Othello

Othello, the Moor of Venice is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in approximately 1603, and based on the Italian short story “Un Capitano Moro” (“A Moorish Captain”) by Cinthio, a disciple of Boccaccio, first published in 1565. The work revolves around four central characters: Othello, a Moorish general in the Venetian army; his wife Desdemona; his lieutenant, Cassio; and his trusted ensign Iago. Because of its varied themes — racism, love, jealousy, and betrayal. (Wikipedia, 2010).
Regarding to the element of the main character of most of the Shakespearean plays were flawed and easily manipulated, Othello was not an exceptional. During the time this play was written, black people or “moors” were banned from Britain unless they were slaves. This is because before the 1950’s there were no equal rights for human beings. People of any other colour than white were seen as inferior and as barbaric, (which when translated from Latin means someone who cannot speak a language). This is the stereotypical view most people had of black people at the time, however discrimination was accepted in society and was not questioned, and so because it was not a crime to be prejudice against black people, because at the time black people had no rights. In addition, a number of ethnic groups were subjected to racism and suffered as a result. These include racism against towards the presence of Moorish, Black and Asian immigrants coming into England. These ethnic groups were disadvantaged as they were given limited employment opportunities/entitlements and forced to take some form of domestic service. They were paid below the minimum wage which did not give them an adequate income to support themselves and their families. They were seen as second-class citizens, often treated with little respect and value and were perceived and treated as lesser beings and brutally persecuted for minor offences. Because black people are associated with peasant, ironically we can see that in this play, Othello is being honest, clever, and naive
There are three major points will be discussed further in this review.
First, the reason of Shakespeare using black people in this play is to make fun of the black people community as a whole. Since Shakespeare live in Elizabethan period, it is widely known that in this era, racism is the major concern. During the Elizabethan era, there were two primary types of racism. First, racism that discriminates (cultural, institutional). This form of racism was common in the workplace as well as in public places all over England. Second, racism that kills mainly as a result of extreme poverty. This type of racism is generally referred to as paternalistic racism. Paternalistic racism implies that white people have the right to interfere in the lives of blacks for their own good and the power to define that good. This, implied in this play. We can see that Iago is using everyone for the sake of letting Othello down. For this reason, Shakespeare make Iago as an antagonist character and Othello as the protagonist. However, the protagonist is so weak that he was able to be manipulated by the antagonist. Thus, the audience those days will have the idea of how weak black people could be and how easy of them being manipulated and influenced by the white people (represented by Iago) . The main input here was to make fun of the presence of the black people in England. Which mean, Shakespeare, suit with the living in Elizabethan era, was trying to pour the idea of the weaknesses of the black people. However, this point will be seen vague if the manipulation of Othello being compared to Cassio and Roderigo. Because, both of the characters are of white people. Therefore, second thought of the reason on why the main character was flawed in Shakespearean plays has been drawn.
Second, Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English defined ‘Moor’ as one of the Muslim people from North Africa who entered Spain in the 8th century and ruled the southern part of the country until 1492. Hence, Muslim is being referred here. Therefore, the reason of using flawed character in Othello is that, Shakespeare is trying to invade the idea of Muslims, being easily manipulated and influenced by others. Even for now, there are a lot of manipulation of Islam takes place. Sadly, there is no one to turn up for Islam. Islam community is seen defeated slowly by the others. We are easily influenced and manipulated. Our lifestyle changed and becoming more westernise. Othello is a Moor and therefore, he is easily defeated by the evil Iago. The characteristic of Othello being good, kind, and honourable man may represent Islam’s faith, but the characteristic of easily manipulated and influenced is the way, weak believers of Muslim carry themselves.
Third, contradict with the first idea, the reason why Othello is a flawed character is that Shakespeare was trying to be cynical towards those people who discriminate the black people at that time. Thus, this third idea is drawn from the conclusion of Shakespeare is not racist. And Othello is not a racist play. Because Shakespeare wrote a play about a black and white union, which was later destroyed, It is found that he is not racist. Shakespeare feels that the union between the two is right, but the relationship would never survive in a racist community at that time. He portrayed the union between Othello and Desdemona as a good thing, and the people who destroyed it, mainly Iago and Roderigo as evil. This shows once again that he approves of a black and white relationship and therefore was not a racist himself. This reason is the fine tuning of the first reason and therefore, answer the doubt of ‘if Othello is manipulated because of its skin colour, then why Cassio and Roderigo were manipulated as well’. The main idea here is, Shakespeare was trying to be cynical towards people in his era that discriminated the black people by giving a black man to act as the main character and represented as the protagonist, honourable, and kind. Evidence shown from this play is when The Duke of Venice whispered to Brabantio, father of Desdemona saying that, “If virtue no delighted beauty lack, your son- in- law is far more fair than black”. Hence, Shakespeare is trying to invade to the people and audience those days that, black people are not a bad people as they always think of.