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Examples Of Colour Prejudice In Othello

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Othello, written by William Shakespeare, stirred up discussion among literary critics over the topic of race and how it was conveyed in the play. G.K. Hunter wrote a critic on this play called, “Othello and Colour Prejudice.” Hunter’s thesis discusses how Shakespeare made the choice to keep Othello’s race and how he hoped that the audience would be aware of this decision but to see Othello for more than just racist stereotypes. The critic starts off by giving a background to the character which portrays him in a way that is the opposite of the stereotype of having a barbaric nature. Hunter mentions how the “white man’s views” on Moors is introduced into the play through the character of Iago causing the audience to develop a negative image …show more content…

Hunter describes it as Iago being the “evil angel” and Desdemona being the “good angel.” Iago is evil such that he manipulates reality to show appearance as the entirety of a person. Desdemona is good such that she overlooks appearance and cares only to see the true reality of a person. I found this to be convincing because in the play Iago does try to exploit and convince the other characters that Othello is not what he portrays himself to be but rather has this natural barbaric nature. As for Desdemona, she has mainly fallen for Othello for his actions and personality over his looks which is shown when she would ask Othello all about his adventures when they first met. This point transformed my reading of Othello in that I never viewed the bad character and good character as Iago and Desdemona, respectively, but as Iago and Othello. Looking at the play from that perspective makes me realize that Othello is in this position where he’s not exactly good or bad, but what makes it interesting is that it’s not by choice, so he becomes the victim to both Iago and Desdemona’s words and actions. Therefore, Othello becomes trapped from Iago and Desdemona, and it leads to the eventual actions that Othello takes that may be viewed as

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