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Shakespeare’s play Othello, reveals the racial, and gender demarcations of this Jacobean play representing Elizabethan values through acceptance and rejection of racial and gender related stereotypes. ... The audience is shown the brilliant manipulation of Othello via Iago that Desdemona is having an affair and the seed that Iago plants, “Watch her with Michael Cassio” destroys Othello in tragic circumstances. This manipulation may not have been possible in the ordered state of Venice but in the chaos of Cyprus, Iago flourishes and it is Othello’s colour and race that are used to attack him.
The construction of Othello’s character is interesting as we are told so much negative and racist information that reflects some of the values of the English audience even before we see him. Othello is often referred to as “the Moor” and “the Barbary horse” and of being false, pompous, and conceited. ... ” Before Othello is introduced to the audience, we are shown how Iago, Roderigo, and Brabantio represent the Venetian attitudes towards the “black Othello.” Othello is also referred to as the “black ram,” and “the devil” as they are all shocked with the elopement whose union they see as incomprehensible; the pagan devilry of the Moor meeting with Christian values of Desdemona, they believe will result in chaos. However, this is ironic in that Othello is a Christian and hence we see how they perceive Othello wrongly. ...
Othello’s actions in the play also reflect the audience’s stereotypical attitudes and values of black men relating to the devil, evil, outsider ness, and one who has great sexual desire. When Othello marries Desdemona, we are shown how the stereotypical sexual desire of black people is evident in the character of Othello. Brabantio comments that Othello “errs against all rules of nature” and Iago repeats, “not to affect many proposed matches of her own time.” Othello conforms to the black stereotype as he becomes jealous in Act III scene iii. ... ”
Convinced of his wife’s corruption without proof, Othello makes a sacred oath never to change his mind about her or to soften his feelings towards her until he enacts a violent revenge in order to bring justice.
Approximate Word count = 1776
Approximate Pages = 7.1
(250 words per page double spaced)
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