Brabantio Flashcards
‘thou hast ___________ her’ (1.2)
theme: prejudice, jealousy, womanhood and sexuality, appearance vs reality
devices: metaphor
- int 1: Brabantio accuses Othello of enchanting his daughter. and binding her in “chains of magic”, he claims there is no other reason Desdemona would want to marry him. He uses racially abusive language like “thing” with a “sooty bosom”, and saying it would make more sense to fear Othello than to love him.
- int 2: Pertinent example of racial prejudice directed at Othello by other characters. His words reflect the idea that Othello is not a normal human, but is either an animal-like “thing” or a fantastical being with supernatural powers (idea of the colour black being associated with evil and black magic).
- alt 1: his horror emerges from the thought of his daughter, whom he describes in terms that evoke pure white womanhood (“a maid, so tender, fair, and happy”), being intimate with Othello (“run… to the sooty bosom of such as thing as thou”). Desdemona is presented as de-sexualised, an innocent child, whereas Othello is suggested to have sinister sexual powers and having virility (“black ram”). As well as indicting Othello, this idea robs Desdemona of agency; Brabantio deems it impossible for Desdemona to choose Othello as a husband willingly. Brabantio sees Othello as a stereotype of purveyors of black arts or paganism.
AO3: the play subverts traditional values giving a “moor” a position of nobility was rare in the likes of a Jacobean society.
- Christian traditions of the Renaissance said that Africans were descendants of Noah’s son Ham, who was cursed by his father. Therefore, “Moors” were seen as a cursed race
AO4: Othello + Shylock = racism, presentation of ethnic minorities as evil and having malicious intent. Portia uses segregational language against Jews like ‘against and alien’ showing mistreatment of ethnic minorities
AO5: Loomba, Newman, Considers way Othello’s race is portrayed in white man’s world.
- Post-colonial (Loomba): racism of white patriarchy = hurts Desdemona and Othello more than Iago did
