How is Othello and Desdemona’s relationship doomed from the beginning of the play?
Othello and Desdemona’s relationship is doomed from the beginning of the play due to many reasons. Some of which being, racism in 18th century Venice, Brabantio’s attitude, and the vengeance and deceit of Iago, all these themes that Shakespeare has used leads up to a tragic ending to the play.
Racism plays a crucial part in Othello, as it was looked down upon for a black person to marry a white person. We can tell this from when Iago tells Brabantio “an old black ram is tupping your white ewe” and if this was not accepted Iago would have not said it. Brabantio is outraged by this and claims that Othello has stolen Desdemona; he even says that Othello has poisoned or put a spell on her “she is abused, stol’n from me, and corrupted. By Spells and medicines bought of mountebanks”, which may refer to people thinking that Africans were witch doctors. The fact that Brabantio has gone to these extreme states of mind shows how much Brabantio is against this, even though he respects Othello for his services to the army he does not respect him enough for him to marry his daughter. Brabantio also does not want Rodrigo to marry his daughter even though he is white so this makes the audience wonder if there is more than race involved when Brabantio objects. Brabantio may think that no one is good enough for his daughter, so even if Othello was white he would still have no chance of getting the respect from Brabantio he wants.
