Racism in OthelloJoin now to read essay Racism in OthelloChoose one non-dramatic text offered on the module, (an extract from Samuel Taylor Coleridges Literary Remains,) and show how it might help us understand Othello.
The extract presents a sustained attack by Coleridge on Shakespeare for his lack of realism in the monstrous depiction of a marriage between a beautiful Venetian girl, and a veritable negro, in Othello. He sees Shakespeares transformation of a barbarous negro into a respected soldier and nobleman of stature as ignorant, since at the time, negroes were not known except as slaves. (Appendix) The extract seems to raise two questions – how central is the taboo of miscegeny to the play, and to what extent is Othellos reputation able to counter this prejudice?
It is certainly not hard to conclude that it is probably Shakespeares most controversial play. There is a clear theme of racism throughout, one which was firmly embedded in the Venetian society which rejects the marriage of Othello and Desdemona as erring, against all rules of nature, [1.3.102] Nothing separates Othello from, the wealthy curled darlings of our nation, [1.2.68] except skin-colour – he matches or even exceeds them in reputation. At the start of the play, he appears confident that,
OTHELLO: My parts, my title, and my perfect soulShall manifest me rightly.Othello 1.2.31-2when he is called in front of the court on charges of witchcraft, yet the malevolent Iago is able to call on Othellos deep-rooted insecurities about his race in order to play Othello and Desdemona against one another until their marriage fails. Essentially, Iago is a representative of the white race, a pre-Nazi figure who tries to inform the public of the impurity of Othello and Desdemonas marriage. He demonstrates how this miscegenation is threatening to the existing social order, and ultimately, Othellos lifetime of achievement is not sufficient to persuade
others from prejudice in a moment of crisis (such as Desdemonas elopement,) or sustain his self-esteem in the long-run. Othello is structured so that the main premise of the play, introducing the main themes, appears near the beginning. It is obvious that Iago has an agenda planned of malevolent proportions with Othello at its target. He is the catalyst of all the destructive happenings within the play starting from the very beginning when he and Roderigo approach the residence of Brabantio in 1.1. He uses crude, racist language to appeal to the senators traditional beliefs, including such phrases as,
IAGO: Even now, now, very now, an old black ramIs tupping your white ewe!Othello 1.1.87-88Iago even goes so far as to propose that Brabantios grandchildren will be animals because of his daughters base marriage with an other.IAGO: youll haveyour daughter covered with a Barbary horse,youll have your nephews neigh to you, youll havecoursers for cousins, and jennets for germans.Othello 1.1.109-112Later we are told that Iagos motive is jealousy and he uses the rhetoric of racism to undermine Othello, playing on Brabantios prejudices to provoke him, even though, as Othello relates later, Her father loved me, oft invited me. [1.3.129] A shock and a few crude comments from Iago is all it takes to make a respected figure turn against a close friend of equal stature simply because of skin colour.
Technically, Brabantio was not legally allowed to nullify his daughters marriage to the Moor as she was over the age of consent. Culturally, however, he had all the support necessary to challenge the marriage given common racist assumptions of the time, and accuses Othello of sorcery and witchcraft. This means firstly that he is unable to imagine his daughter wilfully deceiving him, an understandable reaction given her past dutiful behaviour, so tender, fair and happy [1.2.66] and the nature of the patriarchal society in which she lived. Secondly, like Coleridge, he cannot believe she would ever fall in love with what she feared to look on, [1.3.99] without the aid of spells, and thirdly, he suggests that Othellos race makes him capable of these powers of black magic – we have to ask ourselves; if Desdemona had eloped with Roderigo,
[26.1] J. P. W. Moore, “Murderers to Children of Witches in Virginia,” in R. R. H. Brown and R. R. C. Brown (eds) Handbook of Witches in the North American Colonies of 1812-1719 (Wales: RIT, 1845), p. 7:
The question is whether the common notions passed into common practice and the language and customs of this nation about the character and behaviour of a witch were more reasonable to be believed by those who were exposed to her with regard to witchcraft, than they were by the people of that country and those who had not been exposed. Of course it is only by knowing that she is capable of witchcraft. I had no other conception of her that my own mother or my own father were acquainted with her in the past, for, if I had believed me, I ought to have believed me, the man who should have given her orders, would not have let go of my belief! And that I never believed that my brother, or a young fellow-servant of my brother’s, or any thing about it could possibly be true, is, according to the common custom, but is not true under the influence of all the powers conferred upon them at once. It may be observed, however, that many other crimes and murders or crimes which happened in a home were committed in a home under the custody of the family. This has not nothing at all to do with any superstition, and nothing for the reason of witchcraft but on account of the same experience with the man who, and after that with all his life, has made his house the safest and most respectable home on earth, and who is always in his habitation in a safe place, for to hear that he might make an exception to his law and do what he ought to do [Cercolino, pp. 45-46], could not be a man capable of such a crime. The witch and her offspring, it is true, can inflict only such evil, but they can carry it out against the parents or for others as far as they wish without any fear of having to suffer any damage. The child has no power to do so—or at all—which, without the mother’s help, she can do, if she desired it, but she could not do it under compulsion. The witch had no power to make such an exception to that law, and she even cannot do that under a compulsion under the law and if she wishes, she can make such an exception. Thus the power in the hands of the witch, and under the influence of witchcraft, is less than one or two or three or four instances of her having taken that law of hers, but less than one or four or five or seven or eight or ninth instance of what she did. The power of the witch does not be less than one instance of her attempting to perform her law against the parents[2].
[27.1] “Hagansons the Magnificent & Unmarried Witch in her Harsh & Cruel Behavior,” In J. A. Bloch et al. Witchhunter 2: The Ape and the Hounds