Othello Play Essay Research Paper If Othello

Othello Play Essay, Research Paper

.If Othello didn.t begin as a play about race, history has made it one..

The Venetian society that Othello is set in is representative of the writers

context. The attitudes and values that Shakespeare reveals through the text are

those same attitudes and values of Elizabethan society in England in the

sixteenth-century. Although Othello is set in Venice and Cyprus, the attitudes

and values shared in the text are probably reflective of the attitudes and

values of Shakespeare’s own society. It is difficult to assess the attitudes and

values of people in sixteenth-century Britain to the relatively few blacks

living amongst them. We are given an insight into those attitudes and values

through the representation of race and gender in the text of Othello.These

attitudes and values are indicative of what a culture believes in and supports.

By the time Othello was written the English were becoming more and more aware of

the existence of other races in the world besides themselves. There had been a

lot of travelling and blacks were beginning to be used in Europe for the slave

trade. During the time the play was written, the Queen of England had banned all

blacks from entering the city. She spoke of them as .Negars and Moors which

are crept into the realm, of which kind of people there are already here too

many.. It seems that Shakespeare is almost mocking the Queen by characterising

Othello as a black man who has a high ranking position in the Army and who

marries a white aristocratic women, against her fathers will. Ruth Cowlig

suggests that the presentation of Othello as the hero must have been startling

for Elizabethan audiences. This may have been the case, but through the

representation of Othello we are able to see that some members of society such

as the Duke, looked over his colour to assign him his position whereas, others

such as Iago, look on his colour as a way to mock him. Hostility is shown to

Othello by characters such as Iago and Roderigo. This attitude may have been

encouraged by the widespread belief in the legend that blacks were descendants

of Ham in the Genesis story, punished for sexual excess by their blackness. The

Elizabethan’s discussed at length whether this skin colour was due to life in a

hot climate or whether it was a punishment for sin. To the Elizabethan’s, who

thought hierarchically, fair skin was the epitome of beauty and therefore dark

skin ranked below it. The term "black" was used in a variety of texts

to stand for sin, filth, ugliness, evil, and the Devil. This value is ascribed

to Iago when he describes Othello as the .black moor. hinting at something

other than just colour. Attitudes to race aren.t the only attitudes revealed

in the text though. Attitudes and values about gender are also revealed in the

portrayal of women and their actions in the text. A prime example of this is

when Desdemona elopes with Othello without her father.s permission, which

during that time would have been socially unacceptable. This is revealed to us

through Brabantio.s reaction as Shakespeare uses Brabantio as a vehicle for

the representation of higher society.s views on matters. Another value

revealed in the text is that of marriage. In the Elizabethan era marriage was

not just a spiritual union but also a property transaction; the bride brought a

dowry from her father and the groom.s father (or the groom if he had already

inherited his estate) had to settle lands on her in return, as a

"jointure." Therefore, to marry without the bride’s father’s

permission could be seen as an act of theft. This may explain why Brabantio

reacted so strongly to the union of Othello and Desdemona.These attitudes and

values contrast quite drastically to those ascribed to society today. Nowadays

coloured skin is a common occurrence and a character such as Othello would be

quite socially accepted. Race is both more accepted and more abused than in

Shakespeare’s time. With the feminist movement values given to women have also

changed quite drastically. This is because women are now seen less as property

and more of an equal. Marriage has also changed. In the sixteenth century girls

tended to be married off rather young in their teens and to have their husbands

chosen for them by their fathers. Now girls tend to get married in their late

twenties and are free to choose their own partner. These attitudes and values

that are revealed in the text are done so through the representation of race and

gender. Race and gender are revealed in the text by the uses of imagery,

characterisation, plot, stylistic techniques, and language. Race is represented

in many different ways to allow the attitudes and values of Elizabethan society

to be revealed through it. The way race is portrayed allows us to have access to

these attitudes and values. Race

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