Othello tries to use religious prejudice against Muslims to cement his place within mainstream Christian Venetian society. And Othello himself seems to understand this-he concludes his suicide speech by boasting that he, a Christian, once killed a Muslim Turk, a "circumcised dog" (5.2.355) who had murdered a Venetian citizen. In other words, prejudice works as a kind of strategy to identify outsiders and insiders and to place yourself within the dominant group. In all of these cases, the characters displaying prejudice seek to control and define another person or group who frighten them. Several times, Othello's age is also a reason for insulting him. Arise, I say Iago, Act 1 Scene 1 Ay, there’s the point. Arise, arise Awake the snorting citizens with the bell, Or else the devil will make a grandsire of you. Many characters in the play also exhibit misogyny, or hatred of women, primarily focused on women's honesty or dishonesty about their sexuality. Racist Quotes in Othello Even now, now, very now, an old black ram Is tupping your white ewe. Yet racial prejudice is not the only prejudice on display in Othello. And when he believes that he has lost his honor and manhood through Desdemona's supposed unfaithfulness, he quickly becomes the kind of un-rational animal or monster that the white Venetians accuse him of being. On a number of occasions he describes himself in similarly unflattering racial terms. Othello himself seems to have internalized this prejudice. In other words, they use racist language to try to define Othello not only as an outsider to white Venetian society, but as being less human and therefore less deserving of respect. In the very first scene, Roderigo and Iago disparage Othello in explicitly racial terms, calling him, among other things, "Barbary horse" and "thick lips." In nearly every case, the prejudiced characters use terms that describe Othello as an animal or beast. For Example, Iago seizes on the fact that Othello is so self conscious about his. The most prominent form of prejudice on display in Othello is racial prejudice. His race, an element of difference, plays a distinctive role in his downfall.
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