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Oliver WaltonEN 101Dr. Helms22 October, 2018Othello and Racism William Shakespeare is well known for his many stage plays written in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, and is considered one of the most talented playwrights of all time. One of his well known tragedies, Othello, was written to target the evils of racism and portray the damage it causes amongst communities. Although racial equality is something virtually no one thought about during the time period it was written, Shakespeare displays the evils of racism many times through this play. The protagonist of Othello is a Venezuelan general from North Africa named Othello who is referred to as the Moor. In this play, Othello marries a beautiful white senator’s daughter named Desdemona and is eventually driven by jealousy to kill his beloved wife and commit suicide. Iago, one of Othello’s chief officers represents the evils of racism, which is his reasoning for manipulating Othello throughout the play. Desdemona’s father, Brabantio, represents a bigot through his hateful speech and prejudice against Othello. Shakespeare uses these characters and many other examples throughout the play to portray the evils of racism and the harm it causes in society. Othello by Shakespeare begins in an alleyway with Iago and his friend Rodrigo, who has feelings for Desdemona. Iago reveals that Othello plans to secretly marry Desdemona, so the two go to wake her father, Brabantio, and tell him that Desdemona has run away. Brabantio gathers a group of men armed with torches and swords to search for his daughter and Othello. When Brabantio finds Othello, he attempts to arrest him with accusation of using witch craft on Desdemona. Othello then explains that he is on his way to go see the duke who has given him a military assignment. Brabantio, Othello, and the group of men then proceed to see the duke and dispute the issue. The situation is resolved by Othello explaining that he won Desdemona with his tales of battle and heroism, the duke promptly agrees that this would in fact win his own daughter over. Desdemona then comes forward and pronounces her love for him, proving that it was in fact not witchcraft. Othello is instructed to leave for Cyprus for combat and leaves Iago with instructions to bring Desdemona after him. Shortly after the meeting, Iago instructs Rodrigo to sell his land, gather coin, and come to Cyprus to peruse Desdemona. Conveniently, Iago says he believes Othello has slept with his wife and will attempt to persuade Othello that Desdemona is having an affair with the his second in command, Cassio. In Cyprus, Iago gets Cassio drunk and tells Rodrigo to pick fight with him. This results in Cassio getting demoted and Iago’s advice is to talk to Desdemona about winning Othello’s favor back. He takes the advice and speaks to Desdemona who offers help because she believes that Cassio is a loyal friend to Othello; But when Othello and Iago come near Cassio leaves quickly because he is afraid of facing his superior so soon after the incident. Iago then plants doubt in Othello’s mind by questioning Cassio’s motives and playing the part of a friend who is doing his duty. After a conversation that consists of Desdemona telling Othello to promote Cassio, Iago tells Othello that the signs of cheating are obvious between Desdemona and Cassio. Othello progressively gets consumed with jealousy which is reinforced by Iago, with false evidence and manipulation, to the point that it throws him into a sort of panic attack and vows to kill both Desdemona and Cassio for revenge. When letters from the duke arrive in Cyprus releasing Othello of command, replacing him with Rodrigo, he hits Desdemona because he is spiked with anger and jealousy fueled by Iago. In response to the duke’s letter, Iago persuades Rodrigo to kill Cassio keeping Othello and Desdemona in Cyprus to fulfill their plan. Rodrigo agrees to the plot which concludes in Iago killing Rodrigo and Cassio being injured. Shortly after, Othello smothers Desdemona with a pillow and is caught but Desdemona, having genuine love for Othello, briefly wakes up and lies claiming it was suicide. Iago’s plan is then revealed but Othello tragically stabs himself due to heartbreak. In Shakespeare’s Othello, Iago represents the evils of racism and the harm it causes. The plot suggests that Iago has a deep hatred for Othello, the only dark skinned character in the play, and this can be seen by both his actions and words. In Act I, Scene I, Iago very quickly admits that he does not like Othello by saying “I follow him to serve my turn upon him. We cannot all be masters, nor all masters cannot truly be followed” (I.i.43-45). This shows that Iago had some sort of bias against Othello before the story had even developed. Shortly after this, he seeks to get Othello in trouble by going to tell Desdemona’s father about the secret marriage. Iago goes to such extent to stress his disapproval of the marriage and hate for Othello that he says: At this odd-even and dull watch o’th’night, Transported, with no worse nor better guardBut with a knave of common hire, a gondolier,To the gross clasps of a lascivious Moor (I.i.122-125).Here Iago vocalizes his racism towards Othello and presents himself as a concerned citizen doing a ‘civic duty’ by alerting Desdemona’s father of the situation. This evidence and Iago’s manipulation throughout the play validates that Shakespeare chose his character to represent how racism is evil and causes harm. There have been many real people in history that parallel to what Iago represents, which is one of the many reasons this play is studied to this day. Brabantio represents a bigot in Othello and although he does not appear outside of Act I, shows that even simple minded people lived during Shakespeare’s time. When Brabantio learned Desdemona had run off with Othello, he gathered a mob with weapons and torches to hunt him down. Upon finding Othello he accused him of several different things by saying: O thou foul thief, where hast thou stowed my daughter? Damned as thou art, thou hast enchanted her (. . .) thou hast practiced on her with foul charms, abused her delicate youth with drugs or minerals that weaken motion. I’ll have it disputed on” (I.ii.62-75). This shows that Brabantio assumed that Othello drugged his daughter and is a savage because he is from a different place. This concept is still an issue plaguing society today, just like it did during Shakespeare’s time. People are scared of the unfamiliar and Othello being of colored skin was automatically assumed the worst of by Brabantio. Another example of Brabantio’s bigotry can be seen when he approaches the duke to accuse Othello of wrong doing by saying: She is abused, stol’n from me, and corruptedBy spells and medicines bought of mountebanks;For Nature so prepost’ rously to err,Being not deficient, blind, or lame of sense,Sans witchcraft could not (I.iii.60-65).Here we can see Brabantio alarming the duke by claiming that Othello uses witchcraft and drugged his daughter. This perspective is both close minded and racists and shows that bigots blame minorities of ridiculous things. Shakespeare’s Othello target’s racism and how it is harmful, which is a concept that was way ahead of his time. Prejudice and race are common themes through the entire plot of the play, this is apparent in the characters Iago and Brabantio. Iago represents the evils of racism and it’s destructive nature by manipulating Othello and showing hate towards him for little to no reason at all. Brabantio plays the role of a bigot by demonstrating prejudice and showing hate towards Othello by assumption. The tragic plot of Othello can be seen as a warning against racism and its destructive nature. Word Count: 1311Reflection: The main struggle I had in writing this paper was the structuring of the summary and deciding how much detail was really needed. I felt it necessary to add a synopsis of the entire play to emphasize my point of how racism destroyed Othello and Desdemona. In my experience writing paper I tend to try to cover too broad of a thesis so this draft came out longer than intended but I feel that covering the entire plot was vital to my argument. ................
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