Prejudice And Racism In Shakespeare's Othello

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Recommended: Anti racism in Othello and other Shakespearen works

Lucas Dorula
Mr. Keller
AP Literature and Composition
October 20, 2017
(Creative Title)
Written during Elizabethan times, William Shakespeare's Othello provides insight into how race and racism has a role in society. Racism functions as one of the main forces that compels Iago to plot against Othello and ultimately lead to the tragic outcome of the play. However, the apparent racism acts as a facade, there to conceal the bigger issue: the distrust of women in the play. But herein lies the question - is Othello just a black man, villainized by white men and the victim of racism, or is he simply an accomplish to the patriarchal society in which he lives, conforming to the same behavior towards women as his white Venetian equivalents? The dynamics of the play act upon the idea of male superiority over women no more than by the oppressive racism towards one of the main male characters, Othello. Othello serves as an example to show the inequality in power between not only men and women, but also between race. Shakespeare reveals the role that gender …show more content…

Roderigo refers to Othello as “the thick-lips” (1.172); Iago labels him a “Barbary horse” (1.1.125); Brabantio suggests he has used “charms” to hex his daughter and wishes that the white Roderigo would “had had her” instead (1.1.193,198). Othello has not even made a formal appearance in the play, yet in Act 1 Scene 1 they depict him as a villain who has “stol'n” the senator’s daughter (1.3.73). Nevertheless, the counsel pardons Othello and give him their blessing. The duke’s line “Your son-in-law is far more fair than black” grants the black-skinned Othello a metaphorical whiteness

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