Prejudice And Racism In Shakespeare's Othello

William Shakespeare is commonly labeled as a racist, and specifically in Othello, he includes racial themes initially introduced by ignorant characters. Blatantly stated by Iago in Act 1: “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” (1.1.97-101). Othello was initially introduced as a barbarous, lustful, and most of all, black man without the reader having even met him, instilling an underdeveloped opinion of him prematurely. The reader does not even know Othello’s name before Iago describes a man that is dark-skinned and “different”, or “Moor” as stated in the play. As Othello progresses as a play, it is made obvious

The plot most definitely includes racist characters and racial undertones, initially, but soon proves itself to be a typical heroic tragedy, not unlike other Shakespearean plays. Although Othello, was written during a time where racial minorities were entirely ignored and deemed irrelevant by the majority of society, race has nothing to do with the tragic outcomes of the play as a whole; the story could just as well have been told if Othello were a white man. Shakespeare, being way ahead of his time ethically, portrayed a black man, Othello, as educated and valiant. Contrasting the overwhelming beliefs of his time, he wrote the plot establishing white man as the enemy, rather than the minority. Iago, a white man, went against and betrayed his leader, Othello, essentially giving “The Moor” the power in the story. In conclusion, Shakespeare, by means of developing the plot of Othello and making everything tragically fall together in the end, makes a point that a person's’ pigmentation and predetermined racial stereotypes are by no means an accurate indication of what lies beneath the skin: the true theme of Shakespeare’s