Othello and the "plain face" Of Racism

Orkin, Martin

doi:10.2307/2870559

Cited by 29 publications

(5 citation statements)

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“…In this respect they try to enlist the support of Brabantio who though liberal with Othello at first, now has an axe to grind with him .In an attempt to do this they employ racist and obscene language as shown above. In this regard I quite agree with Martin Okin(1987) who suggests that "the language of these men [Iago and Rodrigo] ignites a similar tendency lurking within …Brabantio" (168).Thus, even the liberal attitude he exhibited towards Othello at their meetings before now is shown to be deeply superficial in this episode.…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 80%

Race, Citizenship and Social Order in William Shakespeare’s Othello

Ruma¹

2014

IJALEL

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This paper examines the issue of race in Shakespeare's Othello. It attempts to show that race is a very important issue raised by Shakespeare in the play in his eagerness to highlight the racial problems confronting Europe in the seventeenth century. In this play he attempts to expose the racial prejudice that exists in the Venetian society in particular and Europe in general. He also attempts to subvert the European feelings of racial superiority against the blacks in particular and people of other races in general. He sets out to do this by making a black man (Othello) marry a white woman (Desdemona) of an aristocratic extraction against the will and wish of her father. This inter-racial marriage may not in reality be possible in the seventeenth century, but all the same Shakespeare contrived it to be so, possibly as a way of foregrounding future change in European attitudes toward other races. The paper also looks at how individual citizens of a city-state like Venice can constitute themselves as threats to its social well being, by allowing their personal interests to override the national ethos. In this regard the activities of Othello, Iago and Roderigo are examined.

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 80%

Race, Citizenship and Social Order in William Shakespeare’s Othello

Ruma¹

2014

IJALEL

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“…Vanita presents a cogent argument in support of her thesis of the primacy of patriarchy over racism in the play. Orkin (1987), too, argues that the smothering of Desdemona does not confirm in Othello a special form of barbarism from which European peoples are immune. I do not agree with Vanita that patriarchy takes primacy over racism; I think the two are inextricably bound together in such a way that it is impossible to state that either one has supremacy.…”

Section: Desderrtoilclmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There is ample evidence of the existence of colour prejudice in Shakespeare's England. Orkin (1987) argues that, in Othello, it is confined to Iago , Roderigo, and Brabantio-the "villains" of the play. It is true that overt racial insults are verbalized by these three.…”

Section: Inmentioning

confidence: 99%

Race and Patriarchy in Othello

Rose

2008

Int. j. Bahamian stud.

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This paper argues that both patriarchy and racism shape the dynamics ofOthello. Othello's blackness affects his behaviour toward his wife as well as his attitude to himself. Desdemona's pariah status as a result of marrying a black man, partially accounts for her murder. On the other hand, Othello, as oppressed Other, is also, in his role as a male within the .p atriarchal tradition, the oppressor. Othello's need to establish and maintain hegemony over his wife makes his behaviour no different from that ofother men operating in the framework ofpatriarchy. Ultimately, Othello is as much a man as he is a black man.

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“…[…] the devil will make a grandsire of you". 23 Även då vi förstår att uslingen Jago inte behöver vara representativ för hela verkets värderingar, som Martin Orkin har påvisat, 24 är det obehagligt att få denna animalisering och bokstavligt avsedda demonisering av en afrikan kastad i ansiktet på oss. Och problemet blir svårhanterligt också för tolkningen av verket som helhet i sådana fall som porträttet av den tonåriga Sonja i Dostojevskijs Brott och straff ([1866] 1867).…”

Section: Den Transtemporala Värdekonfliktenunclassified

Litteraturvetenskapen i framtiden

Pettersson¹

2022

TfL

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Literary Scholarship in the Future: From Canon-Centred Subaltern to Literary-Minded Social Participant Appreciation of literature and literary scholarship has arguably been on the wane in the twenty-first century. In this article, I argue that literary scholarship, in response to this declining interest, needs to be reformed. Literary scholars should continue to study literature from all historical periods, but they need to deal with the conflict between the democratic values of contemporary readers and pre-1968 sexism and racism in literature. This blight on the reading experience cannot be removed by the one-sided measures of historicism or presentism. Rather than marginalizing popular literature, children’s literature, and non-Western literature, scholars should integrate this body of work into the core of literary studies and accord them roughly half of their interest alongside canonized Western literature for adults. Literary scholars should also be prepared to present their teaching curricula as a development of skills that can be used in the processing and evaluation of any kind of text in any kind of employment in a company or a government agency. Furthermore, rather than produce literary readings mainly in terms of content, scholars should highlight the synergy of content and literary qualities such as form, fictionality and generalizability. This will allow them to valorize the enhanced understanding of real-life phenomena offered by literary works in the form of socially useful “applied literary scholarship.” The fields of operation for literary studies should include schools; the training of professionals, such as doctors and economists; and bibliotherapy designed to alleviate anxiety and malaise before it develops into a mental condition requiring treatment in a healthcare system that is already stretched beyond its capacity.

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Othello and the "plain face" Of Racism

Cited by 29 publications

References 0 publications

Race, Citizenship and Social Order in William Shakespeare’s Othello

Race, Citizenship and Social Order in William Shakespeare’s Othello

Race and Patriarchy in Othello

Litteraturvetenskapen i framtiden

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