Throughout all of the conflicts in the play, racism is always a large role in making that conflict worse. When Iago and Roderigo are telling Brabantio that his daughter has been take, they use racism to make the problem sound worse. Iago says, “ Even now, now, very now, an old black ram / Is tupping your white ewe. Arise, arise! / Awake the snorting citizens with the bell / Or else the devil will make a grandsire of you. / Arise, I say! (I.I.97-101) Iago uses racial slurs and racism to let Brabantio know that a Moor has his daughter. Later in the play, Brabantio died because of his daughter’s elopement with Othello. When Desdemona and Othello finally return and see Iago, Roderigo, and Brabantio again, Iago started a dispute between Othello and the other people in the room. Roderigo argues, “She, in spite of nature, / Of years, of country, credit, everything, / To fall in love with what she feared to look on! / It is a judgment maimed and most imperfect / That will confess perfection so could err / Against all rules of nature, (I.iii.114-119). Roderigo essentially says that it is against nature for a Moor to be with a woman such as Desdemona. …show more content…
Her witty comments and overall savior personality makes her seem like a very strong woman. When Desdemona is accused of cheating on Othello, Emilia tells desdemona, “But I do think it is their husbands' faults, If wives do fall. Say that they slack their duties, And pour our treasures into foreign laps; Or else break out in peevish jealousies, Throwing restraint upon us. Or say they strike us,Or scant our former having in despite. [...] The ills we do, their ills instruct us so. (IV.iii.97-115) Emilia’s dynamic and feminist demeanor are shown here as she tells desdemona that if men can cheat then why can not women to. Emilia’s harsh marriage with Iago contrasts with Desdemona’s idealistic marriage with
In the play Othello, Iago represents Marxist criticism through his pursuit of power that fuels his need for deceit in the story. He manipulates and deceives the other characters throughout the entire play. For instance when he set Cassio up with drinking the alcohol he got exactly what he wanted out of that, Cassio lost his rank as Lieutenant. Desdemona, Othello, and Roderigo were all deceived by Iago. Desdemona was deceived into thinking that she was helping a strong and noble man even though Iago was using that time to set her up.
Iago uses very clever methods of persuasion and manipulation aimed to use Othello’s hamartia against him, pointing out that “ “She (Desdemona) did deceive her father, marrying you,” so much so that Brabantio “thought ’twas witchcraft”. Through this, Iago is subtly raising the issues of Othello’s cultural differences with Desdemona; a root cause behind Othello’s insecurities with his wife – along with inadequacy due to race, degree of sophistication and age. As Iago prompts Othello to think the worst, his utterances are short and uneasy, revealing the beginning to his downfall, whilst Iago’s dialogue is at length highlighting his growing power of
The correlation between relationships and experiences are co-existing functions that assist in operating societies. Since ancient times, social classes have existed within all communities and cultures; a sense of belonging is often determined by one’s position in the social hierarchy. Shakespeare’s Othello highlights determinants including race and gender that affect one’s standing in the hierarchy. An excerpt of Act 1, Scene 1 (Lines 110-112) explores this concept when Iago exclaims “Because we come to do you service and you think we are ruffians, you’ll have your daughter covered with a Barbary horse, you’ll have your nephews neigh to you.” Shakespeare cleverly incorporates animalistic imagery to showcase the role that race has in a society
While talking to Brabantio, Iago also describes Othello and Desdemona’s relationship as animalistic. This furthers the idea that Iago views Othello as non-human, causing him to take inhumane actions upon him. He describes to Brabantio that “your daughter and the Moor are now making the beast with two backs” (Shakespeare 1277). This animalistic imagery shows that not only is Othello being dehumanized by Iago, but Desdemona is as well. Since both characters are not viewed as human to Iago, it shows that he is more willing to embark on manipulative acts upon them.
Roderigo, is a young and rich man. He becomes furious when he finds out that Othello marries Desdemona. Once again we see how emotions take over the characters and commit foolish decisions. Roderigo is so in love with Desdemona that he gives all of his money to Iago because Iago promised him that he would help him win Desdemona’s love. Iago once again betrays another one of his victim.
In the first act of the play, after Roderigo finds out that Othello married Desdemona, he carries out a dialogue with Iago about Iago’s discontentment with Othello, Roderigo comments, “What a full fortune does the thick-lips owe,/ If he can carry it thus!” With this, Roderigo shows his feelings of jealousy for Othello, basically stating that luck was on Othello’s side in getting Desdemona, but it will probably not last very long. In addition to this, Roderigo gives Brabantio large sums of money to Iago in order to try to get Desdemona from Othello. In addition to Roderigo’s jealousy, Iago’s jealousy of Cassio cascades to the point where he begins to manipulate Othello to want to kill Cassio, which ends up leading to the death of Desdemona. In the beginning, Iago details how he was passed up for a promotion by Othello.
Consequently, implies Emilia is promiscuous by directly saying to her, “A thing for me? It is a common thing” (3.3.311), referring to her as sexually “common” among men. Furthermore, Iago creates a false immoral image of Desdemona to Othello base on simple interpretation concluding Desdemona is adulterous, however, Othello ultimately convinces himself and perceives Desdemona as adulterous. At first, Iago distorts the reality to make Othello think his wife is deceiving him, but Othello is not fully convinced until he starts misinterpreting Desdemona actions, implying he perceives her as adulterous. Othello at first holds that “Desdemona’s honest” (3.3.230), but something as simple as a lost handkerchief makes him see his wife as an adulterous and called
Using the character of Roderigo, Iago manipulates him into doing everything he wants. At the beginning of the tragedy, Iago and Roderigo are talking poorly about Othello. Roderigo, who is in love with Desdemona, is upset due to hearing that Othello and Desdemona have recently married. Iago, who just found out Othello did not give him
Defining Racism To properly lay out the issue of racism in the play it is desirable to know how the term itself is defined. The Oxford English Dictionary explains Racism as follows: A belief that one’s own racial or ethnic group is superior, or that other such groups represent a threat to one 's cultural identity, racial integrity, or economic well-being; (also) a belief that the members of different racial or ethnic groups possess specific characteristics, abilities, or qualities, which can be compared and evaluated. Hence: prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against people of other racial or ethnic groups.
Although the audience is well aware of his hatred for Othello at this point, this soliloquy begins to delve into the mind of Iago. For example, Iago states “Thus do I ever make my fool my purse;/ For I mine own gained knowledge should profane/ If I would time expend with such a snipe/ But for my sport and profit” (1.3.375-8). Because Roderigo is in love with Othello’s wife Desdemona, Iago is just using him in order to achieve his goal.
The exploitation of Othello’s race leads to the manipulation Roderigo, Cassio, Brabantio, the Venetians, and the audience to see Othello as inferior although, the only difference between him and the Venetians is his lineage. In the first act of the play, Iago and Roderigo go to Brabantio’s house to rile him out of his sleep. This is seen as the first step of defaming Othello’s character. The two
In the opening act of the play, Iago and Roderigo wake Brabantio, Desdemona’s father, from his sleep, informing him of his daughter’s marriage to the Moor, Othello. Knowing of Brabantio’s prejudice towards Othello because of his race, Iago says, “Even now, now, very now, an old black ram is tupping your white ewe.” (1.1.94-95). Iago feeds anger into Brabantio’s mind using
Throughout the play, Iago, Roderigo, and Brabantio display covert or overt racism towards Othello. At the beginning of the play, Iago, Othello’s ensign, and Roderigo, a wealthy man in love with Desdemona, discuss Othello’s marriage and their hatred for Othello. During their dialogue, the first references made of Othello are “his Moorship” and “the Moor,” which is how most of the characters refer to Othello (Shakespeare 687). Rather than referring to Othello nominally, they refer to him by his ethnicity, showing their inherent racism.
It is clear from the first scene that Roderigo is bitter towards Othello because Othello and Desdemona got married, because he also loves her and his jealousy is his motive throughout the entire play. After he saw that Othello and Desdemona were truly married, in a conversation with Iago, he stated "I will incontinently drown
Oh, curse of marriage / That we can call these delicate creatures ours / And not their appetites!” (3.3.308-11). In this quote, Othello says that there is nothing more to do than hate Desdemona, wives cannot truly belong to their husbands. This is a sign of weakness because Iago has no real evidence to back up the claims he has made to Othello, however, Othello is not strong enough to brush them aside.