Military Prowess In Othello

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In Shakespeare’s tragedy Othello, the title character is a 16th century Moorish general of the Venetian army who, because of the cultural and historical background of the play’s setting, the playwright, and the original intended audience, is portrayed as both well-respected for his military prowess and disparaged for his race. Similarly, because of the large pool of poor minorities in an affluent Anglo-Saxon country, the Latino community in today’s American society are both admired for their strong family bonds and criticized for the generic idea that Latinos are criminals.
Shakespeare portrays Othello as a well respected Moor through the the use of favorable connotation of Othello’s military prowess. Othello, a man “noble moor who commands a Venetian army in Cyprus,” is a man that has an immense amount of military prowess. Because the setting is set during a time period of conflict, the Duke called for Othello because he needed his assistance in the war. When Othello enters the room, the Duke tells “valiant Othello” (Act 1, scene 3) that he must “straight employ [him] against the general enemy Ottoman.” (Act 1, scene 3.) Furthermore, after leaving off to war and ending it with success, Othello has yet to …show more content…
Because Othello is “dark skinned,” he is criticized for it. Iago hates Othello because he promoted Cassio, an arithmetician who does snot have military expertise, as his lieutenant. Iago considers Othello as “a lusty Moor” (Act 2, scene 1). Iago has planted his own plan to destroy Othello and to get rid of Cassio as lieutenant. After Brabantio finds out that Desdemona secretly married othello, he goes chaotic and goes in search for him. Brabantio believes that Othello has “enchanted [Desdemona]” (Act 1, scene 2). The only reason he believes that Othello might have enchanted Desdemona is solely due to his dark skin color. Because he is a moor, we can visualize the perpetual prejudices he has to
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