Othello and Internalized Racism in Shakespeare's Tragedy
This essay examines William Shakespeare's Othello as a tragedy rooted in internalized racism and the power of narrative. Beginning with Othello's provisional acceptance into Venetian society, the paper traces how Iago systematically dismantles the Moor's self-constructed identity by exploiting racial insecurities and hegemonic stereotypes. Drawing on scholarship by Elise Marks, Stephen Greenblatt (via Shawn Smith), and Marcia Macaulay, the essay argues that Othello unconsciously adopts the racist worldview of white Venetian culture, ultimately becoming the "black devil" that figures like Brabantio and Emilia always feared. The analysis highlights how control over narrative functions as social power, and how the loss of that narrative control seals Othello's tragic fate.
- Introduction: Race and Self in Venetian Society: Othello's racial identity and tragic arc introduced
- Iago's Racism and the Duke's Conditional Tolerance: Venetian racism ranges from overt to subtle
- Othello's Provisional Status and the Performance of Worth: Othello must constantly prove his worth to whites
- Narrative, Self-Fashioning, and Iago's Counter-Story: Iago hijacks Othello's power to self-narrate
- Internalizing the Stereotype: Blackness as Condemnation: Othello accepts racist logic in his self-condemnation
- Conclusion: Hegemonic Culture and the Tragedy of the Other: Play reflects broader truths about internalized oppression
✍️ How to write this paper — guide, tools & examples ▾
What makes this paper effective
- The thesis is clearly stated early: Othello's tragedy stems from the subconscious racism he has incorporated into his sense of self, not simply from Iago's external manipulation.
- The essay integrates multiple scholarly voices—Marks, Greenblatt (via Smith), and Macaulay—to build a coherent critical framework rather than relying on plot summary alone.
- Close reading of specific quotations (e.g., the Duke's couplet, Emilia's final outburst, Othello's soliloquy in Act III) directly supports each analytical claim.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates sustained critical synthesis: it weaves secondary scholarship into textual analysis so that each outside source advances the argument rather than replacing it. The use of Edward Said's concept of Orientalism (mediated through Marks) shows how a broad theoretical framework can be applied to a canonical literary text without overwhelming the close-reading work.
Structure breakdown
The essay opens by establishing Othello's initial status and thesis, then moves outward to examine white Venetian racism (Iago, Brabantio, the Duke), inward to Othello's own internalized insecurities, and finally to the mechanism of narrative control that ties these threads together. A brief comparative gesture toward real-world anti-miscegenation history in the conclusion situates the play's themes beyond the Renaissance stage.
Introduction: Race and Self in Venetian Society
William Shakespeare's tragedy Othello is the only major drama of the great playwright in which race plays a central role. The title character begins the play a great and esteemed general, despite the fact that he is a member of an "othered," despised race against which some whites harbor deep prejudice. Othello's apparent nobleness, his military prowess, and his eloquence — despite his own protestations to the contrary — all win him respect. Yet by the end of the play, his enemy Iago exploits the Moor's insecurities and effectively tries to make Othello into the barbaric creature whites accuse him of being. This is why scholars have noted that "in Othello, the boundary between Self and Other is famously, and perilously, permeable. Othello's assimilationist efforts to claim a selfhood within the Venetian community leads, for him, to a fatal hybridity" (Marks 101).
Othello begins the play a confident author of his own narrative, able to woo Desdemona with his words and to command the respect of white men. He ends it entirely subsumed by the crude, devilish machinations of Iago. This collapse is rooted in the subconscious racism Othello has incorporated into his own sense of self — a racism that, once activated, he cannot resist. As a canonical Shakespearean tragedy, the play raises enduring questions about identity, race, and the power of narrative.
Iago's Racism and the Duke's Conditional Tolerance
At the beginning of Othello, Iago claims to hate the military commander Othello because the Moorish general denied him a promotion. Throughout the play, Iago offers various explanations for the terrible revenge he seeks, yet his hatred seems to run deeper than any single grievance. He is certainly capable of exploiting racial ugliness, as when he shouts to Desdemona's father: "Even now, now, very now, an old black ram / Is tupping your white ewe" (I.1). Brabantio's furious response reveals that blatant racial prejudice exists within Venetian society. Yet the Duke of Venice's measured reply to Othello's supposed crime also implies that racism within Venice is more nuanced than Iago's language suggests.
Notably, the Duke does not claim that race is irrelevant. Rather, he insists that Othello's ability to tell wonderful stories and to command men effectively elevates him above his race: "If virtue no delighted beauty lack, / Your son-in-law is far more fair than black" (I.3). Blatant prejudice is thus unacceptable in the Duke's eyes — at least against a black man as distinguished as Othello — but this tolerance is explicitly conditional. Othello must "prove" himself in a way that white men of equivalent rank do not, and he cannot take his elevated status for granted.
Works Cited
Macaulay, Marcia. "When Chaos is Come Again: Narrative and Narrative Analysis in Othello." Style 39.3 (2005): 259, 276, 377, 379. ProQuest. Web. 15 Dec. 2013.
Marks, Elise. "'Othello/me': Racial Drag and the Pleasures of Boundary-Crossing with Othello." Comparative Drama 35.1 (2001): 101–23. ProQuest. Web. 15 Dec. 2013.
Perry, Barbara, and Mike Sutton. "Policing the Color Line: Violence against Those in Intimate Interracial Relationships." Race, Gender & Class 15.3 (2008): 240–61. ProQuest. Web. 15 Dec. 2013.
Shakespeare, William. Othello. Ed. Gayle Holste. New York: Barron's, 2002.
Smith, Shawn. "Love, Pity, and Deception in Othello." Papers on Language and Literature 44.1 (2008): 3–51. ProQuest. Web. 15 Dec. 2013.
Create your account
Always verify citation format against your institution’s current style guide requirements.