Desdemona is a privileged, white lady and it is this colouring that symbolises her innocence and angelic nature. There are numerous racial slurs throughout the play that suggest that being of coloured descent is not a desired characteristic. With the constant repetition of slurs, negative connotations are developed and suggest that the audience agree with the character’s racial attitudes. Iago delivers the line, “an old black ram Is tupping your white ewe.” Associating the black symbolism with animalistic imagery, suggests that a black man is savage and lustful, and creates the sense that Othello is a bad, evil person. Similar imagery is used throughout to align black with evil and white with good.
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a fantastic piece of American antitranscendentalism because in that it shows that humans are naturally evil, sinful, and guilty. Hawthorne's protagonist, Hester Prynne, shows in excellent example how human nature can be sinful. Although she is depicted as beautiful, angelic, and almost the epitome of perfection, Hawthorne reveals in his story how eyes are deceiving and humans are sinners by nature. Hawthorne writes, "Here, there was the taint of deepest sin in the most sacred quality of human life, working such effect, that the world was only the darker for this woman's beauty, and the more lost for the infant that she had borne," (Hawthorne, 39). Prynne commits adultery in the novel, one of the most unforgivable sins.
Adam and Eve, whom it was believed that all of humanity descended from, were thought to be light-skinned by Europeans. Therefore these black-skinned people were thought to be “not part of the common creation ” and possibly “not human”. The English also believed in very real negative connotations associated with the color black. They believed that it “epitomized evil and sin” so therefore, those with black skin must embody those faults. They also linked Africans with Ham, Noah’s son who sinned against him, causing Noah to curse Ham’s son Canaan, as well as his descendants to forever be “a servant of servants”.
The transition in to the modern Middle East that we see today started with the European influence following World War I. Before the war, the majority of the Middle east was under the control of the Ottoman Empire. After the war, the Ottoman Empire was disbanded and the regions in the Middle East were left to the Allied powers to deal with. New boarders would be formed and many of the countries would be split up between the Allied powers as a result of the Mandate system but some countries, such as Turkey, would rally around their leaders and strive for their independence. Repercussions from the war would cause religious tensions to flair, old government to be overthrown and new ones to be established.
The parts of a blackface minstrel show was to present the black character as being stupid, as being laughable, as being a silly person. What was worse about this is that people loved it. It’s as if that is what people had though about blacks all along that makes it really racist. So when you have Rice’s characterization of blacks it almost reaffirms what typical America had been thinking all along. Then you have the Virginia Minstrels that developed other characters that were way more obnoxious than the character Rice had portrayed.
A place where there is absolute belief in religion and reproduction and where women are forced to cover themselves but at the same time are committing sinful sexual acts such as adultery sounds like a society which is inexplicable. The Handmaid’s Tale portrays a Biblical society named Gilead. The element allusion is used in the Handmaid’s Tale to show how higher officials can pervert the religion to their own benefit. Also the ceremony that takes place between the Commander, Offred and Serena Joy has another Biblical allusion. A part during the ceremony is where the commander sheepishly only reads parts of the Bible, and those parts only emphasize reproduction and childbearing – “It the usual story the usual stories.
Whites were corrupt and inhospitable while blacks were cultivated and good-natured. Harriet Jacobs also made the point that many black slaves had white relations within their family, disputing the idea of racial clarity. She writes, “They seem to satisfy their consciences with the doctrine that God created the Africans to be slaves. What a libel upon the heavenly Father, who "made of one blood all nations of men!" And then who are Africans?
Corruption Based on Color Alveda King once said “Racism springs from the lie that certain human beings are less then fully human. It’s a self-centered falsehood that corrupts our minds into believing we are right to treat others as we would not want to be treated.” Unfortunately in 1930’s Alabama people treated others based on their skin color causing racism to be a reoccurring problem. Therefore, racism and segregation was harsh, and seemed never ending for African American citizens, even after slavery, but it could have been avoided if people treated other the way they wanted to be treated. Segregation or “separation of the races,” was one of the many ways for people to promote racism in the 1930’s (Novak, Julie). Birmingham, Alabama was one of the most tightly segregated cities at the time (“Alabama”).
Denise Joy U. Cheng ENG 125 081N Professor Paul Fauteux April 11, 2013 Othello Experienced Racism People discriminate other people because of fear, jealousy, and ignorance. Othello is a true hero, a great general, a great man with integrity, and a noble guy. He is a black man and named as ‘The Moor’. Moor represents a dark-skinned people like an African, Ethiopian, ‘Negro’, and Indian. They are described as vague, uncultured, unskillful, coarse, and people who have a cruel background.
They consider some passages (e.g. those referring to slavery, burning some hookers alive, forcing rape victims to marry their rapists, raping female prisoners of war, etc.) as not being valid today, as immoral, and against the will of God. They differentiate among various homosexual and heterosexual sex practices, treating some (rape, prostitution, temple sex rituals) as immoral and some (consesual activity within committed relationships) as positive. Homosexual orientation and behavior is seen as a normal human sexual expression among a minority of adults.