Analysis Of Shakespeare's Othello, Damned By A Racist Society

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Othello, Damned by a Racist Society

“My parts, my title and my perfect soul / Shall manifest me rightly.”
(Shakespeare and Neill, 2008, Act 1, Scene 2, Line 31-32).
These were the words that were chosen by William Shakespeare to be spoken by a character, his protagonist “Othello,” in the Domestic “remains in the Domestic sphere” (Pacheco and Johnson, 2012, p.20) Tragedy “a literary work that deals with different matters which results in the death of the protagonist” (Pacheco and Johnson, 2012, p.373) Drama play “Othello, the Moore of Venice,” as a declaration (by Othello) of his unawareness of the existence of racism “the belief that people’s qualities are influenced by their race and that the members of others race are not as good as the …show more content…

The play “Othello, the Moore of Venice,” written by William Shakespeare deals with two major themes ‘Love and Death’, yet it also deals with many other significant themes such as class, gender, and finally race and prejudice which is our main focus (Pacheco and Johnson, 2012, preface), which we get a hint of when looking at the title itself, because it reveals to us that he is the only black man seen in the society of Venice (Chandra, 2015), which may lead us to assume that he is trying to fit in such a society. According to (Hadfield, 2010, p.2) by using a black tragic hero Shakespeare was intentionally exposing the racism, prejudice, thoughts and beliefs of his fellow country men. When looking at history especially during the period where the play was first performed 1604 (Pacheco and Johnson, 2012, p.3) some obvious answers are provided to us to expose the thoughts of the society during that time. The English people believed that God made them in his image therefore saw themselves (race and religion) as superior to others (especially Blacks), they believed in preserving their race and any tamper (interracial marriages) will result in contamination and the production of lost children (with mix races) who don’t belong to anyone (race) (Hadfield, 2010, p.2). This view is evident in the play when Shakespeare used the character “Brabantio” who is an arrogant Senator in Venice and Desdemona’s father as a representation of “typical and ordinary Englishmen,” (Pacheco and Johnson, 2012, p.22) who claims while questioning Othello’s honor and love that it is impossible for his daughter to be in love with a black man that she “feared to look on” (Shakespeare and Neill, 2008, Act 1, Scene 3, Line 99). In addition, he warns the Venetians that in accepting such matter will make their inferiors become equals to them in place and in power “For if such actions may have passage free, Bond-slaves and pagans shall

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