Mahmoud, Nisreen. "Racism in Shakespeare 's World." Racism in Shakespeare 's World. Blogspot.com, n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2013. .…
Throughout Shakespeare’s Othello, the concepts of race, gender and transgression are continually explored and employed to reflect the characteristics of Elizabethan values and attitudes expressed in Elizabethan society, through rejection and acceptance of gender and racial stereotypes in the first three scenes of Act One - the pinnacle of this being the marriage between Othello and Desdemona. Shakespeare forces the audience to challenge these stereotypes by portraying the African Moor, Othello, with a high level of status, authority and power within the military, and challenging the social conventions of the Elizabethan era by creating a marital union between two people of different races. By doing this, Shakespeare confronts the norms and values of society through use of Elizabethan attitudes, scrutinizing what it considered to be normal and acceptable within society and the reasons for this.…
Throughout many of Shakespeare’s plays, one of the central themes with which he provides his readers is the topic of madness and insanity. In Karin S. Coddon’s, “Such Strange Desygns”: Madness, Subjectivity, and Treason in Hamlet and Elizabethan Culture, the author depicts the reasons behind the psychosis of Shakespeare’s characters and what led to their insanity. The author expresses insight for not only the themes of madness in Hamlet but also helps explain the aspect of madness in one Shakespeare’s other plays, Macbeth. Through her analysis, Coddon successfully offers her readers a deeper understanding of Shakespeare’s choice to portray his characters in this way and provides the causes and effects of insanity within his plays.…
- Find more evidence - facts, examples, quotations, or statistics that back it up or support the topic sentence of this paragraph.…
The works of Shakespeare are so significant as the effect of racism, a key concept, which is relevant to both Shakespearean and contemporary audiences, is portrayed through a racial epithet spoken by Roderigo in Act 1 Scene 1 “Your fair daughter, transported, to the gross clasps of a lascivious Moor”. The derogatory language describes Othello as impure, allowing the audience to understand the typical…
I know that Shakespeare relates to modern day because Shakespeare’s stories were meant to be relatable. In fact, one of Shakespeare's book Hamilton display many emotions. Hamilton is about many things. It's about ambition, conflict, loyalty, looks, reality, guilt, sin, good and evil and many other things. Even though Shakespeare and his stories existied a long time ago the stories have relevance and importance…
Ideas of discrimination and racism have also been reflected within the play through the characterisation of Othello. Described as having “thick lips” and a darker skin tone, the protagonist experiences a sense of isolation from society due to his evident difference in physical appearance.. By demonstrating ideas of separation in the play, the reader is poised to read it as a text that incorporates strong ideas of discrimination, both evident during Shakespeare’s time and our current society. This discriminating prejudice leads to the deterioration of Othello’s confidence, where he states ‘for I am black’and ‘unworthy of love’. Ideas of discrimination and racism becomes particularly apparent when Iago constantly addresses Othello as ‘The Moor’…
Othello in Shakespeare's play is a black moor from North Africa surrounded by the white society of Venice. Many critics argue against racism in Othello although they believe it has got a racist theme. I think there are quite lots of proofs in the play which show that theme of racism is dominant and the problem of race should not be ignored. First, I will have a brief look at the meaning of black in the English society and the existence of racism in the 16th century and also where the character of Othello emerges from. Then I will refer to the attitudes of other characters towards Othello to conclude racism has been emphasized in the play.…
As our classmate, Alisha Jones stated in the last unit discussion post response, “It is amazing how we can all read the same Shakespeare play, and get a different understanding as of the message being conveyed”; but that just speaks volumes to the genius of Shakespeare’s talent as a writer. As for myself, I try to approach Shakespeare’s writing with a more critical thinking mindset, especially with the sensitivity of racial intolerance. As a result, I respectfully listened and considered the viewpoint of those responding to this post. Nevertheless, I would like to offer an opposing point of view.…
Most biographical information about William Shakespeare's life and death derives from public instead of private documents: vital records, real estate and tax records, lawsuits, records of payments, and references to Shakespeare and his works in printed and hand-written texts.[1][2] The bare historical record documents that Shakespeare was baptised 26 April 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire, England, in theHoly Trinity Church, at age 18 married Anne Hathaway with whom he had three children, was an actor, playwright and theatre entrepreneur in London, owned property in both Stratford and London, and died 23 April 1616 at the age of 52.…
There are few facts known with certainty about William Shakespeare's life and death. The best-documented facts are that Shakespeare was baptised 26 April 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire, England in the Holy Trinity Church, married Anne Hathaway at age 18, with whom he had three children, was an actor, playwright and theatre entrepreneur in London, owned property in both Stratford and London, and died 23 April 1616 at the age of 52.…
My interest in Othello is drawn to the way that race and colour is presented. Shakespeare was revolutionary in his casting of a black man to be the tragic hero and a white man to be the villain. In Jacobean society and even in many societies tody, the audience would of expected to see a black man as the felon. The setting in Cyprus is dramatically significant as it is isolated in the wild frontiers of war. Away from the structured society of Venice social norms and hierarchy are not relevant allowing Shakespeare to place a Moor in a position of authority. This daring theme of a black man in power has remained controversial ever since and it wasn’t until 1833 that a black man actually played the part. The issue of mixed race relationships was especially an issue in segregated America up until the twentieth century with Othello being played with blackface till 1940. The unnatural war setting also enables Iago’s passion to be unmasked,…
The presence of homoerotic references in the works of William Shakespeare was a direct result of the Elizabethan attitude towards sex during the English Renaissance. Within the privacy of the sonnets, Shakespeare could effusively express a passion that the Elizabethan Era, with its social mores, stifled greatly as it frowned upon homosexuality. Given the freedom to express himself uninhibitedly, Shakespeare cast aside the homophobia of his age and inscribed love sonnets for another male, Mr. W.H. This unrestricted honesty created great tension and drama between Shakespeare and his adversary, the dark lady as well as fueling some of the greatest love poems of all time.…
• Shakespeare demystifies and questions the racial hierarchies in the society due to which meritorious people like Othello have to suffer.…
Race is one of the main topics in Othello that Shakespeare goes ahead and plays with. Othello being the only black man in the story he is different from the main characters. He is seen as a man of dignity, respect, and pride. Othello is different from the perceived view of darker colored folks at the time. Shakespeare uses racial otherness to toy around with the reader’s view of the characters. Most potent, grave, and reverend signiors, my very noble and approved good masters,…. Hath this extent, no more. Rude am I in my speech, And little blessed with the soft phrase of peace,.. (Othello 79-85) Othello has what people of his skin color were perceived not to have which is somewhat of an education. Shakespeare instilled the exact opposite of the readers perception into Othello. Othello lets the Duke and all others know that he knows his place and tells them that he is not a good speaker, actually quite the awkward one but he switches the subject to the task at hand with having to go to Cyprus. Othello is seen using his quick whit at the beginning of the play to defer the Duke and men to the more important issue. Readers at this time would have been shocked to see a man of darker color with somewhat of a quick…