Othello - Act one, scene one

The destruction of Othello and Desdemona illustrats the barabrity of a culture whose preconceptions about race and gender connot allow a love like theirs to survive and flourish. In marrying eachother, othello and desdemona instincitively act according to principles of racial equality and sexual freedom which are far from genreally excepted in shakespeare's time. As a result they find unleashed on them, through Iago, the fury of a society whose foundations are rocked by the mere fcat of their relationship.

The tragedy arises from the fact that Othello is black and thus racially and culurually an alien, an intesley vunerable alien within a hierarchical predatory human society. Desdemona wouldnt've suffert if she had married a suitable white man, more in line with the expectations of her father and her class.

Iago persecutes Othello essentially because he is black, a 'moor' as he repeadetly refers to him. in to the figure of Iago is condesnsed all the mindless fear, hostallity and malice of a society - this attitude is shared by Brabantio and venice in general. Othello is…