Race and Loyalty in Othello
William Shakespeare`s Othello is centralized around the conflicts that are, for the most part, tied in with racial issues and questions of loyalty. These conflicts stem from the society that encompass the couple, as well as from the couple themselves. Indeed the couple are entrenched in different social strata, class and ethnicity. The female protagonist is the daughter of a highly-respected Venetian senator: Brabantio. Othello--also known as the Moor--is a foreigner, black in color, has a past filled with tragic and exotic tales and has proved himself worthy of the title General in the Venetian army.
Even before we, as an audience, have had a chance to meet Othello and Desdemona we learn that the match is considered as disgusting as it is outrageous. From the very beginning everyone and everything seem to work against them, but in the hope that love will conquer all we do not allow ourselves to despair as yet. Perhaps similar to the way in which Romeo and Juliet are famously bequeathed to be ‘star-crossed lovers’ on the onset of the play. Our assumption of Othello and Desdemona are met in the first act. After having explained why they love each other the world seems to accept this alliance.
But Brabantio`s comment informs the reader that not everything is as it seem:
(I.iii.293-4) "Look to her, Moor, if thou hast eyes to see
She has deceived her father and ma...
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...on Shakespeare’s Othello. Ed. Anthony G. Barthelemy Pub. Macmillan New York, NY 1994. (page 1-19)
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Whitman’s work has an arguable style that makes his work appear as an egotistical piece of literature for some and others may find a different deeper meaning within his work. This work is an excellent example of patriotic work that attempts better its audience throughout by making revelations and comparisons of different idea and thoughts about the nation's people. Whitman illustrates his interpretation of what a kind of person is a great person is and how they go about life. He intends to make his audience better as a whole and understand the underlying problem that some have. Whitman's writing truly expresses his feelings about his time and what he expects from them for a better
Firstly, Othello’s race and the racism around him ruined his marriage with Desdemona. Othello and Desdemona was a good couple, but you know what they say, all good things must come to an end. Almost everybody had a problem with their relationship. In that time, interracial relationships and marriage wasn’t allowed. While Brabantio was sleeping, Iago and Roderigo woke him up out of his sleep saying that Othello was having sex with his daughter Desdemona at that very moment. Brabantio didn’t believe them at first, but when he found out that they were telling the truth and his white daughter was with “the Moor” Othello, he didn’t take it lightly. He couldn’t believe that she would want to be with someone like Othello. He said that Othello must’ve used some type of magic to get Desdemona to fall in love with him. At that time it had to be a miracle for a black person to be with a white person, it was unheard of. Then he started calling Othello a Moor to his face and orders his guards to get him.
Orkin, Martin. “Othello and the “plain face” Of Racism.” 2nd ed. Vol. 38. N.p.: n.p., n.d. 166-88. Shakespeare Quarterly. Folger Shakespeare Library in Association with George Washington University, Summer 1987. Web. 12 Mar. 2014. .
The love between Othello and Desdemona is a great venture of faith. He is free; she achieves her freedom, and at a great cost. Shakespeare, in creating the figure of her wronged father, who dies of grief at her revolt, sharpened and heightened, as everywhere, the story in the source. Her disobedience and deception of him perhaps cross her mind at Othello’s ominous ‘Think on thy sins.’ If so, she puts the thought aside with ‘They are loves I bear you.’ . . . Othello is a drama of passion and runs to the time of passion; it is also a drama of love which, failing to sustain its height of noon, falls at once to night. (141)
In the Sixteenth century, as we see clearly from Othello and other works of both Shakespeare and Cinthio's original version of Othello, race was a topic of great debate and discussion. Today, in the twenty-first century the debate retains its controversy and passion. However, attitudes towards race have taken a dramatic turn during the last century. In the developed world people are now living in an increasingly cosmopolitan society would undoubtedly be more tolerant and would reject or even be offended by racial discrimination to any person or sections of the community. Openly 'racist' people today are seen as outcasts. Taking this into account, the way a modern audience would react to race and racism in Othello is dependent upon the way in which that modern audience would interpret 'Othello'. This prompts the questions of what sort of message Shakespeare wanted to send to his audience and was Othello the moor portrayed as a tragic hero or did his character eventually come to resemble the prejudices of which he was a victim. Shakespeare also discusses the issue of race with other characters such as the hateful Iago and the prejudices hidden deep in Barbantio.
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Jones, Eldred. "Othello- An Interpretation" Critical Essays on Shakespeare's Othello. Ed. Anthony G. Barthelemy Pub. Macmillan New York, NY 1994. (page 39-55)
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.
Although some try to avoid it, most people’s opinions of others are sadly regarded based on race. These ethnic groups cause people to think of others as superior or inferior to them, sometimes becoming so extreme that people start to doubt themselves. These ideas are incorporated in Shakespeare’s play, Othello, a tragedy about a black war general named Othello, who is often referred to by many racial names, such as “the Moor.” He has recently married a young woman named Desdemona, a character completely opposite in race and status. Their relationship causes much outrage, especially from Desdemona’s father, Brabantio. However, Othello soon faces more trouble after Venetians named Iago and Roderigo conspire together to ruin Desdemona and Othello’s
From its 1604 publishing date until the modern era, Shakespeare’s Othello has continued to be an essential sociological tool in its historical evocation of discussions of prejudice. The modern chronology of Othello’s worldwide criticism is consistently laden with race issues and exhibits the development of human thought in its gradual drift away from the archaic structural notions of human difference toward a more humanist and sensible perspective. This timeline of documented literary reactions validate the importance of discussing race in Othello.
Barthelemy, Anthony G. "Introduction" Critical Essays on Shakespeare's Othello. Ed. Anthony G. Barthelemy Pub. Macmillan New York, NY 1994. (page 1-19)
One of the major issues in Shakespeare's Othello is the impact of the race of the main character, Othello. His skin color is non-white, usually portrayed as African although some productions portray him as an Arabian. Othello is referred to by his name only seventeen times in the play. He is referred to as "The Moor" fifty-eight times. Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) states that a Moor is "Any individual of the swarthy races of Africa or Asia which have adopted the Mohammedan religion. In Spanish history the terms Moo, Saracens, and Arabs are synonymous." This indicates that Othello is constantly being degraded and set up as an evil person throughout the play. What this really means is that Othello is being judged by his skin color rather than the person under the skin. The view that whites and non-whites are equal is a relatively new concept in our society. In institutionalized racism, such as American slavery, those of a different color were often viewed as inferior. As Shakespeare wrote Othello, this idea was becoming quite prominent as England entered the African slave trade. One can look at the racial issues from the perspective of color, slavery, and society.
In Shakespeare’s Othello, race is a concept that is only minimally explored. Characters in the play assume that, since they are English, they are superior and foreign characters (like Othello the Moor) are inferior. This is not questioned much at all, and in fact it is assumed outright that Othello is indeed a lesser man because of his skin color and the ways in which characters like Iago and Roderigo treat him. While an early modern audience would accept this concept without hesitation, an audience of today’s age is left to question whether Othello is actually acting out because of the societal pressures, beliefs, and actions put upon him, or because he is inherently different as a person who is not white. While Shakespeare seems to think the contrary, Othello’s development in his actions and words—from a confident general to a depressed, wife-killing maniac—show clearly that his demise and his reactions were products of his peers (namely, Iago) and that he is not inherently different because of his race. Ultimately, it was all Iago’s fault.
Othello is one of Shakespeare?s prime examples of an ?other?, someone who doesn?t truly belong to society by some unfortunate inheritance of ethnicity and race, made worse by the negative stereotypes constructed by the Venetians to apply to outsiders like him. Although Othello is a gifted military hero, a ?worthy governor? (II.i.30) and a ?full soldier? (II.i.36), he is also damned by his color, his blackness. Most of the Venetian insiders, including his wife Desdemona, refer to Othello as merely ?the Moor?, and label him with such blatant insults as ?l...