The theatrical purpose of Othello's blackness - Research Paper Example

Role of racism in Othello and the theatrical purpose of Othello's blackness: It was in 1833, that the audience in London had an experience to watch a black actor play the historic character of Othello (McDonald). The color difference and the difference of status of black and white in the society is one of the most cardinal themes of Othello. There has conventionally been a lot of debate regarding the reason why Shakespeare chose Othello to be black. “While embarked on a general project of defending Shakespeare from the neoclassical tradition of criticism, [Taylor] assumes that only a bronze Othello can fulfill the highest requirements of tragedy” (Hall). Othello is a play that presents black vs white. The battle between black and white occur on two levels. On one level, there occurs a battle between the good and the evil. On another and a more obvious level, the battle is between a black person and a white person. This is essentially the battle of color and race. In Othello, Shakespeare has moved against the conventional stereotyping of black as evil by changing the meaning of black and white in the play. In this play, black signifies good and white signifies evil. Through his attempt to alter the significance of black and white colors in the play Othello, Shakespeare apparently seems to be making a political statement with respect to race. The audience is constantly reminded of the exchange of literary meanings of black and white throughout the play. No matter what Shakespeare’s philosophy regarding color was, “Othello may be the devil in appearance, but it is the fair Iago who gives birth to the dark realities of sin and death in the play” (Hunter). Elizabethan literature has conventionally associated African heritage with negativity, whereas the same glows in Othello. Right from the onset, Othello is introduced to the audience as a hero. Iago is jealous of the nobility and greatness of Othello, and thus adopts a deceitful approach to harm him. Iago’s absolute evil would normally be expected of a black person in the Elizabethan literature, yet it comes from a white person. In this way, Shakespeare has challenged the assumed nobility of white in the Elizabethan literature. Paradoxically, the association of purity with whiteness remains unchallenged. Desdemona, the beautiful white lover of Othello, is the symbol of purity. In the very beginning of the story, Iago is shown expressing extreme hatred for Othello. He envies Othello for he does not have as much power and authority as Othello has. Instead of promoting Iago, Othello chooses to promote a far less experienced guy than Iago. Although he does not challenge Othello’s decision, yet he never approves of this decision of Othello, and this becomes the root cause of a long cultivated hatred. Apparently, this is the only reason why Iago should abhor Othello, though his hatred stretches far beyond this so as to attack him personally. Iago passes comments on the thick lips of Othello calling him “an old black ram” (Shakespeare 6). Although the hatred commences on professional grounds, yet it feeds on Othello’s heritage. It does not take long for Iago’s hatred to convert into racism. Despite the fact that Othello is quite strong politically, his belongingness to a black race underestimates his status in a society dominated by white people. Through his maliciousness, Iago manages to play a game on his master and plays with his emotions consistently. In the lack of a sound reason to abhor Othello, Iago feels the need to invent some reasons of his own. He assumes that Othello is practicing fornication with his wife. While there is no truth in this, it allows Iago to hate Othello for things beyond Othello’s skin color. Iago makes an overt expression of his hatred when he says, “Hell and night / must bring this monstrous birth to the world's light” (Shakespeare 32). This outburst of abhorrence once again reminds the audience of the significance of color in the play. Iago uses “hell and night” for himself and calls Othello “the world’s light”. Near the end of the play, Iago’s long cultivated hatred bears fruition. The seeds of envy bloom, and Othello stages a plan to kill Desdemona thinking of her as treacherous. Because of the feelings inculcated in Othello’s heart by Iago, Othello behaves in an inhumanly way. This is where the play tends to go on the same track as most race based plays do. The character of Othello is changed for the worse in such a way that the audience tends to link his savage behavior to the ancestry he comes from. From the onset till this point in the story, it is love that obliges Othello to be human. As soon as he gets to believe Iago and substantiation replaces his suspicion, Othello no longer feels the need to behave decently. Because of this, blasphemy which was so far, the characteristic of Iago, replaces nobility in the character of Othello. By the time the play ends, Cassio appears injured, Desdemona gets killed by Othello, and Iago’s wife dies. Othello not only killed Desdemona, but also makes an unsuccessful attempt to assassinate Cassio upon being convinced by Iago. Iago hates his wife for having brought his evil doings in the limelight, and takes her life. Soon as Othello gets to learn the truth, his love for the lost Desdemona is restored, and he becomes a noble man once again. Why Othello commits suicide has been a matter of great discussion among the audience. The true philosophy behind this was that although Othello possessed power and authority, yet he could not bring Desdemona back to life. In an ideal world, Othello should have lived with his rediscovered love for Desdemona. Nonetheless, Elizabethan literature would hardly ever let that happen. Othello wished to be remembered by the public as an individual who “loved not wisely but too well” (Shakespeare 163). Through making this statement, Othello essentially reveals that he does feel concern for how people would think about him. A potential explanation for this could be that Othello anticipates that his position would be tainted when he is taken to charge for his crime and he would have to experience intensification in the limitations that he has always faced because of his black ancestry. Nobody but God knows what had happened to him and why he had killed Desdemona, so Othello wanted God to evaluate his crime and decide his destination for him. In other words, Othello seeks justice in the court of the Almighty. Racism is ingrained in the insult with which Iago talks about Othello while making Brabantio aware of the fact that his daughter, who happens to be a white Venetian has escaped with an elder black guy named Othello. Iago uses these words: ‘Zounds, sir, you’re robb’d; for shame, put on your gown; Your heart is burst, you have lost half your soul; Even now, now, very now, an old black ram Is topping your white ewe. Arise, arise; Awake the snorting citizens with the bell, Or else the devil will make a grandsire of you: Arisem I say. (Shakespeare 6). By saying, “an old black ram Is topping your white ewe” (Shakespeare 6), Iago means that Othello is making love with Desdemona. In the words originally used in the play, many Elizabethan notions are hidden. For example, in Elizabethan literature, black men are as hypersexual as beasts. “This seems geared at manipulating Brabantio's fears of miscegenation (when a couple "mixes races" through marriage and/or sex)” (“Shmoop”). In the play, Othello has been shown as a Christian. Despite that, Iago uses the word “devil” for him. This is a whole concept that dates back to the 16th century in whose literature, a devil commonly transformed into a black man. Devil and black people were presented as each other’s reflection in the 16th century literature. In a book, The Discovery of Witchcraft, which was published in 1584, Reginald Scott wrote, “Bodin alloweth the divell the shape of a black moore, and as he saith, he used to appear to Mawd Cruse, Kate Darey, and Jon Harviller” (“Shmoop”). Likewise, Brabantio places blame on Othello that he has made use of black magic to brainwash Desdemona and make her fall in love with him. Iago does not only call Othello a devil, he associates him with animals in all ways he can. Iago says to Brabantio, “…you'll have your daughter covered with a Barbary horse; you'll have your nephews neigh to you; you'll have coursers for cousins and gennets for germans” (Shakespeare 7). In this line, the audience can clearly sense the animal imagery used by Iago in his racist invective. These words uttered by Iago tell that Iago thinks of black people as inhuman. Iago calls Othello a horse who is making love with Desdemona. He warns Brabantio that his future relatives will be animals. This is not the only time that Othello’s sexuality has been compared with that of animals. He had formerly called Othello a devil as well. All of these self constructed similarities between animals and Othello can fundamentally be attributed to Othello’s black color. Othello’s skin color becomes a problem and unacceptable sign for Brabantio particularly after Iago uses names of several animals to refer to Othello including ““Barbary horse", "old black ram", "Lusty moor" and "beast with two backs"” (“Racism, and Skin Colour”). Racism against black people in Othello is so profound that no body can believe that a white girl can ever fall in love with a black man. In Othello, to show their disgust against black people, white people would not even like to look at them. This can be estimated from Brabantio’s statement, “To fall in love with what she fear'd to look on! It is a judgment maim'd and most imperfect That will confess perfection so could err Against all rules of nature” (Shakespeare 21). In these words, Brabantio claims that Desdemona can not truly fall in love with Othello because he is too black to look at. It is obvious that Brabantio has been made to think of Desdemona’s love for Othello like this by Iago. Iago already had the idea that Brabantio is against marriage across race. Therefore, he thought that the best way to flare up the fire of anger against Othello in the heart of Brabantio is by basing his argument upon the evils of mixed marriage. Unable to believe that his daughter has disrespected the limits of race, Brabantio considers his daughter to be under the influence of black magic cast by Othello upon her. The blackness of Othello is of huge theatrical significance because of the historic on-stage success of many black actors. Some of the black actors who have been greatly appreciated for their theatrical performance are Paul Robeson who performed in London and USA in 1930 and 1943 respectively, and Laurence Fishburne who had performed in a movie in 1995 (Alexander). Othello is one of the most popular plays of Shakespeare. One of the fundamental reasons of its immense popularity is the fact that the main character of the play has been played by a black actor. By presenting Othello as a noble man in the story and Iago as a wicked person, Shakespeare has gone against the conventional practice of use of color in the Elizabethan literature. Despite the fact that he enjoys immense power and authority, Othello is not acceptable to Brabantio as his daughter’s husband only because his color is black. This speaks of the long cultivated racism against people with African heritage in the literature. The fact that Othello is black is of huge interest to the audience who is fed up of the negative portrayal of black people in theatre. By presenting black Othello in the character of a good person with power, Othello puts a comma to the undue judgment of character on the basis of color. Also, this happens to be the reason of the great theatrical significance of Othello. Works Cited: Alexander, Catherine, M. “Othello: Race, Place and Identity.” 1999. Web. 5 May 2011. . Hall, Kim F. “Othello and the Problem of Blackness.” n.d. Web. 5 May 2011. . McDonald, Joyce G. “Acting Black: Othello, Othello Burlesques, and the Performance of Blackness.” Theatre Journal. vol. 46. no. 2. 1994. Shakespeare, William, Hunter G. K.,Edward Pechter. Othello: Authoritative Text, Sources and Contexts, Criticism. New York: W.W. Norton &, 2010. Print. “Racism, and Skin Colour, in Othello.” 2011. Web. 5 May. 2011. . Shakespeare, William. Othello, the Moor of Venice. Forgotten Books, 2008. Print. “Shmoop: Othello race Quotes.” 2011. Web. 5 May 2011. . Read More