Thursday, November 27, 2008
Racism + Sexism = Iago
Maybe it's a harsh claim to make, but I highly dislike Iago. First off, he starts things because he is jealous of Othello. Acting on behalf of jealousy only makes things worse. In the first act, we find out that Iago is racist, calling Othello "the thick lips" and a "barbary horse". In these days, his character would be looked down upon, but in the old days, I feel as though racism was the normal due to the existence of slavery. Does anybody think that the meaning of this play could be different in the old days? Maybe Iago did not come off as such a bad person back then. Also, we find out that Iago is a bit sexist in the second act, on the island of Cypress. He claims that "women rise to play, and go to bed to work". This is completely disrespectful, and it makes me hate Iago even more. In today's world, many people would brush him off as a simple ahole, as I do. But could his image have been different in the time period of this play?
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4 comments:
I think the interpretation of Iago would’ve been very different back then as oppose to now. Obviously with a modern perspective, Iago is a racist, sexist ahole, but at the time the views he would have held on the subject wouldn’t have been very rare. Even a century late, supposedly “enlightened” philosophers like Jean Jacque Rousseau were saying things like, “Some say women are not always engaged in the process of childbirth. Granted; but this is their proper function.” The idea of gender equality is an extremely recent one. That, and Iago’s views on race were probably very commonplace at the time, not just because of slavery, but because of the relatively small amount of interaction the average Englishman would’ve had with people of a different race at that time. For all they knew, the stereotypes Iago alludes to were true.
I do not think it is a harsh claim to make at all. I believe even at the time Iago was seen as a bit harsh, even though in today’s world he would definitely be an outstanding “ahole.” He is definitely the villain of the play, and the audience is meant to dislike his character. The fact that he has manipulated a ton of people-his wife, Rodrigo, Othello—shows how terrifying he can be. I think it is interesting though how the whole play is based on the fact that words can be used as weapons. I was watching “The Great Debaters” on the ride home from Thanksgiving. Samantha, the only girl on the team, said something that stuck with me. She said “I didn’t need weapons, I had words!” To me this works really well with Othello because, although in the movie it was meant to be an exciting comment, that is all Iago needed to wreak havoc on everyone around him.
I think that some of the racial slurs Iago uses wouldn’t have been offensive to anybody watching the play when it was first performed before a white English audience. That audience would understand that Iago is the bad guy in the story, but I’m not sure if they would think that his use of racial slurs is a bad thing. I think if Iago didn’t use any racial slurs they probably would have found it strange because of his deep hate for Othello. Having the bad guy in the story use racial slurs referring to another character may have added some layer of negativity in to his character, but I think you’re right in saying that back then it wasn’t that big a deal. Perhaps by having a character that is meant to offend the audience the play was able to make these racial slurs even more offensive to the audience. It’s interesting because Emilia calls Othello “As ignorant as dirt” to his face in V.ii.160., referring to his color, when she finds out that he has killed Desdemona. She isn’t portrayed as a racist character but she is probably using a common insult against him. It’s in a different context when she uses it. She’s angry and trying to insult Othello with whatever comes to mind. Shakespeare limits the use of anything racist by other characters so Iago really stands out as an evil person.
It is certain that in Shakespeare's time there was a difference in what would be offensive than there is now. Of course women were considered second class people back then and so I think there probably would have been a fair few men in the audience that would have found some truth in the quote "women rise to play, and go to bed to work". However, I think that even back in the Elizabethian Era Iago would have been found a reprehensible character, possibly not because of his racism and sexism, but because he rebelled against his superiors, conspired to commit murder, and lied to his fellow soldiers. Iago is certainly the bad guy in Othello and any member of the audience then or now should be able to pick up on that, but I don't think that his racism and sexism would have been seen as unusual in any way. There is a strong possibility many of the audience members had racist and sexist tendancies.
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