Othello †Racism Expressed in Words Essay -- Othello essays

Othello –   Racism Expressed in Words  Ã‚        Ã‚  Ã‚   The Bard of Avon’s tragic play Othello expresses racism; there is no doubt about this among most critics. However, to what degree – to a vulgar extent? Or to an excusable level?    In her book, Everybody’s Shakespeare: Reflections Chiefly on the Tragedies, Maynard Mack comments on the audience’s reaction to the black-white union in the play:    That a beautiful Venetian girl should fall in love with â€Å"a veritable negro† seemed to many implausible, in fact â€Å"monstrous.† The words are Coleridge’s, but the sentiment was widely shared and, on the nineteenth-century stage, was increasingly taken into account by â€Å"orientalizing† the hero, making him appear to be what one of the century’s best-known actor-directors declared he emphatically was: â€Å"not a negro† but â€Å"a stately Arab.† (129)    In the opening scene, while Iago is expressing his dislike, or rather hatred, for Othello for his having chosen Michael Cassio for the lieutenancy, he contrives a plan to partially avenge himself (â€Å"I follow him to serve my turn upon him†), with Roderigo’s assistance, by alerting Desdemona’s father, Brabantio, to the fact of his daughter’s elopement with Othello. Roderigo shares Iago’s prejudiced attitude toward Othello: â€Å"What a full fortune does the thicklips owe / If he can carry't thus!† The word thicklips is a disparaging reference to a facial characteristic of many members of the black race. David Bevington in William Shakespeare: Four Tragedies describes how racism is obvious from the very outset of the play:    Othello is unquestionably a black man, referred to disparagingly by his detractors as the â€Å"thick-lips,† with a â€Å"sooty bosom† (1.1.68; 1.2.71); Elizabethan usage ap... ...rsity. 1996. http://www.eiu.edu/~multilit/studyabroad/othello/othello_all.html No line nos.    Wayne, Valerie. â€Å"Historical Differences: Misogyny and Othello.† The Matter of Difference: Materialist Feminist Criticism of Shakespeare. Ed Valerie Wayne. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1991.    Witt, Mary Ann Frese, et al., eds. â€Å"Black and White Symbols in Othello.† The Humanities: Cultural Roots and Continuities. Vol.1. Lexington, MA: D.C. Heath, 1985. Rpt. in Readings on The Tragedies. Ed. Clarice Swisher. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1996.    Wright, Louis B. and Virginia A. LaMar. â€Å"The Engaging Qualities of Othello.† Readings on The Tragedies. Ed. Clarice Swisher. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1996. Reprint from Introduction to The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice by William Shakespeare. N. p.: Simon and Schuster, Inc., 1957.