributes to the play Othello by Shakespeare. She leads on a perfect life, as the perfect woman, but will it last forever?
The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. The story is about Othello, who is a general in the Venetian army and is convinced by his trusted ensign, Iago that his wife is cheating on him. Eventually Othello kills his wife and when he finds out the truth he then kills himself. Most of the conflict in the play stems from Othello’s value assumption that women are not equal to men, which leads to dramatic and value irony. Othello’s relationship with Desdemona, his trust in Iago and Othello’s jealousy indicates Othello’s belief that women are not equal to men.
The play Othello by William Shakespeare is based on an Italian story in Giraldi Cinthio's Hecatommithi (Grolier). In Othello we encounter Iago, one of Shakespeare's most evil characters. Iago is an officer in Othello's army and is jealous of Cassio's promotion to Lieutenant. Through deception and appearance, we see unfolded many lies and clever schemes. The astonishing thing about Iago is that he seems to make up his malicious schemes as he goes along without any forethought. Noted writer Samuel Taylor Coleridge describes Iago's plan as "motive-hunting of a motiveless malignity" (Scott 413). Iago seizes every opportunity to further advance his plan to his advantage. Greed plays a major role as a motive for his various schemes and lies.
In Shakespeare’s “Othello”, the role of women is deeply emphasized; the significant characters of the play Othello, Iago, and Casio, each have a lady that stands behind him. These women each have commitment to remain faithful and respect their husband's needs, especially Desdemona and Emilia.
Desdemona is one of the protagonists of the play contributes to the play and also fleshes out certain aspects of characterisation mainly where Othello and Iago are concerned. Thus her relevance is highlighted consistently throughout Othello, since without her ppresence, Iago would not have succeeded in manipulating Othello, and Othello's drastic transformation would not have been made evident.
Othello is one of Shakespeare’s four pillars of great tragedies. Othello is unique in comparison to the others in that it focuses on the private lives of its primary characters. When researching the subject of Othello being an Aristotelian tragedy, there is debate among some critics and readers. Some claim that Shakespeare did not hold true to Aristotle’s model of tragedy, according to his definition in “Poetics,” which categorized Othello as a classic tragedy as opposed to traditional tragedy. Readers in the twenty-first century would regard Othello a psychological thriller; it definitely keeps you on the edge of your seat creating the emotions of terror, heart break, and sympathy. This paper will focus on what Shakespeare actually intended regarding “Othello” and its Aristotelian influences.
“I asked her to wear something revealing, so she showed up in a prophet's toga.”(CITE) Jarod Kintz’s words are an example of miscommunication, or failure to comprehend meaning. In this case, it is implied that one person misunderstood the message of another, but incomprehension also applies to problems other than falsely interpreted requests. Incomprehension can occur when people misinterpret another’s words or intentions, or when a person misreads situations or events. The outcome described in Kintz’s quote is unexpected and unintended, but there are instances of incomprehension that have consequences of greater severity. Perhaps a classic tragedy with a high body count falls under these parameters.
In William Shaspeare play Othello, Iago make Othello believe that Desdemona is having an affair with Cassio. He does by taking advantage of any situation to make of Othello doubt. Iago make Othello thing a lot of crazy thing on his head, Othello got so jelous leading him to kill his own wife, Desdemona, satisfying iago obseccion for revenge.
The director uses specific language and tone to stress the issue of race in Othello. The controversy of racial relationships is expressed through Brabantio's negative attitudes and words. He refers Othello to a 'foul thief, implying that his daughter could never love a man of a different colour, and that therefore Othello has stolen her from him. Brabantio compares Othello to someone that no one would want and he is disgusted that Desdemona would "run from her guardage to the sooty bosom". Thus implying that Othello is dirty and undesirable. The choice of language from the director highlights the other characters pessimistic and disrespectful attitudes towards Othello due to his skin colour.
Roderigo begins with a small jealousy of Othello for being married to Desdemona. It isn't until Iago makes Roderigo believe Desdemona does not really love Othello that Roderigo becomes destructive. Iago tells Roderigo, "It cannot be that Desdemona should long continue...
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 audience at this point know nothing of Othello that is gained by their own opinion, instead we are lead to believe from Iago’s race related description that Othello is a threatening and evil moor, whose beastial sexual appetite, conveyed by Iago’s cries to Brabantio, telling him that ‘an old black ram is tupping’ his ‘white ewe’ (1.1.89), is something of a rapist. Iago’s coarse animal related language conveys Iago’s feelings against Othello’s marriage in a much more pronounced way. The image of an ‘old black ram’ gives the audience nothing but negative images of Othello, especially when this ‘old black ram’ is being associated with the innocence of a ‘white ewe’. Iago then associates Othello with the image of ‘the devil’ (1.1.92) because of Othello’s colour, Iago warns Brabantio that he has ‘lost half [his] soul’ now that Desdemona is married to Othello. Iago here emphasises the biracial nature of the marriage, already showing his ability to manipulate people, in this case he is manipulating Brabantio, to believe in Iago’s own opinions and in theory to eliminate all thoughts that Brabantio might of had of his own about the marriage.
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 ...
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.