‘In Othello, the audience is encouraged to feel more sympathy for
Othello than encouraged to condemn him for his jealousy’
[25 marks]
Typically throughout tragic literary works, jealousy is presented as a moral
failing that warrants condemnation, positioning the jealous figure as
responsible for their own downfall. Shakespeare both reinforces and
complicates this expectation in Othello, where jealousy is shown to
emerge not solely from personal weakness but from social insecurity and
deliberate manipulation. As the drama unfolds, Shakespeare exposes how
Venetian society’s racism and Iago’s calculated deception work together
to erode Othello’s sense of self, reframing jealousy as a response to
exclusion. Nevertheless, the brutal consequences of Othello’s jealousy
challenge the audience to recognise how individual tragedy is produced
through the intersection of personal vulnerability and oppressive social
forces.
The audience is encouraged to sympathise with Othello as a victim
because his jealousy emerges from profound insecurity rooted in his place
as a racial outsider, rather than being due to an innate moral weakness.
At the start of the play, Othello is presented as composed, rational, and
authoritative, as he speaks in controlled blank verse and asserts his
importance, which invites both admiration and trust from the audience. *
However, as the play progresses, Othello begins to internalise the racist
assumptions of Venetian society, revealing that he is “black/and have not
those soft parts of conversation/ that chamberers have”. This contrast
between his earlier confidence and this moment of self-doubt highlights
how external prejudice has corroded his sense of identity; his jealously
therefore appears reactive rather than instinctive, emerging from a fear
that Desdemona’s love cannot withstand the social and racial gulf
between them. For a modern audience, this undoubtedly encourages
sympathy, as Othello’s downfall can be read as a consequence of
systematic racism and exclusion rather than a fatal flaw. However,
contrastingly, a contemporary Jacobean audience may have been more
inclined to condemn his jealousy as a racial flaw, shaped by prevailing
stereotypes about ‘Moors’. This view is encouraged directly by Iago,
particularly when he describes Othello consistently using animalistic
imagery, suggesting that violence and jealousy are direct consequences of
his race.
Othello than encouraged to condemn him for his jealousy’
[25 marks]
Typically throughout tragic literary works, jealousy is presented as a moral
failing that warrants condemnation, positioning the jealous figure as
responsible for their own downfall. Shakespeare both reinforces and
complicates this expectation in Othello, where jealousy is shown to
emerge not solely from personal weakness but from social insecurity and
deliberate manipulation. As the drama unfolds, Shakespeare exposes how
Venetian society’s racism and Iago’s calculated deception work together
to erode Othello’s sense of self, reframing jealousy as a response to
exclusion. Nevertheless, the brutal consequences of Othello’s jealousy
challenge the audience to recognise how individual tragedy is produced
through the intersection of personal vulnerability and oppressive social
forces.
The audience is encouraged to sympathise with Othello as a victim
because his jealousy emerges from profound insecurity rooted in his place
as a racial outsider, rather than being due to an innate moral weakness.
At the start of the play, Othello is presented as composed, rational, and
authoritative, as he speaks in controlled blank verse and asserts his
importance, which invites both admiration and trust from the audience. *
However, as the play progresses, Othello begins to internalise the racist
assumptions of Venetian society, revealing that he is “black/and have not
those soft parts of conversation/ that chamberers have”. This contrast
between his earlier confidence and this moment of self-doubt highlights
how external prejudice has corroded his sense of identity; his jealously
therefore appears reactive rather than instinctive, emerging from a fear
that Desdemona’s love cannot withstand the social and racial gulf
between them. For a modern audience, this undoubtedly encourages
sympathy, as Othello’s downfall can be read as a consequence of
systematic racism and exclusion rather than a fatal flaw. However,
contrastingly, a contemporary Jacobean audience may have been more
inclined to condemn his jealousy as a racial flaw, shaped by prevailing
stereotypes about ‘Moors’. This view is encouraged directly by Iago,
particularly when he describes Othello consistently using animalistic
imagery, suggesting that violence and jealousy are direct consequences of
his race.
