Race Flashcards
‘Moor’
Othello’s identity is ambiguous but he does not fully fit into venetian society regardless.
‘An old black ram is tupping your white ewe’ Meaning
Racially charged language used to portray Othello’s sexual relationship with Desdemona as unnatural.
‘An old black ram is tupping your white ewe’ Context
Cultural Elizabethan prejudice that Black men were excessively sexual.
Fenella salgado
‘Its only when Othello starts seeing himself as a typical black man the tragedy is sown’
Ania Loomba
‘Conflict is between white patriarchy and the threat posed to it by a black man and a white woman’
‘Son in law far more fair than black’ Meaning
Seen as honest, loyal and valued by venetian court.
‘Son in law far more fair than black’ Context
Portrayal of Othello as a hero reflects the diversity of Venice where interchange between culture was common.
‘If she in chains of magic’ Context
The new world saw uncivilised sub humans to have a preoccupation with magic.
‘If she in chains of magic’ Literary context
Shakespeare’s The Tempest represents uncultivated people who need salvation.
Karen Newman
‘White male characters feel threatened by power and potency of a different monstrous sexuality’
‘Othello is of a free and open nature’
Iago perceives Othello as naïve and gullible
paralleling a slave and master dichotomy.
Neil 1989
Whether jealousy is something Iago implants in Othello
‘You’ll have your daughter covered with a barbary horse’
Animalistic description creates an image of him as non-human. Depicting the mixes of races as interspecies.
‘Able to get redemption’
Interpreted Othello converted to Christianity to fit into white, privileged society which wants to marginalise him .
‘The devil will make a grand sire of you’
Weaponizing ideas of evil in Othello.
