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Postcolonial Criticism In Othello

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This essay is going to offer a postcolonial and racial outlook toward Shakespeare’s play Othello as regards its main character, Othello.A postcolonial reading of the play contains expressions of racism and discriminatory attitudes through the use of imagery and negative color connotations, which compel the character’s actions. First and foremost it will present a biography and summary of the play, clarify the definition of postcolonialism, and tries to develop this concept step by step throughout the play.

2. Biography
Othello (1603) the play written by Shakespeare (1564-1616) was probably first performed soon after King James VI of Scotland acceded to the English throne in 1603. It takes place in Venice and Cyprus between 1489 and 1571. Shakespeare lived and wrote at a time when English mercantile and colonial enterprises were just germinating. With postcolonial criticism making headway in academic studies, Othello has also been re-read as a tragedy of a black man. “Many believed that Shakespeare had never seen a black man and therefore …show more content…

In the beginning of the play Othello, although being a skin-colored Moor, he acted very decently and was good mannered in his relationship towards his wife, the Duke and other characters; he seems to be very light-hearted. In the middle of the play, where the climax of the play has happened as Iago lied and deluded him about his wife’s infidelity, suddenly his inner beast came forth and treated everyone especially his wife in a wildly and brutalized manner. Since he believed Iago’s feigned plot as a result his expressions has changed up to the point that he called his wife a ‘whore’.It might be useful to recall that there exist a truly fact in the real world that bad things happens to good

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