Racism Flashcards
Iago racist
both in front of Othello and behind his back
In 1st scene insinuated he has an uncontrollable lust by using “scurvy” and racist generalisations
Dehumanises Othello by likening him to an animal
“tupped by an old black ram”
“your nephew will neigh to you”
associates racist purity with a kind of evil
“the devil will make a grandsire out of you’
Even when not provoking Brabantio he is racist
“These moors are changeable in their wills”
He tells Othello that Desdemona’s
desire for a husband of a different race is “most rank, foul” and “unnatural”:
Brabantio
her father oft loved me,, oft invited me, still question’d me, the story of my life”
racist fear of miscegenation( inter-racial marriage)
Accuses him of sorcery “abuse’d her delicate youth with drugs or minerals”
“run to the sooty blossom of a thing as thou”
“corrupted of spells”
Other characters
Duke complements Othello “more fair than black”
Roderigo says “thick lips”
Desdemona say “I saw Othello’s visage in his mind” implying that his face was better appreciated in his mindset
Emilia says “and you the blacker devil” links his crimes with his race
Effects
Damages confidence “for I am black” etc.
more sadly he believes that he is worse as result of his colour “Arise black vengeance from thy hollow cell
His final speech is equally full of racist tropes “malignant and tuban’d Turk” “circumcised dog”.
