Race Flashcards
‘To love the Moor’ Iago
doesn’t call Othello by his name - instead dehumanises him and reduces his status, casting him in a specific role in a dismissive way
Roderigo: ‘thicklips’
Defines Othello based on race
Iago” ;thieves, thieves, theives’
It is significant that he chooses to use the reptetiion of thieves to wake up Brabantio – emphasises the importance of property, establishing Othello as dangerous and thieving, but it also relates to Othello stealing his daughter – reflecting the subordination of women
Even now, now, very now, and old black ram is tupping your white ewe’
Creates a sense of urgency and panic.
Reflects contemporary stereotypes of old black men as more sexually threatening – also reflecting the idea of the January May romance. He lays the ground emotionally, then moves to explicitly offensive sexual imagery which is often tied to animalistic imagery, reflecting racism. He attempts to provoke Brabantio. Contrast in colour reflects racial difference and characterises Desdemona as with pure Venetian innocence. Desdemona presented as dominated by her animalistic husband (Othello is the subject and she is the object). The bestial language used to describe Othello would have resonated with the Shakesperean audience – great chain of being wa s ahierarchical Christian structure which places animals lower than even the lowest of humans – demonstrating Iago’s belief that Moors are lowlier than Europeans. The colour black allows Iago to emphasise othello’s apparent evil nature
the devil will make a grandsire of you’
Devils were thought to be black. Iago positions Othello within the narrative as evil. Audience becomes aware of Iago as masterful.
‘you’ll have your daughter covered with a Barbary horse’
Crude sexual animalistic imagery. Deliberate attempts to provoke and inflame.
your daughter and the Moor are now making the beast with two backs’
Development of image of bestiality into a truly monstrous image
Roderigo: ‘gross clasps of a lascivious Moor’
Predatory sexual undertones.
Rorderigo:’ an extravagant and wheeling stranger’
Establishes him as unstable and untrustworthy – the Other
IAGO: ‘Faith, he tonight hath boarded a land carrack’
Iago creates a sexual image of a treasure ship, reflecting an image of piracy. Iago views relationships as purely sexual/lusting. Presents Othello as a thief.
damned as thou art, thou hast enchanted her… in chains of magic’
Accuses Othello of black magic – reflecting racist stereotypes. Imagery of entrapment
This is an almost hysterical soliloquy
Brabantio cannot fathom why DESDEMONA WOULD HAVE MARRIED A MOOR UNLESS SHE WERE ENCHANTED BY HIM, THUS INTRODUCING THE motif of witchcraft. This gives Othello an air of otherworldliness and exoticism. Magic was neither understood nor accepted by Christian Europe, so associating Othello with magic further removes him from society and others him.
Brabantio: ‘sooty bosom’
Racist imagery of the outsider
For if such actions may have passage free
Bond-slaves and pagans shall our statesmen be’
Threat to social order and power hierarchy – panic caused by order being questioned
In fitting with Jacobean tragedy – references to subversion of natural order as warning to the audience
Othello ‘Most potent, grave and reverend signiors’
Calm and measured speech contrasts with Brabantio’s lack of control/
of my whole course of love, what drugs, what charms’
Almost mocking/undermining what he is charged with
‘I therefore vouch again that with some mixtures powerful o’er the blood or with some dram conjured’
Iago uses poison imagery – Brabantio has been influenced by him. More willing to believe in the occult than that his daughter freely chose Othello – shocking rejection of patriarchal authority and racial norms
She’d come again, and with a greedy ear devour up my discourse’
Image of consumption – reference to her appetite – interested in the wider world and exoticism of Othello – consumes his stories. Establishes their relationship as not just sexual, but based on stories – he presents a version of himself and she falls in love with that – almost idealistic love? Desdemona makes the controversial choice of rejecting the monotony of her life in favour of the exotic.
Also indicative of an early 17th century fascination with ‘otherness’ – it was a time of exciting exploration, Francis Drake ect.
‘This only is the witchcraft I have used’
Speech itself is spellbinding – Othello paints a fantastic picture
However it also suggests that he is defined by his ethnicity
I saw Othello’s visage in his mind’
His face is transformned by his mind – race isn’t an obstacle for her
Othello: ‘But to be free and bounteous to her mind’
He wants to pay attention to her mind. Tries to justify that their love is more than just sexual lust – contrasts with iago who only understands love through sex. He highlights that his interest in her isn’t motivated by sexual desire – anticipating this stereotypical charge against black men
Duke: “if virtue no delighted beauty lack/Your son-in-law is far more fair than black’
Rhyminjg couplet provides sense of finality – warning of tragedy. Shows how society perceives Othello – he goes against racist stereotypes. Light skinned = morally good
‘a frail vow betwixt an erring Barbarian and a super-subtle Venetian’
Othello – foreigner, savage outsider – women for male consumption. Common stereotype of Venetian women as untrustworthy prostitutes. She has a deep and calculated understanding of social codes
Othello: ‘Are we turn’d Turks. And to ourselves do that/Which heaven hath forbid the Ottomites/For Chrisitan shame, put by this barbarous brawl’
This quote from Othello reveals the Venetian fear and dismissal of outsiders. When they fight they are compared to Turks – the foreigners they fight against. They clearly believe themselves to be superior and more civilised. The fact that Othello speaks this line is noteworthy – suggests he doesn’t conssdier himself an outsider. However, it also creates a sense of foreboding as we are aware that Othello himself will be manipulated and eventually purged from venetian society
Othello: ‘For she had eyes and chose me. No, Iago, I’ll see before I doubt, when I doubt, prove’
Importance of seeing – relevant to race, he is aware of the way he LOOks different, implying she chose him despite his ethnicity. This is a subtle indication of Othello’s insecurity. As eh feels Desdemona had to overlook his ethnicity in order to marry him. It also introduces his desire for proof.
He tries to assert himself as a ratinal character relying on evidence – however in reality he acts rashly, judging based on what he hears. He acts quickly so as to appear authoritative.
‘Arise black vengeance from the hollow hell… for ‘tis of aspics’ tongues’
Almost black magic image – palying into stereotype
Evil imagery of snakes and hell and darkness.
We begin to see the breakdown of othello’s mental state through his language – his anger is evident through his repeated exclamations – he loses control of his language just as he loses control of his temper
Desdemona: ‘I think the sun where he was born Drew all such humours from him’
She has an idealised conception of Othello – almost as if she is on a different plain to him – he is different to untrustworthy venetians
Otello: ‘that handkerchief did an Egyptian to my mother give, she was a charmer and could almost read the thoughts of people’
For Othello it symbolises loyalty and honesty.
In this speech Othello deploys lots of stereotypical ideas about the other = magic, paganism, exotic. He therefore subverts his weakness/difference into a tool of power – there is an ulteriori motive to the story of a hellish threat. He gives the handkerchief a threatening power ustilising his background.
Iago: ‘if not, he foams at mouth and by and by breaks out to savage madness’
Symbolsiign iago’s utter control and othello’s vulnerability and weakness
Motiveless malignance.
Uses this opportunity to preswnt Othello as an untameable beast – animalistic
Describe the relationship between Race and Love: their marriage and race
- their racial difference isn’t viewed as important to them, but rather a source of strength - Desdemona’s choice to overlook race is an admirable characteristic
- perhaps his exoticness is what attracted her to him
HOWEVER - critics such as Fenella Salgado argue that ‘Othello’s colour is dramatically important as a symbol of his own uniqueness and the uniqueness of Desdemona’s choice, but it is only when Othello begins to think of himself as a typical black man… that the seeds of tragedy are sown’ - suggesting that his entrapment by Iago makes him fall victim to the stereotypes he avoided with Desdemona
- he publicly humiliates her by hitting her in public/private and by doubting her Love for him
describe how race is used to suggest sexual deviance
- discriminatory descriptions are used surrounding Othello’s race in order to reinforce cultural ideas of black Africans being overtly sexual
- Elizabethan racial prejudice and growing European slave-trade invovlenemt is reflected in Iago and Roderigos’s sinister racism: ‘ an old black man is tupping your white ewe’ - therefore their racial difference is used to portray their relationship as unnatural
- a binary between black and white is established
describe how race is associated with evilness
- used to condemn their marriage
- reflects Elizabethan stereotypes that perpetuated the view that Africans were manifestations of the Devil - Iago: ‘the devil will make a grandsire of you’
- animalistic descriptions present him as non-human and depicting racial mixing as an obscene interstices relationship
give a post-colonial reading of Othello
- Ania Loomba: the conflict in the play is that between ‘racism of a white patriarchy and the threat posed to it by both a black man and a white woman’ - the fact that institutions are controlled and policed by a white culture amplify his position as an outsider
- he faces two problems: he is a black man married to a white woman in a racist and sexist society
describe the relationship between race and nobility
- Although the language deployed by other characters is racially insensitive it is continuously highlighted that Venice needs ‘the moor’ to fight the Turks
- the issue of race is therefore temporary subdued to pracctical/military necessity
- This portrayal of Othello as a hero and military victor reflects the ethnic diversity of Venice at the time. Although there was racism in elizabethan England, many Africans achieved the highest ranks in Elizabethan society (intellectuals, musicians, noblity)
- Othello’s outsider status is always countered by his nobility and military status - Shakespeare therefore offers a subverted portrayal of the black Moor
describe ideas around the inevitability of race
- Othello begins to behave in the stereotypical manner when instigated by Iago - he provokes jealousy, which brings out a lustful and murderous side
- Iago perceives Othello as naive and gullible - paralleling the sense of European racial superiority
- Iago continually exploits and provokes his racial insecurity - leading to the destruction of the marriage and religious identity of Othello
