I found the first act of Othello to
be very entertaining in the fact that Barbantio would rather accept the fact
that his daughter (Desdemona) had been cursed with black magic or put under a
spell than to have willingly married “The Moor”, or Othello. Also during the
whole scene of Act 1, they constantly insult Othello by calling him insulting
names or by comparing him to a horse. In fact on page 557, line 63, Rodrigo
refers to him as “Thick-lips” instead of using his name, which is referring to
the fact that Othello is dark skinned. If racism is still so strongly practiced
during this time, how did Othello get promoted to such an important position?
I also find it interesting that
Iago’s deep hatred of Othello spurns simply from the fact that he didn’t get
promoted to the position of lieutenant. Iago goes on and on about the fact that
Roderigo is petty for wanting to kill himself over the fact that he can’t have
Desdemona, yet he goes to all this trouble to plot revenge on Othello and
Cassio simply out of jealousy. He wakes Barbantio in order to alert him to the
fact that his daughter is missing from her room and has secretly snuck off with
an “African Horse” who is apparently defiling her as they speak. So, the
question I have is; does Iago’s deep hatred of Othello also spurn from the fact
that he is black?
I think we have a different idea of prejudices in modern America than in periods periods of history. They had prejudices that transcended hundreds or even thousands of years because of warring between nations. Taking slaves from your defeated enemies was a common things to do. It happened because of real issues and was widely common for opposing sides to do to each other. With this in mind, I would say that it is not an issue of racism, but certainly of prejudice and discrimination. Consider how countries use propaganda to monstracize each other in order to draw up hatred from within the community despite the truth.
ReplyDeleteI think that lago is jealous of Othello for many reasons, and that may be one. Othello is well respected and is married to a beautiful woman, not to mention is he very successful. Many people were probably jealous of him because he had so many profound qualities that made him a great person.
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