NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF STUDY AND RESEARCH

IN LAW, RANCHI

ENGLISH

OTHELLO BY SHAKESPEARE: RACISM AND INEQUALITY

SUBMITTED TO: SUBMITTED BY:

DR. GUNJAN PIHA BIRLA

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR ENGLISH SEMESTER 2 (SECTION B)

NUSRL, RANCHI ROLL NO.: 1301

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Introduction 5-6
2. Is Othello a Wrathful Muslim? 7-8
3. Racism's Pervasiveness 9-11
4. Othello’s Sin 12-14
5. The Venetian Christians & The Turks 15-17
6. Conclusion 18

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DECLARATION:
I am PIHA BIRLA a second-semester BALLB student of National University of Study and
Research in Law, Ranchi, hereby declare that my project “OTHELLO BY SHAKESPEARE;
RACISM AND INEQUALITY” under the guidance of Dr. GUNJAN, faculty of English, is an
original work. I have made sincere efforts to complete this project and have not done any
misrepresentation of facts or data.

I declare that the statements made and the conclusions drawn are the bona fide outcome of
the research work. I further assert that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, proper
references have been given and do not contain any work that has been submitted to any
other university.

PIHA BIRLA

SEMESTER- 2

ROLL NUMBER-1301

NUSRL, RANCHI

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ACKNOWLEDGMENT:

I, Piha Birla, would like to thank all of those who helped me during the whole procedure of
making this project and helped me in completing it successfully.

Firstly, I would like to thank my teacher and mentor Dr. Gunjan who showed faith in me by
providing such a wonderful topic. His constant guidance has played a vital role in the
completion of this project successfully. His keen attention helped me to deal with each
problem that I faced during the making of this project. My heartfelt gratitude to all the staff
members and administrators of NUSRL for providing me with a wonderful library. Their
support cannot be expressed in words.

Finally, I would like to thank God for his benevolence and grace in enabling me to finish this
task. I express my heartfelt gratitude to all those who helped me to complete this project
without any problems.

Thanking you!

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INTRODUCTION
In the middle of the twentieth century, with the anti-colonial battles raging Africa and the
Caribbean, writers such as Frantz Fanon studied the consequences of racism on the minds and
hearts of black men and women who came to internalize their oppressors’ inhuman attitudes,
and started viewing themselves in the same ugly manner. Derek Walcott had talked about
having black skin but viewing the world through blue eyes—seeing oneself and others
through the distorting lenses of white racism. One of the consequences, according to Walcott,
is "racial despair"1. Negativity about the chances for achievement, transformation, happiness,
and satisfaction- what Greek termed “Eudaimonia”. Racial despair is a reflection of spiritual
despair. The latter derives from a belief that one’s guilt is too severe even for the merciful
God to forgive, and that this sin destroys one’s soul. The former is based on a belief that
one’s complexion is too dark for anybody to accept let alone forgive- that one’s skin blots out
one’s spirit.

This was Othello’s tragedy, and the reason he killed both Desdemona and himself. Othello,
like many miserable characters, is bigger than those around him. In Aristotle’s words, he is
spoudoios, superb in character, sharp in intellect, and high in passion. 2 The forces arrayed
against him, however, are massive—not supernatural forces, Greek gods, or Satan in a human
form, but the entire intimate society. Throughout the play, racism meets Othello. Its multiple
faces or masks—not only hostility, scorn, and abuse, but also friendship, admiration, and love
—makeing it more persistent, convincing, and irresistible. He eventually gives in to the
prejudiced worldview of those around him. As a result of this misery, people commit murder
and suicide.

A lot of critics say that Othello is basically an anti-racial drama. While others have seen it as
a racist or, at the very least, as a succumbing to the racial miscegenation concepts. Some have
argued that seeing the play through the lens of racism is outdated. Hence, Michael Neill
counters Martin Orkin by claiming that it was not “possible for Shakespeare to ‘oppose
racism’ in 1604… the argument simply could not be stated in such words”3. Orkin, Anthony
Barthelemy, and others provide substantial evidence that many Europeans of Shakespeare's

1
Derek Walcott, ‘What the Twilight Saya: An Overture,” Dream on Monkey Mountain and Other Plays (New
York: Noonday, 1970) 21
2
Aristotle, Peri Poietibes, in Aristotle’s Theory of Poetry and Fine Art, ed. and trans S. H. Butcher (New York:
Dover, 195IN 10.
3
Michael Neill, “Unproper Beds: Race, Adultery, and the Hideout8 in Othello,’ Shakespeare

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time classified people based on skin color, compared non-whites to animals, judged non-
whites inferior to whites, and, more specifically, lascivious, "hypersexualized," and so on,
in accordance with standard stereotypes4. Indeed, referencing Fanon's work from just a few
decades ago, Fintan O'Toole claims that blacks were dehumanized in the seventeenth century
in the same way they are now. It seems strange to deny that this is racism. Furthermore,
Orkin persuasively demonstrates that many individuals at the period despised, and therefore
resisted, this propensity to disparage non-Europeans. It seems strange to claim that this is not
anti-racism.

But, in any event, the issue is not our usage of the term "racism." We may, after all, choose a
different word if “racism” seems to be overburdened by contemporary biological nonsense.
What matters is that Shakespeare understood when individuals were not thought of or treated
as human beings. He felt the emotional intensity of this; he could see its origins, including
assumptions about skin color and national origin, as well as its destructive consequences.
Shakespeare depicted this human awareness in Othello. And sharing that awareness is
critical to our understanding of the tragedy of the play.

4
Anthony Gerard Barthelemy, Black force Maligned Once: 77ie Representation of Blacks in English Drama
from Shakespeare to southern (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State UP, 1987).

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IS OTHELLO A WRATHFUL MUSLIM?
Desdemona tells her husband openly in Giraldi Cinthio's Hecatommithi, from which
Shakespeare derived the tale of Othello, "You Moors are of such a hot nature that every little
trifle moves you to anger and revenge."5 The hot-blooded Turk, the vindictive Arab, and the
passionate and impetuous African were all stereotypes. Of course, Shakespeare was free to
construct a character that matched this archetype. And if he did, if Othello is an angry Moor
whose (more than human) passion overpowers his (less than human) reason, then the ultimate
murder and suicide leave nothing to be explained. Because the heavenly capacity of reason is
racially weak and the animal impulses of desire are racially strong, he murders both
Desdemona and himself.

However, it is clear that this is not the case. Shakespeare goes to great lengths to depict
Othello as more rational (more thoughtful, calm, introspective, and discerning) and less
passionate (less impetuous, eager, and pugnacious) than the Venetians around him. Roderigo
is an idiot, his rationality obliterated by love for Desdemona. Cassio, who has been duped
into inebriation, loses control and brawls at the least provocation. Brabantio rushes into
Othello's company, wailing and swinging his sword wildly. Iago is most obsessed with the
green-eyed monster, jealousy. To persuade Othello that Desdemona has been unfaithful,
effort, stagecraft, and skilled deception are required. It also needs moira, a tragic twist of fate:
Cassio boasting about his conquest, the compromising apparition of a handkerchief. But Iago
doesn't need such proof to accuse his wife of numerous adulteries.

He continues by expounding on the illusion even further: "I fear Cassio with my nightcap,
too". To summarise, the Venetians in the play match Desdemona's description perfectly: they
are "of such a hot nature that every little trifle moves them to anger and revenge."

However, Othello does not fit in at all. Iago is attempting to enrage Othello when we first
meet him. He hears that a nobleman “spoke... scurvy and provoking terms” about Othello.
Iago's ruses had successfully infuriated Brabantio and deceived Roderigo in the previous
scene. But he has no success with Othello: “Let him do his spite,” Othello replies, indifferent.
When Brabantio, Roderigo, and the officers arrive and draw their swords in preparation for a
bloody battle, Othello simply replies, "Keep up your bright swords, for the dew will rust
them". Then, after abusing him with ethnic epithets, he adds, "Hold your hands, Both you of
5
Giraldi Cinthio, ‘Selection from Giraldi Cinthio Hecatommithi,’ The Trag- ed y of Othello, the Moor of Venice,
ed. Alvan Kernan (New York: Signet, 1986) 175.

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my inclining and the rest". The picture, as well as the statement "Keep up your bright
swords," is evocative of the Garden of Gethsemane. When the armed soldiers dispatched by
the chief priests arrive to capture and jail him, Jesus orders Simon Peter (in the Geneva
translation of 1560), “Put up thy sword”—a famous statement referred to in Othello's first
command. Later, in a similar vein, Othello is calm but firm, in putting a stop to the fight
between Cassio and Montano. He emphasizes the religious importance of the deed by
exclaiming, "For Christian shame put by this barbarous brawl!".

Othello, however, is not dedicated to peace owing to a fault; he is neither timid nor deficient
in military ability. Despite Venetian society's deep prejudice, he has risen to command the
Venetian soldiers. Everyone recognizes him as courageous, and his position reflects his
strategic skills. In the opposite fight, he is rational, not tyrannical. Furthermore, his logical
abilities extend beyond strategy. For example, he is a physician, capable of healing, and he
soothes Montano by stating, "Sir, for your hurts, I will be your surgeon." Even Iago, despite
his venomous hate, must admit that Othello is “constant, loving, and noble”. In short, he,
virtually alone among the play's main characters, is driven by logic rather than emotion.
He is the farthest thing from the cliché of the passionate Moor, and he is much superior to
his white colleagues.

So why does he kill?

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RACISM'S PERVASIVENESS

The Venetians' attitude toward Othello is racialist in virtually every aspect, even when it is
not disparaging. Othello is a famous commander in the Venetian army, and many Venetians
consider him a friend and comrade. Despite this, people refer to him much less often as
“Othello,” as this specific individual, than as “the Moor”—in fact, the ratio is almost two to
one in favor of the generic category over the name. In other words, people regularly debate
and even address him as an example of his race, rather than as an individual person.

Of course, much of the speech and conversation is also insulting in all the usual ways. Iago is
very skilled at racial defamation. Iago characterizes Othello as a savage beast when Roderigo
refers to him as "the thick-lips". He exclaims that Othello is "an old black ram". He mocks
Brabantio by predicting that his grandkids would be of mixed blood, stating, "[Y]our
daughter [is] covered with a Barbary horse, [hence] you'll have nephews neigh to you,
coursers for cousins, and gannets for Germans". Worse, he views Othello as demonic at
times: "The devil will make a grandsire of you". Later, though, Shakespeare has Iago confess
that he, not Othello, is a member of Satan's gang. Iago speaks of his plan against Othello,
"When devils will put on the blackest sins, / They do suggest at first with heavenly shows, /
As I do now". At the conclusion of the play, Othello reprises the characterization, asking
Cassio to enquire about “the demi-devil.” “Why has he thus ensnared my soul and body?”
Iago asks.

Despite his own degradation, Iago sees Desdemona as degraded in her love for Othello. It is a
breach of nature, nearly similar to Pasiphaii's bestiality, for this lady who is so "fair" (both
lovely and white) to prefer "the gross clasps of a lascivious Moor”. It defies logic: "What
delight shall they have to look on the devil?" he inquires of Roderigo.

Brabantio has taken up this subject with vigor, accusing Othello of witchcraft. Only sorcery,
"foul charms," and "drugs" could transport Desdemona "from her guardage to the sooty
bosom / Of such a thing as thou—to fear, not to delight". He is ugly because he is black
(another common stereotype of the period). His natural hue is soot, filth—a physical
deterioration paralleled by a spiritual deterioration. No beautiful lady could ever adore
"such a thing." Later, he wonders how she could "fall in love with what she feared to look

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at". Brabantio pines away and dies during the play's short interlude. He, too, is overcome by
despair. What is the purpose of life now that his daughter has married Lucifer's kin?

To the people who surround Othello, Desdemona's love for him makes no sense. His
father-in-law attacked him and demanded that he be prosecuted since it's unfathomable
that a white lady could truly love a black demonic creature. And this father-in-racial law's
hate was so strong and unyielding that it drove him to death. It is critical to picture yourself in
a society that is nearly completely ethnically diverse. Every one of your kind is visually ugly,
as well as socially and spiritually subhuman. The father of the person you love takes you to
the courts, yelling obscenities at you.

Consider that this guy or woman you care about is not completely immune to racism. He or
she may refer to you by name at times, but may also refer to you by your racial category - for
example, your wife or husband may refer to you as "John" "Jane," or "the Caucasian," rather
than "the oriental," or "the Hispanic." And he or she tacitly accepts that you, like everyone
else, are repulsive to the sight. This is Othello's way of life. The duke is undoubtedly the
most intelligent of the guys in the drama. He recognizes the worth of Othello's work, his
talent, and the nature of his intellect. "If tue no delighted beauty lack, / Your son-in-law is
more fair than black" he admits of the outside guy. While praising Othello's goodness, he
also defines all beauty - mainly physical beauty, but also spiritual beauty - as white, as
"fair."

Othello's look is strange even for the duke. Indeed, according to this most enlightened
interpretation of the play, Othello has attained inner virtue only in as much as he has become
"fair" within, that is, he is not black inside. Desdemona is much worse. In her first speech,
in which she discusses her recent marriage, she refers to her new spouse as "Othello,"
rather than “the Moor”. She shows great love for him in her next mention to him, but she
still does not give him a name, and therefore a personal identity. "I love the Moor," she
declares. She then goes on to account for this love, since she, too, tacitly recognizes that
loving "such a thing" as Othello is strange and that it requires an explanation. Indeed, she,
too, is aware that he is unattractive. "My heart's subdued / Even to the very quality of my
lord," she says. The term is vague. It may imply, as is often implied, that she has embraced
his warlike vocation. However, this is not the case in general. She fell in love with him
because of his martial and other achievements, as Othello had previously described. As a
result, claiming that she accepts even these make no sense. Thus, it seems probable that

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“quality” here refers to Othello's character or origin, or to a distinguishing feature of his
person, and thus to his being African and black. Desdemona's heart seems to have been
subjugated even to the black foreignness—the dreadful sooty bosom—of what Roderigo
referred to as "an extravagant and wheeling stranger". This meaning is made abundantly
apparent in the next line, in which Desdemona explains her intention to the perplexed readers,
who are still perplexed by this odd union of fair and foul. She is saying, "I saw Othello's face
in his mind". On her first day of marriage, in the presence of her husband, she declares
openly that, because of his bravery, she can love him despite his skin tone. Her remark is
similar to the duke’s: "I see him as fair because I see his virtue rather than the dreadful
blackness of his face." And, as the duke, in confirming Othello's transcendence of his race,
she simultaneously confirms that he will never be regarded anything other than an instance of
that race in Venice or among Venetians.

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OTHELLO’S SIN
In this perspective, the seeming ease with which Othello is persuaded by Iago's deceptions
becomes more understandable: the nearly unanimous Venetian opinion is that Othello is a
racial ugliness. Few of us would feel safe if our wives casually admitted that they had to
come to terms with our unpleasant looks. Furthermore, by eloping with Othello, Desdemona
may seem to be an impulsive character. Then she converses cheerfully with other guys, fair
males with pink complexion and attractive features. She even pleads with Michael Cassio's
cause, a "curled darling of our nation," as Brabantio would describe it. These are certainly not
flaws, but to a spouse whom she has publicly presented as unattractive, they may seem
important. But Othello is not so easily swayed. Again, it requires misfortune and Iago's
wicked brilliance. Despite her opinion that black is ugly, and despite her allusions to him as
"the Moor," Desdemona is the one Venetian, the one white person, by whom Othello feels
recognized as a subject, at least at times. She is virtually alone in showing him love and
respect. She is the only one who will violate tradition and self-interest for him. Othello's
greatest worry is that her heart and intellect would be twisted by racism as well. If this is the
case, the only connection he has with the Venetian community will be broken. He would, in
fact, have no place in human society. Despite this, she has already referred to him as "the
Moor," confirming that black is unattractive. Her remarks had already sowed doubt in
Othello's mind. He attempts to keep his doubts and concerns at bay. But Iago would not allow
it.

Othello is first skeptical, confirming Desdemona's honesty. He acknowledges that even good
natures may make mistakes, but this is a short, Christian uncertainty stated in Christian
words. "Not to affect many proposed matches / Of her own clime, complexion, and degree, /
Whereto we see in all things nature tends," Iago deliberately twists Othello's point, perverting
it into a statement about race - that Desdemona has erred from "nature" in not marrying a
European. Iago's argument is that marrying white and black is unnatural - all nature strives to
combine like with like, thus not Desdemona and Othello, but Desdemona and Cassio. He
warns Othello, "Beware." If she is rational and follows nature, she would eventually
compare you complexioned men of Venice and regret vows, just as she would repent a sin
and with the devil. This argument has a profound effect on Othello, and in his next lengthy
speech, he sadly concludes that Iago is correct: "She's gone". He offers two potential
explanations for her treachery. One is his age, that he has "declined / Into the vale of years,"

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but he dismisses this, saying, "yet that's not much". The last argument, therefore, is the one
he accepts, the one he finds persuasive. It's as easy as that: "I am black". The vocabulary
in which Othello talks of Desdemona's adultery becomes saturated with ideas of blackness
and whiteness, as well as the beginnings of racial despair, from this point on. "My name, that
was as fresh / As Dian's visage, is now begrimed and black / As mine own face," he says of
his reputation. It doesn't take a psychotherapist to detect the nascent self-hatred underneath
the angry surface.

The contrast between Diana's whiteness and Othello's blackness only marginally lessens his
feeling that Desdemona has betrayed him due to his dark visage. When he thinks of
retribution, he thinks of "black vengeance, from the hollow hell!", revenge by a black man
betrayed because of his blackness, but also vengeance by a man who may be sinking into
despair, thinking that he is not human, but rather some ill-formed demon, a miserable and
reduced picture of black Lucifer. Later, while accusing Desdemona of adultery, he compares
her "complexion" with his own look, which is "grim as hell". The lost handkerchief is, of
course, the last datum that pushes Othello over the edge into despair and murder. It is, in
part, a typical love token, comparable to the love tokens seen in so many comedies about
forbidden love. However, it has additional resonance, which is heightened by Othello's
feeling that he has been deceived because of his race. It was his mother's Egyptian
handkerchief. She gave it to Othello as a gift for his bride. When he presented it to
Desdemona, it was a symbol not only of his love for her, but also of his family, history, and
homeland - Africa, from which he was "taken by the insolent foe / And sold to slavery".
Desdemona's gifting of this handkerchief to the curled darling Cassio, so that he could
carelessly transfer it to a prostitute, not only denigrates Othello's love, but also dishonors his
family, his history, and his roots, and his race.

Again, the greatest pain is not because he has lost sexual possession of his wife, but because
he has lost his one point of contact with human society, which even Desdemona's love hides
contempt and disdain for. This pattern is followed by the murder as well. But in this case,
self-hatred and racial misery have reached new heights. The imagery of her death is all
white and black: extinguishing the light, or, more ominously, "a huge eclipse / Of sun and
moon". There are also more concrete links. Indeed, turning out the light is a picture of
suffocation, and Othello decides to suffocate Desdemona for a racial motive, indicating that
he has absorbed, at least in part, Venetian society's racism: "I'll not shed her blood, / Nor scar
that whiter skin of hers than snow". His blackness has become demonic, just as her whiteness

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has become holy. In fact, Othello sometimes contradicts this, claiming that Desdemona is a
"fair devil" and that her soul has "gone to burning hell". However, racial pessimism does not
rule out ambivalence. Indeed, one despairs precisely because there are times when one feels
and understands oneself as human, and realizes with horror the oppressor's inhumanity.

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THE VENETIAN CHRISTIANS & THE TURKS
Shakespeare, it seems, was not only aware of but also profoundly critical of, racial hate
and other kinds of exclusion and injustice. He was disturbed by the majority's violence
against minority groups. However, his empathy was not the same as our multicultural
empathy. It was almost entirely Christian. His plays show that he believed in humankind's
oneness and equality, but that he saw this unity and equality as meaningful only in and
through Christian thought and practice. Indeed, Shakespeare seems to have considered
unity and equality to be a Christian Concept. The Venetians' bigotry is utterly unchristian.
Shakespeare's goal in the play is to depict a purportedly Christian society that is breaking
Christian principles and, as a result, leading individuals to acts of savagery. In a nutshell, he
demonstrates that ‘Christian society is moving people away from God, despite the fact that it
is their Christian responsibility to bring people to God.

Shakespeare's Christian antiracism is marred by his seeming readiness to criticize all faiths
other than Christianity. These condemnations, on the other hand, were not aimed at
individuals, but rather at ideas and behaviors. Furthermore, they were focused on attaining
conversion rather than prolonging colonial tyranny, and they were accompanied by equally
forceful condemnations of false Christianity.

To put it another way, there are two ways to think about the conflict between Turk and
Venetian. One is religious, while the other is racial. As a Christian, one may identify Othello
with the Venetians. The other associate Othello as a Moor with the Turks. Shakespeare sets
the deck heavily in favor of the former adversary. Othello is the commander tasked with
fighting the Turks. A strong storm smashes the Turkish fleet, giving the Venetians victory
before military combat, and therefore without cost or suffering. The storm, on the other hand,
is not a natural phenomenon. It is too perceptive to be coincidental: destroying the Turkish
fleet while saving the Venetians is a classic literary act of divine providence. For a brief time,
it is uncertain whether God has decided to spare Othello or drown him with the Ottomites if
God has recognized Othello as a Christian with the Venetians or a Moor with the Turks.
Othello, of course, is spared. God has made his decision based on religious rather than racial
criteria.

Later, Othello expresses his objection by alluding to the storm's providential character. When
restraining the intoxicated Cassio, he wonders, "Are we turned Turks, and to ourselves do

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that Which heaven hath forbidden the Ottomites?". Othello refers to the storm and openly
characterizes it as a manifestation of divine will when he says that heaven has forbidden the
Ottomites from killing the Venetian troops. Furthermore, he expresses God's providential
involvement in religious terms. 'Turning Turk' is a metaphor for Othello "is opposed to being
‘Christian,' not to being Venetian or white. In fact, Othello speaks to the whole company as
"we," correctly including himself in the body opposed to the Turks—rightly more than others
around him, since he alone recalls "Christian shame."

However, not everyone perceives the distinction in these words. Brabantio, early in the play,
draws a parallel between Othello's marriage to Desdemona and the Turks' conquest of
Cyprus, which was not yet thwarted by the tempest. For him, the distinction between Turks
and Venetians is purely ethnic, not religious. The ultimate and probably most terrible
tragedy of Othello is that Othello himself eventually begins to trust Brabantio. He learns to
understand that he is not a person with a name and all the characteristics of mankind and that
his value is determined by devotion to God rather than color. He eventually sees himself as
nothing but darkness. Through this distorted glass, he sees the misery of his crime, but he
fails to discern who murdered Desdemona because he succumbed to humanity and became
himself "unchristian" to others around him. However, this is not what he sees. When he
considers his crime, and when considers the core of darkness deep inside European
civilization, he fails to see the terrible racism of that society. He instead accepts it. He views
his crime as proof that he is a beast, a monster, a Turk, that he is all and only darkness, in
body and soul. Indeed, for Shakespeare, racial despair is not just comparable to spiritual
despair; it is an example of spiritual despair. Othello cannot imagine forgiveness since his
transgression is his entire existence. It cannot be wiped away from his spirit by divine mercy
any more than the "soot" on his bosom or the "grime" on his face. The only way to stop the
sin is to kill the life that supports it - and so he murders himself, perversely pushed to
spiritual despair by the "Christian" society that should have served to avoid such emotions, to
inspire trust in divine compassion. As we've previously seen, there are indications of this self-
hatred early in the story. However, they are not completely formed and expressed until his
last statement, which leads to his suicide. Even in shame, Spoudaios requests that his captors
"extenuate" nothing. His complete acceptance of his crime, as well as the racial sorrow that
follows, is just another facet of his "constant, loving, noble" personality. He will not point the
finger at anybody else except himself. But, viewing himself through the blue eyes of a racist
society, he blames himself ethnically. "Racism is more than simply the setting in which

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Othello exists. It has infiltrated his mind and spirit ". In the last words before committing
himself, he ceases speaking of himself in the first person, as a subject, and starts speaking of
himself in the third person, as "one," as an object. He draws three parallels. First, he
resembles a "Judean", then an "Arabian tree" and lastly a "Turk." All of them are
manifestations of his racial uniqueness from others around him. His last image of himself
is that of a Moor, a black stranger, no longer this unique guy, Othello. In the first parallel,
he is a Jew who "threw a pearl away / Richer than all his tribe". Desdemona, of course,
was the pearl. She was a pearl because she was white, and since she was white, she was
worth more than an entire Semitic "tribe," her fairness making her more valuable than all the
dark men and women together. In the second comparison, he is like an Arabian tree, his
grief generating a therapeutic balm. The balm is his repentant tears; the cure, one must
suppose, is death. The last comparison is the most agonizing. Othello has already said that
he would not talk about the service he has rendered to the state.

He stabs himself as he speaks the last words as if he were that very Turk. Othello is no
longer able to perceive Desdemona or himself as distinct individuals, even as husband and
wife. She and he have devolved into nothing more than Venetian and Turk, white and black.
Othello, now a "malignant" Turk who has beaten a Venetian, must be murdered as a result.
Looking around, Iago and Brabantio observe an unnatural beast, a "circumcised dog."
Othello was condemned not because he loved Desdemona, but because this dark,
subhuman Turk stole the life of a beautiful Venetian. Othello does not murder himself
when he plunges the knife into his chest because he no longer sees himself as a person, a
subject, a human body with a heavenly spirit. Rather, he is killing a dark beast.

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CONCLUSION
This is what makes the play's conclusion so heart-breaking, particularly for a Christian like
Shakespeare. Othello was a better Christian than all of Venice's Christians, yet he was pushed
to these desperate actions by the wickedness of the "Christians" around him, as well as his
own "constant, loving, noble nature". Thus, according to Christian doctrine, he is condemned
to eternal torment, the death of the soul, which he, in Christian conscience, did not wish to
inflict on anyone, including Desdemona, even at the height of hatred and despair.

It's interesting to compare this mentality with Hamlet's, who once refrains from murdering
Claudius out of concern that Claudius is praying and would therefore go to paradise. Killing
someone when they are praying, he thinks, "is hire and salary, not revenge!". For
Shakespeare, the contrast between this and Othello's attitude is not insignificant. And both
remind a Christian reader of the unavoidable everlasting sorrow that follows Othello's
unsanctified death. Unlike Hamlet, who heaped up corpses on the stage and would even
murder a man's soul based on proof as weak as an apparition, Othello will never have "flights
of angels sing [him] to [his] rest".

Indeed, even for those who do not believe the work's Christian underpinnings, the twin
conclusion of events is terrible. It is all too brutally needless and unjust in whatever moral
framework, religious or secular. Shakespeare, after all, makes the silent, persistent brutality
of racism and its awful human effects glaringly apparent.

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