To What Extent is Othello a Play About Race?
Othello, one of Shakespeare’s most famous plays, is well known for having themes of race and racism within its story. But would the play have the same effect on its audience if Othello had been a white hero and racism wasn’t an issue? Would the plot still be credible and would the play be as famous as it is today if Shakespeare hadn’t broken new ground with his portrayal of a black hero?
In Elizabethan times having a black hero was a relatively unthought-of concept. Black people were the opposite of what the Elizabethans considered beautiful; pale skin and blonde hair, and so would not have been accepted into society; they were employed as servants and were considered to be inferior to white people. This view was supported and increased by the travel guides of the day which described African people as dangerous, wild people who practised cannibalism, devil worship etc. These travel stories gave people the opinion that African countries and people of African descent were there to be experienced, to have stories told about them, but not to get too close to. Although we are not told if Othello is of African descent (Moor, although originally used to describe people native of Mauritania, a country in North Africa, was, by the 17th century, a term used to describe people of cultures as widely ranging form Indians to North Americans) to have a coloured hero in a play, and one that held such a high position within the Venetian army, was definitely going against the common view of society in Shakespeare’s times. Even Queen Elizabeth was known to have a dislike for African immigrants in England, viewing them as lazy. This is not to say that English people were racist; racism was not a recognised term in Elizabethan times. The first Africans had been brought to England in the 1550s, only 50 years before Othello was written. Most of the views of black people were born out of ignorance and fear of the unknown and so Othello...