![]() May speak unbonneted to as proud a fortuneĪs this that I have reach’d for know, Iago,īarbantio’s racial prejudice does not allow him to understand the relationships between Desdemona and Othello, but Othello is not offended by that. Shall out-tongue his complaints ’tis yet to know – My services, which I have done the signiory, At the beginning of the play, Othello is confident, and he knows he deserves Desdemona. Othello that the audience sees on the stage for the first time is not the same Othello that kills Desdemona. When Othello goes to the Senate to defend himself and his marriage in front of the Duke, it is not his love that helps him save the situation but Othello’s important and influential status in Venice. Iago does not mention Othello’s name and calls him “the Moor” to reduce Othello to his skin color. He always targets Othello’s skin color and Othello’s cultural identity. It is interesting that Iago never questions Othello’s ability as a leader or a soldier. ![]() Throughout the play, Iago purposefully places “blackness” in opposition with “whiteness.” He even influences other characters to approach this matter in a similar manner, including Othello himself. For instance, the Duke says that Othello is “far more fair than black,” implying that being “fair” is more desirable than being black and that an educated black man loses his blackness and transcends the race. ![]() There are other characters that, without an intention to offend, express hidden racism not towards Othello per se but towards black people in general. She states that she is “color-blind,” which is, in fact, a subtle form of racism.īack to the Top “Blackness”/ “Whiteness” Opposition She has to justify to the audience why and how she was able to overcome Othello’s blackness. She says, “I saw Othello’s visage in his mind.” Here she accepts that her love for him is alienated from his appearance. He even thinks that Othello used some witchcraft to attract Desdemona because, otherwise, it would be impossible or unnatural for a fine white lady to fall in love with “the Moor.”ĭesdemona loves Othello, but she makes some racially insensitive comments as well. He invites Othello to his house, he respects him as a soldier, but Barbantio can’t imagine Othello as his son-in-law. Barbantio, Desdemona’s father, is Othello’s long-term friend, but he strongly opposes this marriage. This scene, at the very beginning of the play, is penetrated with racial commentaries. The Elizabethan audience was not prepared even to imagine an interracial couple, but because Iago is such a malicious character, the audience is on Othello’s side. In these first lines, which produce an immense effect on the audience, Othello is being called “the Moor,” “the thick lips,” “a lascivious Moor,” and “an old black ram.” Iago tells Barbantio: Othello killed his own wife out of jealously and stupidity, but he at the very least was under the impression that his love was purposely going out behind his back and hurting him by sleeping with another man.The three characters express race prejudice towards Othello and offer a sneak peek of how race relations in Elizabethan England looked like. He was so jealous that he wanted Othello, Desdemona, Rodrigo, and Cassio dead. Jealously was a large theme in this play and Iago’s jealously could arguably be the worst in the play. Multiple lives needed to be ruined just so that Othello would lose his power and no longer be in charge. He wanted Othello to suffer so bad, he murdered his own wife after she told everybody that Iago was behind everything. Iago was so jealous that he didn’t care who died as long as he got what he wanted. Iago felt that Othello was not suitable to be in charge and wanted it for himself. Iago was also jealous of Othello which is why he plotted to have him killed. Either he wants his looks or he just doesn’t like how much Othello likes him prior to the whole affair that Othello thought that Cassio was having with Desdemona. When Iago says Cassio has daily beauty and makes Iago ugly, it sounds like Iago is jealous of Cassio’s attractiveness. But soft, I hear him coming.” These lines make me think that Iago is jealous of Cassio which is why he wants him dead. ![]() Act 5 Scene 1 lines 19-22 ” He hath a daily beauty in his life / That makes me ugly and besides, the Moor/ May unfold me to him – there stand I in much peril.
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