... unfaithful. Othello's origin and race were neither faulty nor insignificant in his life as a warrior until he was cunningly forced to question himself. In selections from Leo Africanus's The History and Description of Africa, a work written around the same time as Othello, Africanus describes blacks as "shepherds that liue a miserable, toilsome, wretched and beggarly life: they are a rude people, borne of brutish manners ... " (Africanus, 2). Although Othello was black, he was given societal approval by the people of Venice for his success and ability as a mercenary of war. On the contr...

• Word Count: 1083
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School