This essay explore the theme of cultural identity in Othello by looking how Shakespeare uses the cultural identity of Othello and Desdemona as warning for his Elizabethan audience against the Elizabethan stereotypical way of thinking. The argument used critics both from the a level booklet and fro...
EXPLORE HOW SHAKESPEARE
TREATS THE THEME OF IDEN-
TITY
Within the Early Modern Period, ones identity served to define their character; ones social class,
cultural background, military rank or family was the deciding factor on how one was perceived
and, therefore, treated by society. Shakespeare uses the play ‘Othello’ to act as a warning for his
Elizabethan audience against this unnuanced and stereotypical way of thinking, through his
characters of Othello and Desdemona. Shakespeare explore the unjust nature of how Othello’s
identity as “The Moor” and Desdemona’s identity as a Venetian woman are used and manipu-
lated by Iago to cause tragedy, calamity and chaos.
Shakespeare explore the unjust nature of how Othello’s cultural identity as the Moor is manipu-
lated bu Iago to cause Othello’s own tragic demise to expose the racism that ran throughout
England in the 1600s. The noun “Moor” was used loosely in Elizabethan England to indicate any
person of dark skin, mainly referring to Muslims from north Africa who had settled in Spain -
whom the character of Othello is said to represent. Although not a derogatory word itself, in Eliz-
abethan society, Moor’s were viewed as savages and monster, only fit to be slaves or as mysteri-
ous and exotic chieftains; they were considered dangerous and unnatural simply because they
were foreign. As Loomba powerfully explains “ England was increasingly hostile to foreigners,
both officially and at popular level” therefore, Othello should be viewed by society as barbaric,
villainous and nefarious. However, in contrast to societal expectation, Shakespeare portrays Oth-
ello to initially subvert this stereotype of his identity, perhaps to force his audience to challenge
these racist views. In Act 1 Scene 3, Shakespeare crafts Othello’s first lines to be that of rever-
ence and respect as he addresses Brabantio and the senators as “most potent, grave and rev-
erend signors”, where his composed and sophisticated iambic pentameter immediately estab-
lishes him as courteous and decorous, despite the accusation of “corrupt[ion]” and “abuse”. Ad-
ditionally, the use of syndetic listing almost exaggerates Othello’s polite reverence perhaps re-
vealing Shakespeare’s intent establish Othello as kind and courteous, however, alternatively this
could signal that perhaps Othello feels inferiors due to his racial identity and feels as though eh
must ‘over-compensate’ in order to gain the respect he wants. Othello’s virtuous character is
armed by Swinburne who describes Othello as “the noblest man of man’s making”, highlighting
that Shakespeare specifically crafts Othello into a “noble” figure. However, although this is true
for the onset of the play, arguably this critical view fails to recognise how Othello looses his no-
bility as he becomes violent and jealous due to Iago’s manipulation. Othello’s identity as the
“Moor” is used by Iago to create almost a self-fulfilling prophecy; Othello conforms to the violent
stereotypes of Moors because Iago reminds him of his identity allowing Shakespeare to highlight
to his Elizabethan audience the damaging effects of forcing a fixed identifier on someone. Iago
constantly refers to Othello as through this social identifier “Moor”. He claims “I hate the Moore”,
the use of monosyllables demonstrates his strong anger throughout the stressed placed on each
word and the dynamic verb “hate” is direct and powerfully illustrates Iago’s strong emotional
state, Moreover, the noun “Moor” is end focused, allowing Shakespeare to illustrate how Iago
views Othello through this terrible identity. Additionally, Iago used Othello’s identity to manipu-
late him. Through the metaphor he describes how Othello “will as tenderly be led be the nose as
asses are”. The adverb ‘tenderly” suggests that Iago belies it will be easy to manipulate Othello,
as “tender” connotes a sort of submission. Additionally, the noun “asses” could be used to fur-
ther highlight how Iago sees Othello a tool, alternatively, this could be read in a much more
racist way. Asses were known for their ability to do hard works and so arguable Iago is reducing
Othello to the state of animals in a racist way. Furthermore, “asses” are cross bread which links
to the Elizabethan fear of miscegenation; the fear that Othello will ‘taint’ others whiteness, fur-
thering Iago’s racism. Additionally, Iago reminds Othello of his outsider status, in order to push
Othello further into the stereotype of the Moor. He claims “I know our country disposition well”,
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