Creation of ‘Other’ in Othello

Abstract

In Shakespeare’s era colonial venture was viewed positively because the Western Europeans regarded non-Christendom countries as being uncivilised and backward. Colonialism was a denial of all culture, history, and value outside the colonizer’s frame and it is very much a part of power dynamics operating in any human situation.  In Shakespeare’s Othello the protagonist, Othello is exploited by the power dynamics on the basis of colour of the skin. The plot of the drama Othello reveals a conflict between a black man and the white society. As an efficient General, Othello is displaced into an alien space and is othered by the Venetian social context. The racist comments and attitudes of the characters show us the colour prejudice and how Othello commits the crime of murder because of the pressure given by the white man Iago. Thus colonialism creates ‘otherness’ in Othello and this line of thought is the analysis of the paper titled “Creation of other in Othello”