Shakepeare’s play, Othello, directly addresses the idea of race in the pre translatlantic slave trade era of the late 16th century. Yet, the conversations regarding ethnic otherness that are uprooted throughout the play run parallel to the way in which we understand racial diversity in contemporary society as well. As the play progresses and roles become more established, we see that Othello’s character becomes split between two poles. One pole consists of society’s reverence for his renowned accomplishments, and martial bravery as a general for the Venetian defense forces. The other pole consists of the surrounding characters’ collective hatred and contention for Othello’s ethnic origin in the context of his love for Desdemona, a Venetian woman. The controversy that encompasses the intersectionality between Othello’s political position and his sexuality work to present a distinctive kind of situational racism, begging the underlying question: why is Othello black in the first place? Would the play still ooze that same message and theme if Othello weren’t black? Othello’s blackness serves as the key that unlocks conversations around the dichotomy between his highly praised and esteemed political ranking and his forbidden marriage to Desdemona. This essay will argue that by incorporating the aforementioned ethnic discourses, Shakespeare uses Othello’s blackness to uproot conversations surrounding the socially constructed idea that treason of the blood is worse than treason of politics.
In order to formulate this argument regarding the reason behind Othello’s blackness, it is imperative to deep dive into the historical controversy and use the text to in fact, affirm Othello’s ethnic origin. In scene 1 during Iago and Roderigo’s heated conversation about Othello, they continuously describe his appearance using phrases like, “what a full fortune does the thick lips owe, if he can carry’t thus!” (Othello, 1.i.64) and “you’ll have your daughter covered with a Barbary horse” (Othello, 1.i.109). The term “thick lips” and reference to Desdemona having sexual intercourse with a Barbary (North African) horse, both signify conventional racist tropes of the animalistic nature and enlarged features ascribed to individuals of African descent. Furthermore, when Iago goes to inform Brabantio about the relational affairs between Desdemona and Othello, he proclaims, “I am one, sir, that comes to tell you your daughter and the Moor are now making the beast with two backs” (1.i.115). Roderigo then chimes in to further their deceptive plan declaring, “...to the gross clasps of a lascivious Moor” (1.i.124). From the demarcations of Othello’s ethnic origin as a Moor, to the reference toward the beastly sexual unbridedness of the black male, these descriptions clearly insinuate Othello’s unwavering black identity. Because these lines are all located toward the beginning of the play, this is the first description and introduction that the audience receives of Othello, as his name is never explicitly revealed in this scene. By prefacing his character solely with comments that negatively allude to his blackness, Shakespeare positions Othello’s entire identity around his ethnic otherness in terms of his prohibited relations with Desdemona. Thus, revealing that his otherness will be a central component of the play in which further conversations about race will stem from.
When Othello is finally introduced in the play as more than a victim of historically racist tropes, he is depicted in his role as a general. Othello is a Christian Moor and a powerful military leader of the armies of Venice. While his relationship with Desdemona is continuously contested throughout the play, his political power and influence are not. In Act 1 Scene 2, when Iago confronts Othello directly about Brabantio’s power to enforce a divorce between Othello and Desdemona, Othello’s response is, “Let him do his spite. My services which I have done the signiory shall out-tongue his complaints...I fetch my life and being from men of royal siege and my demerits may speak unbonneted” (1.ii.20-23). In this line, Othello flaunts not only his merit and influence, but his unyielding confidence. He even claims that his apprised achievements for the Venetian governing council will unequivocally transcend Brabantio’s complaints. Othello goes on to claim, “my parts, my title, and my perfect soul shall manifest me” (1.ii. 30-31). Othello’s confidence is overtly showcased in this part of the play as he establishes both his credibility and nobility throughout Venice. This is a turning point in the play in which the audience’s prior exposure to the defamatory claims toward Othello, made by opposing characters, are directly countered by his position as general. Up until this moment, his honor and respectability are only acknowledged in reference to his political position and achievements. When Othello is functioning as a general, his race is unquestioned and vilifications about his ethnic background are not challenged nor considered treasonous. It is only when Othello’s relationship with Desdemona is discussed that he is criticized, accused of treason, and threatened based on his skin color.
Furthermore, Shakespeare is intentional about the incongruity in the way Iago interacts with Othello as a general, compared to the way he interacts with Othello as Desdemona’s husband. In the absence of Othello’s presence, when Iago opines his disregard for he and Desdemona’s union, he refers to Othello as “a barbary horse” and “the Moor,” recognizing him as nothing but a subjugated other. However, in Act 1 Scene 2, just when Iago is about to discuss Othello’s disapproved marriage with Cassio, Othello walks in and Iago stammers, “Marry, to - Come, captain will you go?” (1.ii.54). By referencing Othello’s prestige and acclaimed position through the title of “captain,” Shakespeare depicts the contradiction between Iago’s acceptance of Othello in the Venetian political sphere, and his simultaneous disapproval of his marriage to a Venetian woman. In prior passages, Iago is quick to use degrading verbiage to express his disdain for Othello’s union with Desdemona, continuously using racist comments to describe Othello. This is directly opposite of Iago’s subsequent respectful usage of the term “captain” in regards to Othello’s military position. This contradiction uproots an idea that intertwines with contemporary racism: the concept that ethnic others are welcomed in political sectors to perform acts of servility for their country, but are not welcomed to intermix their blood with the ethnic majorities of that same country. In other words, Othello’s ethnic otherness does not interfere with his role on the Venetian battlefield, but this ethnic otherness does become a threat when he crosses the threshold of a Venetian bedroom.
In order to fully understand the purpose of Othello’s blackness, it is essential to evaluate the way in which Desdemona is depicted by the other characters in relation to Othello. Shakespeare litters the play with the dichotomy of how Iago, Brabantio, and Roderigo describe Desdemona versus how they describe Othello in terms of their relationship. For instance, Iago remarks, “Even now, now very now, an old black ram is tupping your white ewe” (1.ii.85-86). Similarly, Roderigo chimes in to affirm, “as partly I find it is, that your fair daughter...hire, a gondolier, to the gross clasps of a lascivious Moor” (1.i.122-25). Roderigo continues his spiel with, “tying her duty, beauty, wit, and fortunes in an extravagant and wheeling stranger. To first deconstruct the term “ewe,” Iago is relating Desdemona to a white female sheep, uprooting undertones of the purity of whiteness, and the delicacy of a sheep. To contend this reference, Iago calls Othello a black ram, highlighting his blackness with the image of an uncastrated male sheep that is historically associated with representations of dominance, masculinity, and intense force. The footnotes further delineate the meaning behind Desdemona as Brabantio’s “fair daughter,” in which fair means beautiful. On the contrary, lascivious defines Othello’s fundamentally aggressive sexual desire. Roderigo’s emphasis on Othello being a “wheeling stranger,” delineated in the footnotes as a reeling alien and a foreigner, hones in on the abhorrence of the idea that someone as fair and Venetian as Desdemona is uniting with the likeness of a black foreign alien. This line depicts Othello’s ethnic ostracism in relation to his union with Desdemona. Although he is a general and therefore loyal and righteous in the eyes of the Venetian governing council, his blackness ultimately blocks acceptance of his miscegenation with a Venetian woman.
Analyzing the juxtaposition of the aforementioned descriptions, it is evident that Shakespeare intentionally idolizes and victimizes Desdemona by painting her with a brush of purity, virtue, and innocence. He contrasts this with images representing Othello’s aggressive, beastly masculinity that exudes from his foreign otherness. Without this harsh contradiction between Venetian and Moor, Shakespeare would not have been able to showcase the racial division between Othello and Desdemona that serves as the foundation for the precept that treason of the blood is worse than treason of politics. Othello’s foreignness did not create tension in the Venetian political sector, however when he transversed this same otherness into his romantic relationship with a Venetian, he became ostracized, degraded, and labeled as treasonous. Therefore, it is Othello’s blackness that galvanizes the other characters’ hypocritical point of view. In the absence of his blackness, this play would cease to unpack the societal limitations ascribed to ethnic minority groups. While on the one hand an ethnic other can be praised and exalted as a general of the Venetian battlefield, and on the other hand, that same ethnic other will be shamed if found in a Venetian bedroom. Thus, Othello’s blackness is an integral and necessary aspect of understanding the root of the societal inconsistencies presented in this play. His foreign origin lays the basis for this contrast, and without it, the dichotomy in which Shakespeare structures this play could not stand.
Ultimately, the conversation surrounding the socially constructed restraints of ethnic others that appears in this play written several centuries ago, can seamlessly relate to the zeitgeist of contemporary society. Immigrants and ethnic others are oftentimes used for their ability to work and to serve for this country, however their miscegenation with ethnic majorities in this country is frowned upon. This social practice highlights the same precept that Shakespeare uproots in Othello, in which society erects boundaries for acceptance and disapproval regarding the various spaces that ethnic others can and cannot permeate. Othello’s blackness allows Shakespeare to emphasize a clear distinction between the Venetian battlefield and the Venetian bedroom, proving that treason in one is much worse than treason in the other.
Works Cited
“Othello.” Othello, by William Shakespeare et al., Yale University Press, New Haven; London, 2005, pp. 1–204. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1nph2f.6.
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