Racism In Othello Essay

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‘Happily for I am black.’ Does the play appear to depict Othello as a victim of racism?

Shakespeare depicts Othello as a extraordinary victim to racism through the comments of the others in the play and Othello’s downfall. ‘Racism’ is the discrimination towards people who has a different appearance (mainly skin colour). The story Othello makes its protagonist Othello a black man which makes racism an unavoidable topic to discuss about the play. Critics have much debated about whether Othello is a victim of racism or not as one side argue that he is because he has been discussed by other in such a negative way whereas the others argued the fact that his high position has already proved that he is far from a victim and that his tragic ending …show more content…
From the name of the novel ‘Othello: the Moor of Venice’ we can already see a great paradox in it. The word Moor or Moorish is defined as people from Morocco, but incorrectly used by the vast majority to describe brown or black people from Africa and Middle East. Othello a the Moor, would never be observed as a Venetian because this is not where he is from originally. However, the fact that he is also “the General” of Venice, shows the acceptance of Western society to foreigners coming in, generalising them as part of the Venetian society. This can largely due to the fact that although Othello is an outsider from appearance, but his belief in Christianity has made him acceptable into the society, since Medieval Christian all had strong faith in equality which caused them to have more tolerance to people with colour. This causes Othello to also be presented as a noble Christian gentlemen which Shakespeare’s audience can understand rather than simply a Moor. From this we can see unlike many of other black people, Othello is less of a victim of racism because he has not been underestimated due to his race, instead the Governor is able to see his strength with out bias. It is also the fact that he follows the traditional tragic hero ingredients of being a complete person with high position, which makes his downfall more tragic and causes more catharsis, making him different from other victims of
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