How Does Shakespeare Present Roderigo In Othello

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Shakespeare’s fictional character Othello, General of the Venetian Army, has an eminently respectable reputation as a result of his plentiful exploits in battle and because of his notoriety to command “Like a full soldier”. Nevertheless, the rough-and-ready commandant is not as emotionally callous as, not only his war-time resume would suggest, but also how Iago and Roderigo portray his as a character in Act 1, Scene 1. Despite his triumphs, numerous characters throughout Othello do not shy away from the casual racist jab towards their black-skinned General. Exposure to repetitive, often overt, verbal-degradation leads Othello to believe that he is racially inferior as the play progresses – this infectious discrimination of Elizabethan racists …show more content…

Roderigo, a wealthy Venetian desperate to have Desdemona’s hand in marriage, notes in a private conversation with the treacherous Iago “What full fortune does the thicklips owe” if Othello were escape consequences for marrying the beautiful, pure and fair-skinned Desdemona. Roderigo’s derogatory comment reveals his racist attitude not only through the slur by through implying that Othello’s profound merit would be inadequate to woo such as woman; luck, or necromancy as Brabantio later accuses, would be key for Othello to “board” someone of Desdemona’s …show more content…

Despite the commander’s achievements and prestigious ranking, Brabantio would prefer to give the fool Roderigo Desdemona’s hand in marriage than have her near a man with black skin, describing her decision as “treason of the blood” that must be the result of “charms”. Once considered an idiotic halfwit by Brabantio, Roderigo is now in a position of trust for no reason other than being a white Venetian, a lone fact that instantly puts him in a higher in the social hierarchy than the accomplished

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