Race and Loyalty in Othello

Racism and Interracial Marriage in Othello Othello: The Moor of Venice is probably Shakespeare's most controversial play. Throughout this work, there is a clear theme of racism, a racism that has become commonplace in Venetian society which rejects the marriage of Othello and Desdemona as anathema. The text expresses racism throughout the play within the language transaction of the dialogue to question the societal ethos established by Othello, thereby making him nothing less than a cultural "other." Furthermore, the character of Desdemona is displayed as mad, or out of her wits, for marrying such an "other," and the audience sees her slip from an angelic state of purity to that of a tainted character.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

The play, Othello, is certainly, the tragedy of racism in itself. Racism is a very important issue in Othello; it highlights racial problems confronting Europe in the seventeenth century. Othello is discriminated throughout the play because colored people at that time period were only known as slaves and under classed citizens and being the only colored character in the whole play adds further emphasis and positions the readers to sympathize for Othello as the tragedy unfolds. At the same time, Othello could be seen as the highest representative of his racial group as he is represented as one of the most respected soldier and nobleman during that time period, even when it was uncommon for colored men to be in the middle class. However, Othello

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.

During the time of Othello, racism was an accepted part of public life. People of color were accused of crimes and constantly blamed for society’s problems. In a time period when ethnic minorities were unimportant and merely ignored, a black man named Othello rises, and has a position as a general who is trusted and respected by his white leaders. Shakespeare’s representation of Othello in the book was revolutionary. Othello was the perfect example of power, which was not a normal presentation of African Americans. By making Othello a black leader, it rebelled the stereotyped norms of a black character, usually being the bad guy in books. Despite all the false allegations stating that Shakespeare is racist, Othello emphasizes the author’s insight into human equality through jealousy, revenge, and the use of prejudice.

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...