Stereotypes Pushed the Demise of Othello
William Shakespeare wrote Othello during a time of distrust in people that were
“different.” Being different during that time could just meant the pigment of your skin was
different than the pale white of the natives in England. People of different colors were defined as
“Moors,” who could have been from Northern Africa, Turkey, or other parts of the Middle East.
Moors were untrustworthy people because not only were they of different color, but they also
had a different religion, Islam rather than Christianity. Othello, although he had converted to
Christianity, could once have been Muslim, causing a distrust in his honor. Othello also was of
darker skin tone which makes him different than the people he was working, living, and
socializing with. In Othello, Shakespeare takes the preconceived notions of race underlying in
the Jacobian era and displays Othello’s demise as a return to the stereotype of being a “Moor.”
