March 16, 2015

Harry Potter and the… Moor of Venice?

Othello, the moor of Venice lives in a time where his people discriminate against those of

color. Shakespeare tells the tale of Othello’s marriage to Desdemona. Desdemona’s father is

incredibly angered at the union between the two because of Othello’s skin color. At first, Othello

is quite confident that his marriage will be a success, however that confidence quickly fades after

Iago, a trusted comrade, informs Othello of his wife’s alleged affair. Othello turns on

Desdemona and eventually murders her for her infidelity. He then learns that Iago was fooling

him and commits suicide. Othello was so easily tricked by Iago because of the doubt he had in

himself. The sense of otherness that people instilled in Othello because of the color of his skin

affected his view of himself which in turn, affected other people due to Othello’s actions.

J.K. Rowling demonstrates otherness not unlike the otherness shown in Othello in her

popular Harry Potter series. Severus Snape is a character who, like Othello, is made to feel like

an outsider. He has a rough childhood which impacts his view of himself so he joins a gang of

evil doers called the Death Eaters. He commits many wrongs until he betrays the woman he has

always loved, resulting in her death. He then has a moment of great remorse as did Othello and

recognizes his moral lapse. Snape’s actions were similar to Othello’s in that they affected others

and revolved directly around questions of social otherness. The alterity portrayed in both

Othello: The Moor of Venice and in the Harry Potter series (specifically Harry Potter and the

Deathly Hallows) relates to our modern society by demonstrating that social marginalization can

affect a person’s sense of self and subsequent behavior.

 “Otherness” is defined by sociologist, Dr. Zuleyka Zevallos as being “central to sociological

analyses of how majority and minority identities are constructed” (theothersociologist.com). In

Othello, the otherness inflicted upon Othello is blatant from the beginning when Iago and

Roderigo are describing him. In her essay, Iago’s Alter Ego: Race as Projection in Othello Janet

Adelman points out that the reader relies solely on the two men’s description of Othello in the

very beginning of the play (125). The play describes Othello as having “thick lips” and Roderigo

criticizes a decision that Othello has made. In the play, Othello is very much criticized because

of his race. Adelman makes it clear that Iago and Roderigo feel that they have the right to insult

Othello’s decisions because of his race when she inserts the quote from the play in which Iago is

speaking to Desdemona’s father and says, “Even now, very now, an old black ram is tupping

your white ewe” (I. i. 91-2). Since Othello had dark skin, people judged him and saw him as

being of a lower class than themselves. Desdemona’s father was not the only one who believed

that Othello had married above his rank; it was popular opinion. Desdemona’s father actually

accused Othello of bewitching his daughter because he believed that it was the only logical

explanation for their marriage.

The fact that people alienated Othello, caused him to believe what they were saying was the

truth. The fact that Desdemona’s father told him, “Look to her (Moor) if thou hast eyes to

see: She has deceiv’d her father, and may thee” (I. iii. 323-4) caused Othello to overthink his

marriage. He had it in the back of his mind that perhaps he really was not good enough for

Desdemona; perhaps he really was a “barbarian” as they called him. This is evident when

Adelman writes how Othello discovers that “his blackness is a stain - a stain specifically

associated with his sexuality” (125). For the first time, Othello is really admitting to the fact that

he is different from the rest of the people who live in his city.
 In Othello, Shakespeare writes, “Oh, that the slave had forty thousand lives! One is too poor,

too weak for my revenge. Now do I see ’tis true. Look here, Iago, All my fond love thus do I

blow to heaven” (III. iii. 455). Jennifer Feather’s essay O blood, blood, blood arrives at the same

conclusion as Adelman’s essay. Although Feather chooses to deconstruct the phrase uttered by

Othello, “O blood, blood, blood,” when he is convinced of Desdemona’s affair. Feather states

how Othello has come to the realization that the difference in bloodlines between Desdemona

and him has corrupted their marriage (240). Othello’s fear of living up to the barbaric standard

that has been set for him comes true in this scene when he is yelling without proper linguistic

components, like a barbarian.

Othello’s barbarian-like behavior stemmed directly from his feelings of otherness. He could

not trust Desdemona because in his eyes, she was so much better than he was. Desdemona’s

father instills this in Othello but so does Desdemona herself when she states, ‘”My heart’s

subdu’d, Even to the very quality of my lord; I saw Othello’s visage in his mind, And to his

honors and his valiant parts, Did I my soul and fortunes consecrate” (I. iii. 278-82.). Desdemona

is saying that she loves Othello enough to look past his skin color. However, she is still treating

the issue of race as a negative barrier she needs to overcome. Othello felt that her bloodline

should have been a warning sign that she would eventually betray him.

Betrayal is apparent not only in Othello, but in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows as

well. Severus Snape betrays his love as a result of the otherness he has felt all his life. He had

been bullied ever since he was a child. It was actually Harry Potter’s father and godfather who

had tormented Snape all those years that he spent as a student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft

and Wizardry.
 Snape had already had a difficult life as Caroline Webb points out in her essay entitled,

Abandoned Boys and Pampered Princes: Fantasy as the Journey to Reality in the Harry Potter

Sequence when she writes that Snape was the “conspicuously neglected child of a family

described as ‘arguing’” (15). Webb tells how Snape dreams of being “the half-blood prince”

because of the fact that he is not “a pampered little prince in his own home” (15). Snape is made

to feel otherness because most children in the wizarding world do not have the fear that their

parents will separate. J.K. Rowling provides support for the fact that Snape’s home-life is

troubled when she writes in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows that when they were children,

Lily asked him if his father liked magic and he replied, “He doesn’t like anything much” (667).

This gives the reader a glimpse into the unhappy household that Snape lived in. This

environment must have caused Snape much distress and disdain for his father.

Another source of distress for Snape was the fact that he was placed in the Slytherin House

which is stereotyped as a negative one because many bad wizards were Slytherins. The notion

that Slytherins are not as good as other wizards reinforces Snape’s existing feeling of otherness.

Snape is taunted for being a Slytherin by Harry’s father who says in Harry Potter and the

Deathly Hallows, “Who wants to be in Slytherin, I think I’d leave, wouldn’t you?” (671). Even

though Snape associated with some of the Slytherins, he did not feel any strong connection to

them and he still felt that he was an outcast to the rest of the school. He was constantly ridiculed

by Harry’s father who referred to him as, “Snivellus” (672).

Such constant taunting caused Snape to have a strong feeling of otherness and he longed to

be a part of something. In Molly Peter’s essay, The Choice between Good and Evil: An Analysis

of Identity she states that Snape “chooses, out of a need to belong, to become a Death Eater”

(56). He lives in his glory for a while, being part of a group, however, he delivers the prophecy
of “the chosen one” who could possibly kill Lord Voldemort to the Dark Lord himself. This

ultimately leads to the death of the only woman Snape has ever loved, Harry’s mother, Lily. This

destroys Snape and leads to his emotional demise. In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,

Rowling writes how Snape returns to the Headmaster of Hogwarts (and a supporter of the good

side) after Lily is killed and he begs the Headmaster to let him support the good side of wizardry

because of the remorse he feels. In the novel, Snape says, “I wish...I wish I were dead” (678).

The otherness instilled in Othello and Snape lead to their downfalls. They believed that

people were valid in voicing their differences from the rest of them. Both of their loves were

destroyed by the evilness and hate that spawned from their alienation.

Not only were their own personal lives ruined, but other people around them were also

affected by the backlash of their internal feelings of otherness. Lily and her husband were killed,

Harry was left parentless, and Voldemort waged a war upon the wizarding world all because of

Snape’s actions caused by his otherness. Like Snape, because of his suspicions and hatred caused

by his feeling of otherness, Othello was the reason several people were murdered. This affected

many families as well as the city who mourned them.

Snape and Othello are not the only ones who have experienced feelings of otherness. In our

society, there are bullies and certain circumstances which make people feel as though they are

different from their peers. People who shoot up schools or malls for example, have a developed

sense of otherness and have longed to be on the inside. They are usually loners and feel very

neglected and so they act irrationally and make poor decisions as Othello and Snape both did.

Feelings of loneliness and rejection can result from society treating someone like an outsider.

In our society, it happens more often than we think. People get labeled by their skin color,
accent, sexuality, and gender, among other things. These labels can cause negative reactions

from the people bearing them which can cause damage to society as well as the individual.

Adam Lanza, the man who shot twenty children and six adults in 2012 at Sandy Hook

Elementary School, is a perfect example of how otherness can influence people’s actions. Taylor

Berman wrote an article entitled, Adam Lanza’s Father Speaks: “You Can’t Get Any More Evil”

which tells how Adam was an outcast as a boy. The article describes how when Adam was in

fifth grade he told his father that he “did not think highly of himself and believed that everyone

else in the world deserved more than he did” (1). However this sense of otherness happened to

come about for Adam, it nonetheless influenced his actions as an adult. His decision to shoot up

the Elementary School directly stemmed from his views of himself. Many lives were affected by

his decision, including his victims and the families and friends of the deceased.

Many people were affected when a young transgender girl, Leelah Alcorn, committed suicide

by jumping in front of a truck a few months ago. The story was one of a teenager subjected to

otherness and it was featured in the news and on the internet. Leelah was born a male but

identified as a female. Her parents are very religious people and did not understand this at all

which left Leelah feeling very alone and very different from the people she loved. In an article

written by Gillian Mohney entitled, Leelah Alcorn: Transgender Teen’s Reported Suicide Note

Makes Dramatic Appeal, Leelah’s suicide note is quoted. In the note, Leelah states, “The life I

would've lived isn't worth living in… because I'm transgender. I could go into detail explaining

why I feel that way, but this note is probably going to be lengthy enough as it is. To put it

simply, I feel like a girl trapped in a boy's body, and I've felt that way ever since I was 4” (1).

Leelah’s sense of otherness was enforced by her parents who couldn’t accept her for who she

was. Even after she died, her mother made a Facebook post stating, “My sweet 16-year-old son,
Joshua Ryan Alcorn went home to heaven this morning” (1). Leelah’s feelings of being an

outcast caused her to take her own life which then created a large outcry for transgender teens in

need of guidance and support. Leelah’s death was another terrible example of otherness affecting

human behavior and the lives of others.

From literature to the physical world, we see examples of otherness time and time again. It is

evident how a sense of otherness can affect one’s actions as well as produce horrendous

outcomes as a result of these actions. This is shown in the real life events of Adam Lanza’s

school shooting and Leelah Alcorn’s tragic suicide as well as in the literary works of Othello and

Harry Potter. Othello and Severus Snape are prime examples of the way in which otherness can

cause disruptions in society. Othello and the Harry Potter series reflect the ways in which

otherness can corrupt a person’s individual character and his/her actions which can lead to havoc

among modern society.

 Works Cited

Adelman, Janet. “Iago’s Alter Ego: Race as Projection in Othello.” JSTOR. Folger Shakespeare

Library, 1 Jan. 1997. Web. 15 Mar. 2015.

Berman, Taylor. "Adam Lanza's Father Speaks:." Gawker. 10 Mar. 2014. Web. 25 Mar. 2015.

Feather, Jennifer. “’O blood, blood, blood’: violence and identity in Shakespeare’s Othello.”

Medieval and Renaissance Drama in England 26 (2013): 240+. Literature Resource

Center. Web. 15 Mar. 2015.

Mohney, Gillian. "Leelah Alcorn: Transgender Teen's Reported Suicide Note Makes Dramatic

Appeal." ABC News. 14 Dec. 2014. Web. 25 Mar. 2015.

Peters, Molly. “The choice between good and evil: an analysis of identity.” Diesis: Footnotes on

Literary Identities 1.1 (2011): 56+. Literature Resource Center. Web. 13 Mar. 2015.

Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. New York, NY: Arthur A. Levine, 2007.

Print.

Schakel, Peter, Jack Ridl, and William Shakespeare. “Othello the Moor of Venice.”Approaching

Literature. Third ed. Bedford/St. Martins, 2012. Print.

Webb, Caroline. “’Abandoned boys’ and ‘pampered princes’: fantasy as the journey to reality in

the Harry Potter sequence.” Papers: Explorations into Children’s Literature 18.2 (2008):

15+. Literature Resource Center. Web. 13 Mar. 2015.

Zevallos, Zuleyka. “What Is Otherness?” The Other Sociologist. Word Press, 14 Oct. 2011. Web.
23 Mar. 2015.