Brabantio As A Racist?

364 Words2 Pages
1. Brabantio protests the marriage of his daughter, Desdemona, to Othello, claiming Othello used “spells and medicines” to dull her senses so that she would marry “against all rules of nature.” Do you think the real reason for Brabantio’s protest is the color of Othello’s skin? Use brief passages form the play to support your answer.

While reading Othello, it was hard not to notice how often Othello was referred to by the other characters using words that could be construed as racist, referring to the dark color of his skin. Brabantio, the father of Desdemona, cannot stand Othello and is absolutely enraged when he finds out that his daughter has been seeing Othello behind his back. Unlike the other characters who refer to Othello in a racist way only behind his back, Brabantio makes these comments to Othello’s face. Brabantio constantly calls him a “moor” which is a racist way of saying that he is a black-skinned Arab from North Africa. He may use these comments, such as “sooty bosom” (1.2.89), to Othello’s face because he is the Senator of Venice and is higher in rank than Othello, feeling that he needs to make sure Othello knows who is in charge. I believe, however, that while Brabantio definitely dislikes Othello, many of the racist ideas are directly placed into his head by Iago, as many of the ideas in the play are. Iago constantly mentions Othello’s race, starting at the very beginning while telling Brabantio of Othello and Desdemona’s relationship – “Even now, very now, an old black ram is tupping your white ewe.” (1.1.97) Because of skin color being such a big deal, according to Iago at least, Brabantio does not want to believe that Desdemona could fall for someone who is so horribly dark-skinned, and that he must have used magic spells, charms and witchcraft to lure Desdemona into his arms. I believe that without the influence of Iago, Brabantio would
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