Racism, Ethnic Discrimination, and Otherness in Shakespeare’s Othello and The Merchant of Venice (original) (raw)
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Race, Citizenship and Social Order in William Shakespeare’s Othello
This paper examines the issue of race in Shakespeare's Othello. It attempts to show that race is a very important issue raised by Shakespeare in the play in his eagerness to highlight the racial problems confronting Europe in the seventeenth century. In this play he attempts to expose the racial prejudice that exists in the Venetian society in particular and Europe in general. He also attempts to subvert the European feelings of racial superiority against the blacks in particular and people of other races in general. He sets out to do this by making a black man (Othello) marry a white woman (Desdemona) of an aristocratic extraction against the will and wish of her father. This inter-racial marriage may not in reality be possible in the seventeenth century, but all the same Shakespeare contrived it to be so, possibly as a way of foregrounding future change in European attitudes toward other races. The paper also looks at how individual citizens of a city-state like Venice can constitute themselves as threats to its social well being, by allowing their personal interests to override the national ethos. In this regard the activities of Othello, Iago and Roderigo are examined.
RACE, CITIZENSHIP, AND SOCIAL ORDER IN SHAKESPEARE'S OTHELLO
This paper examines the issue of race in Shakespeare's Othello. It attempts to show that race is a very important issue raised by Shakespeare in the play in his eagerness to highlight the racial problems confronting Europe in the seventeenth century. In this play he attempts to expose the racial prejudice that exists in the Venetian society in particular and Europe in general. He also attempts to subvert the European feelings of racial superiority against the blacks in particular and people of other races in general. He sets out to do this by making a black man (Othello) marry a white woman (Desdemona) of an aristocratic extraction against the will and wish of her father. This inter-racial marriage may not in reality be possible in the seventeenth century, but all the same Shakespeare contrived it to be so, possibly as a way of foregrounding future change in European attitudes toward other races. The paper also looks at how individual citizens of a city-state like Venice can constitute themselves as threats to its social well being, by allowing their personal interests to override the national ethos. In this regard the activities of Othello, Iago and Roderigo are examined.
The question of race in William Shakespeare.
This extended piece will examine the treatment of race by Shakespeare through analysis of three different characters. Aaron from Titus Andronicus and the eponymous Othello are both moors, and the character of Shylock from The Merchant of Venice is Jewish. Aaron is the primary antagonist of Titus Andronicus and Shakespeare’s earliest Moor whereas Othello, created over a decade later, can be seen to echo the anti-hero of classical tragedy. Both characters in some way subvert racial stereotypes, from Aaron’s rejection of white superiority to the honourable nature of Othello. The question of race is complicated further in Othello through Shakespeare’s creation of the villain Iago, the play’s whiteequivalent of Aaron. Much like Othello and Aaron, Shylock conforms to Jewish stereotypes, including his seemingly overwhelming desire for riches and wealth regardless of the moral cost. However, he does much to challenge such expectations. The rationale for his actions promotes sympathy for the character, and highlights the double standards present in the Elizabethan period. This paper will also consider the chronology of Shakespeare’s plays and the social conventions of the time regarding race, with the intention of discerning how the playwright’s own racial prejudices, if any, evolved during his career.
Shakespeare's Othello and The Romance of Antar: The Politics of Racism and Self-Fashioning
This article makes use of two approaches to examine the misogynist and racist discourses in Shakespeare's Othello (1604). I will read the play alongside a Palestinian intertext, the Romance of Antar (525-608), in order to illuminate the ways in which traditional Palestinian culture can be more liberal than that of early modern England. The racial discourse that the Romance of Antar embodies enables me to scrutinize this discourse in Othello. While Antar reiterates his otherness without self-contempt, I assert that Othello's internalisation of the racial discourse leads to his selfdegradation which he projects onto Desdemona. In addition, I will present a psychoanalytic reading of Othello which, perhaps more than any other critical approach, can expose uncomfortable truths about the ways in which hidden same-sex desires and loyalties challenge the heterosexual marriage of Desdemona and Othello.
Shakespeare’s Othello: The Esteemed, Reviled, Shunned, and Integrated?
IJOHMN (International Journal online of Humanities)
In Shakespearean literature, one can find themes that challenge the Elizabethan conventional way of thinking and life, and the tragedy of Othello is no exception. In a dramatic presentation, Shakespeare challenges the way in which Black people are seen in Elizabethan society by placing a Moor in the context of Venice, Italy who is both hated and respected in his place in a racist society. There is no doubt that there is racism in Elizabethan society. According to Eldred Jones, during the era in which Othello is composed, Queen Elizabeth enacts legislation that calls for all Black people to leave the country (Jones, 1994). Racism is not the core theme of the dramatic piece; however, the existence of racism is illustrated and expressed via Shakespeare’s artistic medium. Just as feminism, greed, jealousy, hubris, and varying other matters dealing with the human spirit do not seepage Shakespeare’s consideration, nor do race matters. Furthermore, just as he dramatizes human issues, he dr...
In Shakespearean literature, one can find themes that challenge the Elizabethan conventional way of thinking and life, and the tragedy of Othello is no exception. In a dramatic presentation, Shakespeare challenges the way in which Black people are seen in Elizabethan society by placing a Moor in the context of Venice, Italy who is both hated and respected in his place in a racist society. There is no doubt that there is racism in Elizabethan society. According to Eldred Jones, during the era in which Othello is composed, Queen Elizabeth enacts legislation that calls for all Black people to leave the country (Jones, 1994). Racism is not the core theme of the dramatic piece; however, the existence of racism is illustrated and expressed via Shakespeare's artistic medium. Just as feminism, greed, jealousy, hubris, and varying other matters dealing with the human spirit do not seepage Shakespeare's consideration, nor do race matters. Furthermore, just as he dramatizes human issues, he dramatizes race matters. There are fictional elements in 2
Racial Conflict in the Selected Plays of William Shakespeare
SMART MOVES JOURNAL IJELLH, 2021
William Shakespeare embraces the racial concerns of the seventeenth century in his various plays. The racial clash was one of the significant inquiries of the seventeenth century. There were numerous prohibitions against the relationship of black and white. The etymological colonialism was at the core of the Shakespearean dramatization that rendered on racism. The language utilized as a pioneering instrument for racial discrimination. Moreover, Shakespeare's play was effectively associated with darker-looking individuals during Elizabethan times. Therefore, the darker-looking Othello and the Jewish Shylock have assumed a significant role in the play. They dominated their respective play, that’s why Shakespeare's works depict the dramatization of racial conflict. There are numerous cases of racial segregation in the current situation, so the issue of race is expected to be re-evaluated with a fresh point of view.This knowledge will help to solve the problem of racial conflict...
LITINFINITE JOURNAL, 2021
Shakespeare could lay the human mind sole-naked without upholding any moralistic yardsticks. He described human nature as it is-it was and it will be not as others would like it to appear within their threshold of judgments. There is no trouble with the logical development of the characters in Shakespeare's plays; in his greatest tragedies, the reactions of the characters to every turn in the action are always intuitively right and their development as the play proceeds is felt to be inevitable. As we have seen in Othello and other plays, he stood up for the purity of morals