Prejudice

The Theme in the Work

Prejudice arrives before any act of Othello. In scene 1 of Act I, Iago describes the union to Brabantio in images of animal mating, an old black ram covering a white ewe, and the insult comes before any proof. In scene 3 of Act I, Brabantio accuses Othello of having won his daughter with potions and spells, and Iago, Roderigo and Brabantio himself treat the union as something anomalous, contrary to the laws of nature.

In scene 3 of Act III, Othello himself lists, alone, the color of his skin, his age and his lack of eloquence as plausible reasons to be replaced (ll. 270-273). In scene 1 of Act IV, Iago's speech about the great cities and their civilized monsters answers the idea of an animalized monstrosity, the monster and the beast of Othello.

In scene 2 of Act V, even those who defend Desdemona resort to color to insult Othello.

Prejudice does not stay in the street insult: it also appears in the courtroom and even in the words of those who try to praise Othello. In scene 2 of Act I, Brabantio cannot believe that his daughter, who had refused the richest and most graceful young men of the country, could love "something that frightens," with a dark breast, without having been bewitched, and in scene 3 the Duke, closing the case, tells Brabantio that in his son-in-law there is more beauty than blackness, a compliment that works only because blackness is taken as a defect. In scene 3 of Act III, Iago treats color as an argument: he says that Desdemona refused suitors from her own land, her own color and her own station, and that this smells of rancid desire that may turn into regret. In scene 2 of Act V, Emilia, on learning that Othello has killed Desdemona, calls him a black devil, and color returns as an insult.

Prejudice does not act only from outside. Venice supplies it in the very first scene, Iago uses it as an insult, and in Act III, when he suggests that Desdemona refused suitors from her own land, color and station, he turns it into an argument. In that same act, after Iago's insinuation, Othello turns it back against himself, as a reason to doubt that he is loved.

Where It Appears

• Scene 1 of Act I: Iago shouts to Brabantio that an old black ram is covering his white ewe, describing Desdemona's marriage to Othello in an image of animal mating.
• Scene 3 of Act I: Brabantio accuses Othello, before the Senate, of having won his daughter with potions and spells.
• Scene 3 of Act III: Alone, Othello lists the color of his skin, his age and his lack of eloquence as plausible reasons for Desdemona to replace him.
• Scene 1 of Act IV: In Cyprus, Iago speaks of the great cities and their civilized monsters, and Othello, who is Black, declares that a man with horns is a monster, a beast.
• Scene 2 of Act V: On learning that Othello has killed Desdemona, Emilia calls him a black devil, and color returns as an insult.

Passages

Iago chooses the image before knowing whether it is false:

The measure by which Othello judges the deceived man: