Othello Key Themes: Race and Colour

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  • Created by: mhannah
  • Created on: 30-04-18 23:17
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  • Othello Key Themes: Race and Colour
    • Othello's race
      • There have been suggestions that he is a *****, Arabian, Berber or that his Spanish name makes Othello a 'Morisco', a descendant of the Moors of Grenada whose famous palace at Alhambra was built in the 14th century
      • From the medieval period onwards the devil was often depicted in art as a black man surrounded by the flames of hell
      • Other traditions associated the black man with lust, sin and death
        • Prior to Othello, 'blackamoors'n plays were usually sinister figures
    • Contrasting views of Othello's blackness
      • The fact that Othello has risen to the important and powerful position of general and is accepted as a distinguished member of Venetian society suggests that the state he serves is prepared to see good in foreigners and accept that they have a useful role to play
      • Significant that Desdemona is forced to explain and defend her marriage
        • She "saw Othello's visage in his mind"
          • Suggests either that Desdemona looked past his colour or that Othello's stories and origins excite her
          • Is Shakespeare suggesting that Othello is the exception to the rule that black is usually bad or urging us to see that racial differences do not matter in love?
            • If this is the case, Desdemona holds a radical point of view for a Jacobean heroine
              • Feminist PoV would say that Desdemona is punished for her radical views and pushing the agenda of a progressive heroine
      • 'Your son-in-law is far more fair than black"
        • Is this an attempt to excuse Othello's blackness?
        • Does it mean 'Try to accept your daughter's marriage because Othello's virtuous, even though he is black'?
        • Or is this another example of another 'colour-blind' white character dismissing race as an irrelevance?
      • Othello's character is more noble and impressive than any of the other male characters; he is compelling because he is different (tragic)
      • Notable that negative racial descriptions of Othello which dominate the play at times are inaccurate
        • Arguable that he begins to display some of the negative aspects of the stereotype then he is persecuted by Iago
          • Othello is superstitious (the handkerchief),he is passionate (weeps many times), he does become violent
    • Othello the outsider
      • New Historicist critics have argued that Othello's tragedy comes about because he can never be anything except an outsider
      • Othello is in an impossible position as a black man serving a white patriarchy
      • We may feel that he is dislocated because he marries, turning his back on his profession to become a husband
        • He becomes further dislocated when he views his own race negatively, giving in to Iago's prejudice
      • Significant that Gratiano Montano never mention Othello's race when they take him prisoner; they simply want to punish the "rash and most unfortunate man" for his crimes
        • References to the Devil are reserved for Iago at the end of the play, linking him firmly the the theme of dislocation
          • In the final scene, race is not the cause of Othello's dislocation: his murderous actions are

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