Faith In Othello

Europe in the middle Ages was threatened by the Islamic fighters from the east whom they saw as antithetical to their professed Christianity. As the dominant religion, those who professed this faith were seen to be superior to those who did not and as such religious minorities likely suffer discrimination and persecution at the hands of their Christian neighbors which would have necessarily shaped their world view and behavior.

Given the position of trust that Othello inhabits in fighting the Moors, it is most likely that he is a Christian. Growing up this environment, Othello would have had to navigate the cognitive dissonance of being a Moor, with different physical characteristics and at the same time professing to have the same faith. Throughout the play the character makes many references to his otherness and blackness, calling attention to his lips for example.

It is the doubt that he feels about his own worthiness and apparent contradiction of his dark skin that makes him begin to think that it is not possible for Desdemona to actually love him permanently, instead it strikes him as an unnatural phenomenon. At first, early in the play, he is happy with his wife and takes pleasure in her personal characteristics in that she feeds well, she likes company and that she says her mind. Yet, as his doubts about himself and their relationship begin to emerge, he starts to see her as a prostitute, someone false, who would lie about her relationships. This transformation is largely driven by his own unraveling sense of self-worth stemming from his perverse form of Christianity that despises his religious and ethnic