Racism: Prominent Theme in Shakespeare's Othello

Shakespeare task

Theme of racism

Racism is a prominent theme in Shakespeare’s Othello.
A lot of things can suggest that ‘Othello’ is a racist play but other themes can actually dominate this opinion. At the time where the play was written (1604), the romantic union between black and white usually gets destroyed and hated upon because most people thought this type of relationship was wrong. Moreover, the queen of England at the time was extremely racist so there must have been a strong hatred towards dark skinned people at the time.

Most racist comments in the play are only said because of upset or angry protagonists; not because of the opinions of the society. For instance, towards the end of the play, Emilia found out that Othello had killed his wife Desdemona, Emilia was really angry and upset and called Othello “Blacker devil”, this was the first and only time she had said anything racist towards Othello. From this, we can see that Emilia has racist opinions towards Othello but does not express it and this tragic event triggered that thought to come out.

The central protagonists that are racist are: Iago, Brabantio, Rodrigo and Emilia; amusingly, every one of these characters has reasons to feel negatively towards Othello.
I think that Iago is the most racist protagonist in this play.

Iago’s hatred towards Othello is displayed right from the start of the play and the source for this is because Othello chose Cassio as his lieutenant instead of Iago. What bothered Iago the most was the fact that Cassio had no experience in war when he did himself. This simple choice results in many different negative emotions and worst of all, death.

Iago was not the only protagonist that had hatred on Othello, Brabantio; Desdemona’s father, was not satisfied with the fact that his white daughter was married to a black male (Othello). This was the main reason why he does not like Othello. Moreover, Iago interferes with other people’s lives and opinions and tries to make all situations that have any kind of involvement with Othello a lot worse than it really is in order to have revenge on innocent and humble Othello. Knowing that Desdemona is the most important thing in Othello’s life, Iago speaks to Brabantio about Desdemona and Othello’s relationship, “even now, very now, an old black ram is tupping your white ewe”. He aims to turn Brabantio against his son in law but also his daughter because she has been defiled by the Moore. Moreover, when he says “your daughter and the Moor are now making the beast with two backs”; Iago tries his best to make Brabantio feel even more uncomfortable about his daughter’s relationship. “Beast” and “two backs” suggests the two innocent couple are having wild sex and also sounds unpleasant. This imagery created is mind bothering.

Although Iago has the most hatred towards Othello, you would think that Othello knows this; on the contrary he does not. Iago’s evil and mischievous plans are kept a secret and not known by anyone but him. In addition, Iago doesn’t actually say anything negative to Othello’s face as his role was to be his best friend and to not make Othello suspicious that he was the cause of all the trouble that came towards him.

Rodrigo is another protagonist that’s against Othello; he does not actually have a good reason for this but he does what he does because he is Iago’s accomplice. He works with Iago and does what he is ordered to do because of Iago’s talent of being able to twist a situation and make it as if Rodrigo would benefit a lot from his plans. One of the negative comments he uses to describe Othello is “thick lips”, Rodrigo is mocking Othello and also, this is a common characteristic for a black person, furthermore, as Othello is compared to a black horse many times throughout the play (Moor), a horse has very thick lips compared to a human being and this contributes with the insults aimed at him. Shakespeare uses dramatic irony when Iago was plotting his evil plan to destroy Othello and Desdemona’s relationship. Through many lies and theft of the token Othello gave to Desdemona when they got married, Othello fell for Iago’s trickery and eventually believed that Desdemona was being disloyal with his new lieutenant Cassio. He is bothered by this very much and his conscience leads him to commit unforgivable and irreversible actions. Before Othello her life was taken she says “kill me tomorrow; let me live tonight!” she’s begging him to give her a chance to prove her innocence and even agrees to be killed rather than trying to get away and survive. She goes on to say “a guiltless death I die”; this dialogue instantly makes Othello have second thoughts about his actions however, Iago’s mind boggling false facts leads him to continue with what him and Iago both planned.

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Othello guilt results in suicide and ends with a soliloquy before he takes his life.

1) Othello’s hate for Desdemona thinking she’s betrayed him
2) Othello’s hate for his actions
You villain- because he married someone who’s not white