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

Racism and Jealousy in Othello The theme of racialism is strongly depicted in William Shakespe ars Othello. It depicts the attitude of European society towards those that were unlike in colour, race and language. In Europe, populate of white complexion were the mass and all other races were considered to be less important and inferior.There are several characters in this play that portray this mentality. These characters include Brabantio, Roderigo and Emilia. But by far, the face of racism in this play is that of Iago, who makes his intentions crystal clear in his soliloquy where he states I hate the Moor, (I, iii, 379). Throughout the play, Iago lays forward a number of formers for his hatred, which leads to the ruin of most of the characters.It is most likely 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 t hat had risen to success which is a factor contributing to another of his reasons for hatred, jealousy. From the really 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 old black bone up is tupping your white ewe (I, i, 89-90) - A statement that has both racist and vulgar connotations, as well as referring to Othello as a Barbary horse (I, i, 112) - Which is degrading him to the train of a filth...