Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Shakespeare's othello has been described as abundant with racial attitudes. Do you agree

Yes. There is no doubt that Brabantio is initially opposed to his daughter's marriage to Othello because of Othello's race. And Iago makes crude racial remarks and jokes which, arguably, are a sign that his hatred of Othello and his wish to bring Othello down are based at least in part on race hatred.
Othello reveals an insecurity which is probably based to a degree on his awareness of his outsider status, his position as "the Other" among Europeans. This is one reason he is so easily tricked into believing Iago's lies. Another reason is that Othello is more honest and virtuous than the other characters, apart from Desdemona. Like most decent-hearted people, he reflexively finds it difficult to believe others would tell lies and deliberately cause harm, so he fails to see through Iago. One can view Shakespeare, at least in this play, as quite progressive in thought, in his having shown a man of a different race to be superior to Europeans.

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