A Postcolonialist Analysis of the Tragedy of Othello

A Postcolonialist Analysis of the Tragedy of Othello Syllabus 1. Introduction Different people have different opinions towards the tragedy of Othello. Personally, I am deeply impressed by the racial bias in this tragedy; therefore I try to analyze it from the view of postcolonialism. As you know, the tragedy of Othello has a close relation with Othello’s blackness identity. In the play, the viperous Iago makes full use of Othello’s special Moor identity, which is different from the dominant society, to enrage Desdemona’s father, Brabantio. Then Iago also finds ways to make Othello himself more and more conscious of his blackness identity which result in his self-humiliation. Consequently, love between Othello and Desdemona is†¦show more content†¦In Shakespeare era Britain has a tight hegemonic control over black people. Black people are treated as inferior grades, without positions in all aspects of the society, and they have been deprived of their freedom and dignity. We can see clearly that Othello lives in the society which is dominated by the white people. He is severely discriminated by most of the people despite of his great contribution to the state. All kinds of bias that occurred to him are really unfair yet unavoidable. Being a Moor, he is naturally regarded as a horrible devil or necromancer. 3) Othello: victim of the colonial society In the period from the late sixteenth through the middle of the seventeenth century, one finds the otherness of the black persona increasingly transformed into a truth. It is true that Othello has strived for many years to squash into the upper-class; however, the fact of being a Moor cannot be erased in any case. Though he falls in the pretty Desdemona, he dares not express his love to her because of his special identity. It is Desdemona, who gives him the hint that he can win her love. His union with Desdemona seems that he has got paid to some extent in this white society. Nevertheless, things will change as the play goes on. It is Iago who most adroitly pushes Othello towards the rediscovery of his black origins. Iago began his revenge plan towards Othello with the distortion of Cassio’s conversation with Desdemona. Involving in Iago’s elaborate