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Impact Of Racism In Othello

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Impact Of Racism In Othello
The play Othello by William Shakespeare explores the powerful impact racism can have on the minds of its victims and how it can shift their perspectives of themselves. This connection to racism in the play is revealed through repeating patterns, that allows the audience to understand the devastating tragedy caused as a result of this racism. Othello is moulded by society to believe that he is different as a result of both the purposeful and unconscious use of the word “Moor” which is a word used to describe black people from the North West of Africa, despite him being a high ranking General in the military. During multiple scenes throughout the play Shakespeare shows how Othello has been corrupted by society’s views of him and as a result begins …show more content…
A significant part of Othello’s Hamartia that led to his tragic downfall was his acceptance of the believe foisted upon him that he would never truly be loved by a white woman, because he was led to believe that being black was unattractive and undesirable. Iago awakens this subconscious belief buried within Othello’s mind and is part of Iago’s ‘poison,’ that results in Othello murdering Desdemona and killing himself.

Othello is moulded by the predominantly white society with which he had been assimilated into, he begins to accept his classification as a ‘Moor.’ This term makes him believe that he is subconsciously inferior to the white society. This allows doubt to rapidly seep into his mind about the loyalty and chastity of Desdemona, this is because he believes that he is not as worthy for her as the handsome Cassio is and believe she does not truly love him. Othello is rarely referred to by his name during the play and is simply called the ‘Moor,’ it presents him as an outcast and different. During the first scene of the play Iago refers to Othello sarcastically by referring to him as "his Moorship's ancient” this use of the word ‘Moorship’ refers
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