Racism and Jealousy in Othello Essay -- Shakespeare Othello Iago Essay

Racism and Jealousy in Othello The theme of racism is strongly depicted in William Shakespeares Othello. It depicts the attitude of European society towards those that were different in colour, race and language. In Europe, people of ashen complexion were the majority and all other races were considered to be less eventful and inferior.There are several char scrapers in this play that portray this mentality. These characters take on Brabantio, Roderigo and Emilia. But by far, the face of racism in this play is that of Iago, who makes his intentions watch glass clear in his soliloquy where he states I hate the Moor, (I, iii, 379). throughout the play, Iago lays forward a number of reasons for his hatred, which leads to the ruin of most of the characters.It is most seeming that the main reason behind Iagos hatred of Othello is the colour of his skin. Similar to many other people of his time, Iago would have had little or no racial tolerance for others, and thereby saw Othello as an outcast that had risen to achievement which is a factor contributing to another of his reasons for hatred, jealousy. From the very first act of this play, and indeed the very first scene, Iago hurls racial insults at Othello, an example of which is ...very now, an disused black ram is tupping your white ewe (I, i, 89-90) - A statement that has both racial and vulgar connotations, as well as referring to Othello as a Barbary cavalry (I, i, 112) - Which is degrading him to the level of a filth...