Could you please help me with my Shakespeare paper on Othello?

As racism was dominant in Elizabethan England, it was no surprise that William Shakespeare addressed this ideology in his works. One could assume that in this time of discrimination and hate against people of color, Shakespeare would further attack and ridicule them through his plays. He could very well have mocked a character by the name of Othello "the Moor," someone of Muslim, African, and Arab descent (Schultz) who became the general of the Venetian army. He could have also made a hero out of Iago, who hates Othello for his accomplishments regardless of his color. And yet Shakespeare did not do this.

Why not? How could Shakespeare write about the tragedy of a black man without being racist? Why would Shakespeare make Othello an honorable man – a man of high status – higher than even white people? Was it for audiences to laugh harder at Othello’s forceful defeat?

Shakespeare wanted to tell the story of a distinguished black man’s tragic downfall, yes, but not to induce laughter. It was to make his audience see how even a respectable foreigner could be destroyed by the schemes of a vengeful man. And by making the cunning Iago a white man, Shakespeare indicates the role that Europeans have played in bringing down even the most reputable of foreigners – all because of their racial prejudices.

William Shakespeare uses a compelling strategy to recount the calamity that is Othello: Shakespeare first displays Othello’s influential, affectionate, and respectable characteristics. As Iago’s conniving strategies play out, the twisted versions of Othello’s highest qualities begin to unravel, making Othello seem devious, lascivious, and barbaric.

The first prejudice in the play that brings down Othello’s character is Brabantio’s accusation of magic and sorcery used to manipulate his daughter into eloping with Othello despite Othello’s honest courtship with her. When Iago exposes their elopement to Desdemona’s father, Brabantio immediately accuses Othello of using magic to trick Desdemona into marrying him: “She is abused, stol’n from me, and corrupted / By spells and medicines bought of mountebanks; / For nature so preposterously to err, / Being not deficient, blind, or lame of sense, / Sans witchcraft could not” (Oth. 1.3.60-64). Brabantio uses this accusation to not just stereotype Othello’s race, but to also state that because of his color, Othello is not worthy of Desdemona’s hand in marriage. Without Iago’s help in exposing this occurrence, Othello would not highlight one of several preconceived ideas about black men. However, as the private marriage becomes public in the Venetian government, Othello has no shame in explaining that the captivating stories he would tell Desdemona truly wooed her, that “this only is the witchcraft [he has] used” (Oth. 1.3.168). Othello may have mesmerized Desdemona, yes, but he used no spells to force her into marriage. “Ensorcell,” an Elizabethan term, would be the better word to describe “the enchanting power of the general’s poetry” (Johnsen-Neshati) as stated in an article by Kristin Johnsen-Neshati. Although Othello defies prejudiced allegations, Brabantio’s obvious hostility towards his daughter’s marriage shows how foreign men were conspicuously unfavorable during the time the play was written.

The second detriment to Othello’s reputation is Iago’s use of derogatory expressions to make Othello seem less like a loving husband and more like a sexually hostile black man. Othello is distinctly seen as a caring, affectionate, warmhearted husband who dearly loves his wife. Upon seeing Desdemona after weeks on a long and dangerous journey to Cyprus, he proclaims to her that if he “were now to die, / ‘Twere now to be most happy; for [he fears his] soul hath her content so absolute / That not another comfort like to this / Succeeds in unknown fate” (Oth. 2.1.181-185). Othello addresses Desdemona with such cheerfulness and gratitude for being able to be with her once more. Such a declaration truly shows how much he adores and cares deeply for her. In spite of this obvious endearment, Iago’s derogatory expressions of Othello’s inter-racial relationship with Desdemona greatly reflects a prejudiced belief that black men were too sexually aggressive. In the beginning of the play, Iago boisterously imparts to Brabantio, “An old black ram / Is tupping your white ewe” (Oth. 1.1.89-90). Here, Iago claims Othello to be as vigorously sex-driven as a comparative animal. This greatly contradicts the doting and tender husband to Desdemona. In an article by Kerry Michael Wood, Wood explains that “Elizabethans considered the black race as more passionate, more lustful, less rational, perhaps even intrinsically evil since they conceived of the devil as black-skinned” (Wood). This is not an outrageous statement when reading Iago’s demeaning language regarding Othello’s passions. Iago’s description of Othello


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