"Othello is a tragedy of outsiders." By careful reference to the various "outsiders" in the play, consider how far you agree.

Authors Avatar

13th October 2001

Zahra Kiyani

“Othello is a tragedy of outsiders.” By careful reference to the various “outsiders” in the play, consider how far you agree.

The most obvious way of being an outsider in Othello is through being a foreigner, and a non-Venetian. Othello and Cassio are both outsiders in this sense, Othello is a black man, a “Moor”, and Cassio is a “Florentine”. Othello begins in Venice, in Shakespeare’s time the great commercial centre of the western world. Venice was the place of great hustle and bustle, merchants and tradesmen from other lands were commonplace, and yet we see throughout the play how Othello and Cassio are ridiculed. Cassio is degraded as he is from Florence; Iago calls him “a great arithmetician”. As Florence was known throughout Europe for it’s banking activities, this is an insult aimed especially at a Florentine. Othello is scorned because he is a black man, called a “lascivious Moor” and a “wheeling stranger” by Roderigo.

Cassio is a noble man of good “breeding” and manners. His behaviour and language is consistent with the upper classes of society. This is why when he loses his position alongside Othello through being drunk, he feels devastated – “I have lost the immortal part of myself, and what remains is bestial” says Cassio, speaking of his reputation. Without this reputation, Cassio feels as if he has degraded himself. Cassio then becomes an outsider in another way because his only form of communication is through Desdemona, and he must sneak around in order for a ‘chance’ to regain his position of lieutenant.

Join now!

Othello is perhaps the character with the most reasons to feel like an outsider. In the very first scene, before we have even met Othello or heard his name, we are struck by the prejudiced and crude references to him. He is insultingly called “thick lips” and constantly called “Moor”, which show Othello’s social and cultural background. Since this is our first impression of Othello, the image of him being black is embedded in our minds throughout the entire play. This issue of Othello’s race is an obvious source of tension in the play. While he is accepted as ...

This is a preview of the whole essay