Racism in Othello PDF

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Summary

Essay which addresses the question “To what extent did Racism lead to Othello’s downfall”...

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Independent Critical Response Question: To what extent is racism responsible for Othello’s downfall? In William Shakespeare’s Othello, the protagonist, Othello is isolated from society due to racism. They play has many dialogues directly calling racial slurs whether it be in front of him or not. Iago who is the antagonist of the play, takes advantage of Othello’s insecurities about his race and convince him that his wife Desdemona is cheating on him. The constant verbal reminder by other characters also deepen Othello’s insecurities of his race and how he’s different than everyone else. This insecurity he has eventually turns into the tragic flaw that causes his downfall at the end. Throughout the play Othello goes from being a noble gentleman and a loving husband to an insecure irrational murderer. At the start of the play he describes himself as a hero and a well-respected soldier. But within his inner heart, he is aware that he is culturally different than the native Venetians. Othello knows Brabantio does not want his daughter to marry a black man. He know that the people around him even his wife will deceive him because of his race and the colour of his skin. Othello’s achievements and his status as an outsider or an other person, makes him very obsessed with his reputation. He wants to be noble and wants to protect his image by sacrificing anything. When the people around him start questioning this reputation of his, he almost always falls back to questioning if it is because of his race. Near the end when Iago equivocates to make Othello believe his wife was having an affair, he becomes so triggered by the fact that his reputation is being tainted and he could lose all of it. Eventually he firmly believes that he must kill Desdemona in order to recover his reputation because he wants to be seen as a noble man and not be looked down upon by everyone as he is a man of colour. In act 3 scene 3 Othello says “I'll have some proof. Her name, that was as fresh; As Dian's visage, is now begrimed and black; As mine own face.” He associates the blackness of the dirty deeds his wife has done with the colour of his skin implying that at this point he may have started to understand the racial comments people around him say against him. Because of the racism around him he values his

reputation so much that when it was tarnished he did anything to destroy whatever it is that ruined it, which he believed was his wife. Racism within Othello is an underlying theme that eventually led to the downfall of the tragic hero. Although the obvious theme of the play would be equivocation and how words can be manipulated and twisted to not lie nor say the truth however it is because of Othello’s racial comments and the insecurities he has because of them, that leads to his demise....