Key Themes in Othello
encourage Othello’s military efforts is uncertain. It is yet another reminder that in Elizabethan times, fairness and whiteness were associated with goodness.
Othello’s sense of self is shaped by others throughout the story. He displays some of the negative racial characteristics of which he was first accused, including his superstitious beliefs about Desdemona’s handkerchief and his increasingly frenzied outbursts. Iago’s persuasive expertise certainly infects Othello’s view of himself towards the end of Act 3 Scene 3, where he seems horrified to think of Desdemona’s name as ‘begrimed and black/ As mine own face’. He soon turns to ‘savage madness’, for instance when he strikes his distressed wife in public.
Negative references to the protagonist’s race are a recurring feature of the play. It is interesting that moments before the murder, Othello focuses on his sleeping wife’s colour, seemingly obsessed with the ‘monumental alabaster’ of her skin, and once again challenging his own preconception of whiteness representing virtue. It is not surprising that some critics define Othello’s downfall in terms of his essentially unsustainable position as a black mercenary who is hopelessly ill at ease in an unsympathetic white Christian culture.
Nevertheless, Othello’s successful army career means that he is confident in his role as a soldier. He is uncomfortable, however, with his identity as a
How shall I murder him, Iago?
Othello Act 4 Scene 1, l.184
Othello
husband. By Act 5, he is barely recognisable, yet he still clings to the noble image he tried so hard to establish. Faced with the tragic reality of his personal choices, his final words suggest the sense of disconnect he feels between the man he imagined himself to be and the deeply flawed character he eventually became.
Ultimately, audiences are likely to view the tragic drama in relation to Othello’s exclusion from Venice. Whether or not he ever fully knows himself or understands the part played by race in his demise remains doubtful. It is yet another irony that his honour and heroism are confined mainly to the battlefield. As a husband, his actions become barbarous. Yet many critics continue to argue that – regardless of race – Othello is simply an unfortunate human being who found himself caught in a complex web of deceit.
Overview: race and identity in Othello
Racist attitudes in the play reflect the culture of Elizabethan times.
Overlaps with other key issues, such as gender and social class.
Race is just one aspect of Othello’s multi-layered identity.
Creates much of the play’s most compelling drama.
Propels the tragic narrative to its horrific conclusion.
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