Othello – Racism expressed in the Bard of Avon's tragic play Othello expresses racism; there is no doubt about this among most critics. But to what extent – ​​in a vulgar way? Or to an excusable level? In his book Everybody's Shakespeare: Reflections Chiefly on the Tragedies, Maynard Mack comments on the audience's reaction to the black-white union in the play: That a beautiful Venetian girl should fall in love with "a real nigger" "seemed implausible to many, indeed" monstrous". The words are Coleridge's, but the sentiment was widely shared and, on the nineteenth-century stage, was increasingly taken into consideration by "orientalizing" the hero, making him appear like what one of the most famous actor-directors of the century declared him to be. with emphasis it was: “not a negro” but “a majestic Arab”. (129)In the opening scene, while Iago expresses his dislike, indeed hatred, for Othello for having chosen Michael Cassio as lieutenant, he devises a plan to partially take revenge ("I follow him to serve him my turn)"), with the help of Roderigo, alerting Desdemona's father, Brabantio, of his daughter's escape with Othello. Roderigo shares Iago's prejudicial attitude towards Othello: "What good fortune must the thick-lip / If he cannot carry it so!" The word thick lips is a disparaging reference to a facial feature of many members of the black race. David Bevington in William Shakespeare: Four Tragedies describes how racism is evident from the beginning of the play: Othello is undoubtedly a black man, derogatorily referred to by his detractors as "thick-lipped", with a "sooty breast " (1.1.68; 1.2.71); Elizabethan usage ap......middle of paper......rsity. 1996. http://www.eiu.edu/~multilit/studyabroad/othello/othello_all.html No lines nos.Wayne, Valerie. "Historical Differences: Misogyny and Othello." The question of difference: materialist feminist criticism of Shakespeare. Ed Valerie Wayne. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1991.Witt, Mary Ann Frese, et al., eds. “Black and White Symbols in Othello.” The humanities: cultural roots and continuity. Vol.1. Lexington, MA: D.C. Heath, 1985. Rpt. in Readings on Tragedies. Ed. Clarice Swisher. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1996. Wright, Louis B., and Virginia A. LaMar. “The Engaging Qualities of Othello.” Readings on tragedies. Ed. Clarice Swisher. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1996. Reprint from the Introduction to the Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice by William Shakespeare. NP: Simon and Schuster, Inc., 1957.