A modern audiences view of Othello.

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Othello

Even before we meet Othello we are given ideas as to his character. Iago and Roderigo are having an argument about “The Moor”. Iago says that he has always been a loyal servant to Othello and how another man has received promotion before him. As we are only shown this from Iago’s point of view we see this as somewhat unfair. The way Iago sees it is that Othello does not know the value of his own men as he, “Had seen the proof” of Iago’s skill in battle “At Rhodes, at Cyprus and on other grounds.” However the reliability of Iago is in question right from the start, his hatred for Othello is driven by racial prejudice, “his Moorship,” is just one example of quite a few instances when Iago refers to Othello by his race. Simply by his discriminatory speech we begin to mistrust what Iago says and, for some of what he says, we completely write off his criticisms as totally influenced by Othello’s race.

The facts we are told before we meet Othello also tell us something of his character. We are told that he has run away with Desdemona, Brabantio’s daughter, and married her. Brabantio’s description of her is one of an angelic child who would never run away from home,” A maid so tender, fair and happy.” Brabantio even suggests that some kind of witchcraft or wizardry would have had to have been used to get Desdemona to marry, he says this as she was not interested in the “Curled darling” suitors he had chosen for her. Brabantio feels that if she was not attracted to the suitors then she would not have run away to get married to “The Moor.” Referral to Othello by his race is now seen in Brabantio’s speech as well as Iago’s. Iago appears to be a particularly nasty character, not least in the fact that his prejudice is driven by race but also by the fact that he talks of mutiny against his commander “I follow him to serve my turn upon him.” That Brabantio uses the term “Moor” suggests that most of the characters in the play, even those who are fond of Othello (for instance even Desdemona refers to Othello as the Moor at the end of her first speech), are racist towards him by categorising him by race.

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Brabantio also does not seem to know his daughter at all; his description of her makes us think that she is perfect. However, when we meet her we realise that his picture of her is almost entirely wrong. He describes her in several ways, “A maiden never bold”, “Her motion blushed at herself”, “Gentle mistress”. This all creates a picture of a timid young lady who is afraid to speak. When we meet Desdemona on the other hand, this could not be further from the truth. Even from the first time we hear her speak we see that she ...

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