At the time the play was written, 1604, even the Queen of England was racist, so there must have been a strong hatred of blacks around that time. Donald Hall asserts that “ Elizabethan society and theatre were more conservative. In this period, society were prosperous, expanding, energetic, adventurous and imperialistic. Elizabethan England was colourful, chaotic and relatively lawless....” (H

Iago says this to try and turn Brabantio against Othello. Iago uses racist comments throughout the play, because he tries to turn people against Othello, for instance, he calls him as a “Barbary Horse”. (W. Shakespeare, p:26). In addition to that, Iago never says anything racist to Othello’s face because he tries to be his best friend, so he can take revenge from him very easily. Besides, Iago is jealous of Othello for many reasons, one of these reasons is Othello has higher position in the army and also he has a good marriage with Desdemona which Iago does not have with Emila. These are the main causes of Iago’s hatred for Othello.

Another important character in Othello, is Iago. He is the most racist character in the play. Stanley Wells states that “ In Othello the play centered by Iago because he is the most wicked character in the play. It is not common feature for Shakespeare’s plays. All characters in the play ,except Roderigo find Iago as a honest and brave man.” (Wells, p:150) .As you see, Iago is evil character in the play. He manipulates Othello and tries to fall him into a trap. Iago hates from Othello because when Othello chose his lieutenant, it was Cassio who was chosen instead of Iago. What made Iago angry was the fact that Cassio had no experience in war and Cassio was chosen instead of him. Iago does not say anything racist to Othello’s face but he talks a lot behind him. The first time we hear one of his racist comments is when he’s talking to Brabantio about Othello and Desdemona

On the other hand, if we take a glance at other characters in the play, we can see that most of characters have racist comments, as well. The main characters that have racist attitudes are Iago, Brabantio, Roderigo and Emilia in the play.

Some topics in this essay:
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