Iago’s mendaciousness scorched Othello’s sanity beyond repair. Iago’s villainous behavior and Othello’s radical demeanor both stand for part of every man in contrasting ways. Each if those qualities is regrettably embedded within each of us. The qualities he thrives on throughout Othello, by William Shakespeare, are the ones we’re most ashamed of. In his soliloquy in Act 2 Scene 2 Line 380 he’s especially brutal towards Desdemona in his plans showing no shame what so ever.
A native son is a product of the violence and racism that suffused the devastating social conditions in which he was raised. By no means does Wright downplay the oppression of blacks by whites, but he does demonstrate that much of the racial inequality was due to the profound lack of understanding, among both blacks and whites, of the other social group. Bigger’s misunderstanding of whites binds him to a self-fulfilling insight, because as he behaves according to what he believes is his racial destiny. An important quote that can describe the racism in the story as well as the racism during that time is when Wright writes, "We live here and they live there. We black and they white."
There are several characters involved in the justice system of Maycomb County. Although some of them are not overcome by hate, others are. As a result of racist people working in the justice system, it is another factor that causes Atticus Finch to fail in his defense of Tom Robinson. Atticus Finch’s defense collapses because of the racist social values, which hijack the characters’ minds and the justice system of Maycomb County. Harper Lee shows the racist social values that most of the inhabitants of Maycomb County follow are one of the factors that cause Atticus Finch’s defense to fail.
These include the exploration of human nature and emotion, such as jealousy, manipulation, deception, trust, and innocence; as well as the concept of “good versus evil”. The references to Othello’s colour and origins is one aspect where contemporary audiences would have a differing outlook to those of Shakespearean audiences. In Shakespearean times, it would appear from the play that there was some acceptance by all, even Othello (“haply, for I am black…” III, iii, 267) of the references made to distinguish him from “white” culture. In modern times, this is seen as racism. To the contemporary reader, Othello is frequently marginalised by references to him as “the Moor”, and at a baser level, by direct colour references in a derogatory way: “an old black ram is tupping your white ewe…… or else the devil will make a grandsire of you”(Iago, Act 1, i, 88), and his race being related to unnatural things (“..and must be driven to find out practices of cunning hell….” Brabantio, I,ii,102).
Throughout the play, animal imagery such as “an old ram”, “Barbary horse” and “beast with two backs” is used to describe Othello, which portray the racist attitudes held by society of the time and highlights the belief that black people were animalistic and therefore acted on emotions, lacking rational thought, like animals. Due to the entrenched attitude of black people being second-class to white people in society, Othello himself believed that he was below the status of what Desdemona deserved. This attitude leads Othello to so readily believe that Desdemona cheated on him and why he would “most gladly have forgot it. Though sadist – Oh, it comes o’er my memory.” This shows that due to his race, he thinks that he is not good enough for Desdemona and allows himself to be engulfed by jealousy. Iago, one of the most racist characters in the play, is racist towards Othello due to his extreme jealousy of his rank, which is evident when he says, “I hate the Moor.” This jealousy is employed by Iago to his advantage by manipulating Othello’s low-self esteem due to his race to plant a seed of doubt about the faithfulness of his wife, which is abusing
Firstly it’s his colour: “for I am black” he feels distrusted and incompetent as he compares himself to Cassio, who he believes is the one Desdemona admires more than a “Moor”. There is no doubt that Iago is a villain and that he loves evil. In his own he said that “divinity of hell”. Everyone regard him as an honest man which is ironic because he is the exact opposite. He hates Othello because he gave Cassio a promotion that he himself wanted badly
Richer than all his tribe.” Othello believes that Desdemona too much and was blind to her “unfaithfulness”. He says he is not a jealous man, but has been made into one, by her “wrongdoings”. He feels that she has made a fool of him after he had originally put all of his trust into her. Othello and Desdemona were truly in love, until Iago became tangled up in their life. Even at the end of Desdemona’s life, she continued to deeply love Othello.
In fact, Parrillo explains in his essay “frustrations tend to increase aggression toward others” (583). He directed his anger to those he was always told to avoid which he stated, “I didn’t know who to blame. I tried to find somebody. I began to blame it on black people. I had to hate somebody” (593).
Major Themes Appearance vs. reality This issue is especially relevant to Iago. Although he is called "honest" by almost everyone in the play, he is treacherous, deceitful, and manipulative. Also applies to Desdemona, as Othello believes that she is deceitful and impure, although she is really blameless and innocent. Race Race is an extremely important theme; it has a great amount of influence on how people regard Othello‹for those who distrust black people merely on looks never like Othello, like Iago. Race also determines how Othello perceives himself as a rough outsider, though he is nothing of the sort.
Additionally Roderigo’s description as “the thicklips” provides us with further evidence of Othello’s ethnicity. For these reasons it can be argued that in Shakespeare’s choice of placing him central to the story he is seeking to distance the hero from the audience. Additionally it can be said that attitudes at the times towards inter racial marriages were attached with a great amount of stigma. This is evident in Brabantios reaction upon learning of Othello’s and Desdemona marriage he is angry and unbelieving that his