Othello

I believe that race plays a vital role in the development of the play. To refer back to a quote by Kenneth Muir, the idea that this black man is a Christian, well mannered, very highly thought of, powerful and of noble blood would have been unexpected to the Elizabethan audience. These being in competition to, what they would have presumed as, the common traits of a black character, would have been superstitious, fiery tempered and a heathen.

In the opening scene of the play, the audience is presented with a character that remains nameless and is referred to as the Moor'. This is a conscious effort to debase Othello's character by not referring to him by name, but through degrading terms such as the moor', the thicklips' and old black ram'.
Before the audience is presented with Othello, Iago and Roderigo would lead them to the common, negative presumption of a black character.
When we are presented with Othello, we are able to move away from the negative views put forward by Iago and Roderigo and begin to discern for ourselves what Othello's character is like. He seems to be a man who knows his place in society that even though he has, in Iago's words, stole Brabantio's daughter; Othello is unfazed by these accusations and calmly speaks of his past service and noble blood which will overcome, for what I believe he presumes, this nonsense.
My parts, my title and my perfect soul
Shall manifest me rightly."
The language and pace of this quote shows us the temperament of Othello's character. Shakespeare's use of punctuation and line formation has created this slow yet steady flow of words, this then emphasising how calm and confident Othello is in his own character and how those around should perceive him and this situation. From this scene the audience's perception of Othello would certainly have changed through his own actions and speech and the admiration.
Shakespeare's epic tragedy
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