The Color of Evil: The Veritable Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of ...

The Color of Evil:
The Veritable Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice
The terms black and white have been complex and confusing since the beginning of
the language, and Shakespeare seems to have fully exploited their complexity within
(Adler 248).
As a definition, black is having no light whatsoever and relates to an ethnic
group having dark skin; especially, Negroid. The origin of the work black is
ambiguous; however, its connotations in literature are clearly negative. Shakespeare
repeatedly exploits these terms in Othello to expose negative stereotypical images of
blackness by juxtaposing the familiar discourses of black and white. In other words,
in Othello, the Moor of Venice, Shakespeare exposes the racist attitudes of his
European audience while exploring the tragic effects these attitudes have on the
character Othello.
Before exploring the plays' racial implications, it is important to understand
the origin of European stereotypes of blacks. As early as 1578, the English sought
scientific explanation for black skin. To be specific, in Discourse George'Best I
concludes that blackness is a disease:
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I my selfe have seen an Ethiopian as blacke as cole brought into
England who taking a faire English woman to wife, begat a soone in aU
respects as black as the father was, although England were his native
countrey, and an English woman his mother: whereby it seemeth this
blacknes proceedeth rather of some natural infection of that man, which
was so strong, that neither the nature of the Come, neither the good
complexion of the mother concurring, could and thing alter
(Newman 143).
Certainly, this man's blacknessis not natural, neither is it a thing to be desired; his
blacknes is an unfortunate freak of nature.
More specifically, it is a sickness,
transferred to his son in spite of his mother's fair skin. Thus, as Europeans
attempted to scientifically explain the cause of blackness, the common assumption
was that blackness was indeed a sickness or a deficiency.
Consequently, Shakespeare manipulated this discourse in m@agedY,
Othello, the Moor of Venice.
Shakespeare not only employed various meanings of the terms and their
connotations literaBy and metaphorically, but also persistently
applied the connotations of the meanings of black to another meaning of
black. In addition, the confalted and confusing values of black that
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esulted from this treatment are heightenedby a similar treatment of
the opposite values of white, or more often fair. (Adler 248).
Thus, Shakespeare's OthelltOmvestigates the numerous myths about blackness while,
at the same time, exposing the presumption that white suggests purity.
In the play, Shakespeare suggests several negative implications of the term
black. First, Othello's African heritage contrasts£)us European counterparts: "To a
great many people the word 'negro' suggests at once the picture of what they would
call a 'nigger' the wooly hair, thick lips, round skull, bunt features, and burnt-cork
blackness of the traditional minstrel" (Newman 143). Undoubtedly, Shakespeare's
audience would have been familiar with nigger imagery; however, the playwright
debunks this stereotype as Desdemona falls in love with and soon marries Othello, the
Moor.
Secondly, blackness is related to filthiness. Othello himself suggests that if his
wife has had, in fact, an adulterous relationship, her name is as black as his face:
By the world,
I think my wife be honest, and think she is not.
I think that thou are just, and think thou are not.
I'll have some proof. My name, the was as fresh
As Dian's visage, is now begrimed and black
as my own face. (III. ill.389-93)
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Certainly, the myth that black is inevitably Unked to dirtiness is evident as Othello
chllUngly compares his own blackness to deception, adultery, and evil.
f
Just as Best concludes that blackness~Unked to disease, negative black
stereotypes Unk black to immorality. These negative myths about blackness are
further played out in Othello.
Specifically, Shakespeare plays on the falsehood that
black men are lascivious warlocks who possess a violent sexual nature, and are
inferior to Europeans (Adler 249). To be specific, Othello's does not even enter untU
the second scene, yet the audience has already been swayed by lago's slander. As
Iago warns Desdemona's father of her unnatural marriage to a Moor, Othello is
presented as a dark beast who has stolen the senator's daughter:
Swounds sir, you are one of those that will
not serve God if the devil bid you. Because we come to do you
service and you think we are ruffians, you'll have your daughter
covered with a Barbary horse, you'll have your nephew neigh
to you, you'll have coursers for cousins and jennets for germans...
I am one,sir, that comesto tell you your daughter and the
Moor are now making the beast with two backs. (I. 1.110-18)
Clearly, lago anticipates the senator's anger and disgust because not only has
Barbanzio's daughter married without permission, but she also has eloped with a
black Moor. Moreover, lago further darkens the unfortunate news by suggesting
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that Desdemona's relationship is bestial, for she has not consummated her marriage
with a man, but with a horse. Thus, the myth that black men are lascivious is
explored in the first Act One of the tragedy.
Furthermore,
Shakespeare examines the stereotype that "black" men are
,~ I'
magical and practice the forbidden art, which is ironically termed black magic. For
instance, when Barbanzio confronts Othello about the marriage, he clearly
characterizes the Moor as a warlock:
o thou foul thief, where has thou stowed my daughter
Damned as thou art, thou hast enchanted her,
For I'll refer me to all things of sense,
If she in chains of magic were not bound,
Whether a maid so tender fair and happy. . .
Run for her guardage to the sooty bosom
Of such a thing as thou--to fear, not to delight. (I. ll. 63-72)
Obviously, the senator's daughter is a "maid" while Othello is only "thing."
Moreover, Othello is a sooty thing while Desdemona is a fair maid. In other words,
she is a human being, but Othello is nothing more than a magic charm that has
bewitched Barbanzio's daughter.
Early criticism also characterizes Desdemona as one hypnotized by Othello.
In 1963, Rymer suggests that because GfOthello's magical sexual powers, Desdemona
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was preyed upon and won by the Moor:
Shakespear, who is accountable both to the Eyes and to the Ears, and
to convince the very heart of an Audience, shews the Desdemona was
won by hearing Othello talk. . . This was the charm, this was the
philtre, the love-powder, that took the Daughter of this Noble Venetian.
This as sufficient to make the Black-amoor White, and reconclle all, tho'
there had been a Cloven-foot in the bargain. (Newman 143)
Because blackness is synonymous with black magic, Shakespeare's audience would
have understood this reading. In order to exculpate Desdemona's attachment to
Othello, this critic suggests that if Othello could be rationalized and understood as
white, then and only then, would the couples' relationship be acceptable. Rymer also
maintains that Othello's blackness is a "Cloven-foot;" thus Desdemona is victimized
and Othello characterized as the deceptive charmer and sensual warlock.
Not only were blacks regarded as immoral and deviously charming, but they
were also considered monstrous, sexual creatures.
Mythically, black men were
"furnisht with such members as are after a sort burdensome unto them" (Newman
148). The Africans' large penises of are proof of their sexual prowess and aggression.
Even though these tales did not reflect the actual sexual habits of blacks, the myth
that black men are sexually aggressive to the point of bestiality persisted,
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nevertheless.
In other words, "black identity seems all too naturally to find its
origins in an imaginary scene of some horrific copulation" (Little 308). Thus, to be
identified as a black man is inevitably to be characterized as a sexual beast.
Consequently, to Iago and Roderigo, Othello's power resides in his sexuality.
Before the English had wide experience of miscegenation, they seem to
have believed, as George Best recounts, that the black man had the
power to subjugate his partner's whiteness, to make both his 'victim'
and her offspring resemble him, to make them both black, a literal
blackness in the case of a chlld a metaphorical blackness in the case of a
sexual partner. (Newman 151)
Othello possesses power not only through charms and black magic but also through
his sexuaUty. According to Ridley, Shakespeare knew his audience would not accept
the marriage between Othello and Desdemona at face value; however, if Othello is
represented as the stereotypical black man, more specifically as a sexual charmer,
then Desdemona is the victim; she has been allured by his passion and mystery, not
by love. Moreover, Ridley argues that as long as Desdemona is perceived as the
victim, then all is reconcHed.
Finally, the stereotype that is most prominent in the play is the metaphorical
connection between black and eru. Another early critic, Coolridge sugges~
that
"it would be something monstrous to conceive this beautiful Venetian girl falling in
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love with a veritable negro" ( Newman 143). In other words, Desdemona could not
love an actual negro; there has to be something characteristically white about Othello
to have won the love of this fair maiden. On the other hand, when Othello presents
his case to the councll in Act One, he vows that his love is natural:
When I did speak of some distressful stroke
That my youth suffered. My story being done,
She gave me for my pains a would of kisses. . .
She loved me for the dangers I had passed,
And I loved her that she did pity them.
This is the only witchcraft I have used. (I. ill. 156-68)
Othello maintains that he has not bewitched his wife, but that they have fallen in love
just as any European soldier and maiden. He also claims that his father-in law,
Barbanzio had once loved him, also. It was not until the senator learned of his
marriage did he consider Othello a thief or an animal.
Fortunately, the Duke is moved by Othello's speech and his wife's testimony,
for the coupleswearsthat their relationship is genuineand natural. However,
Othello's speech convinces the Duke that the Moor is metaphorically white and only
physically black. To Barbanzio he claims, "If virtue no delighted beauty lack,! Your
son-in-law is far more fair than black" (I. iii. 289-90). Quite simply, because Othello
has proven to be virtuous and honorable, the Moor has proven his whiteness.

And so, Shakespeare cleverly suggests that because Othello is stereotyped by
other characters even before he enters the stage, his redemption is hopeless. In Act
One, Iago characterizes the Moor as a beast by conjuring up images of a black, filthy
horse, copulating with the senator's fair daughter.
On top of that, the senator
himselfbelleves that Othello has charmed his daughter, even though the two men
were friends for many years. Clearly, the myths about black men precede Othello,
and Shakespeare's audience is quick to perceive him as nothing more than a barbary
horse, an enchanter, a thief, and a lustful beast.
However, after Shakespeare explores the negative racial stereotypes, he
juxtaposes the familiar discourse that black is evil and damning while white is pure
and righteous. First of all, even though Desdemona is characterized as a fair and
innocent Venetian maiden, she expresses her desires and asserts her sexual
independence:
Desdemona hears Othello and loves him, awed by his traveler's tales of
the dangers he had passed, danger which emphasizes his link with
monsters and marvels. Her responses to his tales are perceived as
voracious..she 'devours' his discourses with a 'greedy ear'"
(Newman 152).
Thus, Desdemona, contrary to the stereotype of the innocent virgin, ravages
Othello's tales and fiends for his affection. Consequently, her behavior is shunned by
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Venetians. Not only has she betrayed her father, but she has also betrayed the code
of the passive and submissive white virgin. Certainly, the patriarchal code of
European society maintains that Barbanzio should be enraged at his daughter's
betrayal because "Fathers have the right to dispose of their daughters as they see fit,
to whom they see fit, and disobedience against the father's law is merely a prelude to
the descent into hell and blackness the play enacts" (Newman 152). Undoubtedly,
Desdemona rejects the patriarchal code of her father by eloping with a black man.
And so, Shakespeare suggests that even pure white virgins from Venice are capable
of sexual aggression but are rarely stereotyped as lustful beasts, like Othello.
Next, Shakespeare shifts the stereotype that white is pure by contrasting
Bianca, the prostitute and Desdemona, the innocent. Bianca, whose very name
suggests whiteness or purity is a whore. To be specific, when Iago prepares to fool
Othello by questioning Cassio about Bianca, her reputation is reveals to be as black
as Othello's skin:
Now I will question Cassio of Bianca,
A hussy that by selling her desires
Buysherself bread and cloth. It is a creature
That dotes on Cassie-as
'tis the strumpet's plague
To beguile many and be beguiled by one.
He, when he hears of her, cannot restrain

From the excess of laughter. (IV. 1.91-7)
Clearly, Bianca's dark reputation is mocked by both lago and Cassio. As a
prostitute, Bianca represents a black stain that taints the so-called purity of the white
race. Moreover, Shakespeare makes a clear distinction between Bianca's sable
trickeries and Desdemona's desire. Neither character is white; Bianca's nature
would be stereotypically considered black, whUeDesdemona's sexual expression is
more of a pearl-gray.
Thus, Shakespeare not only examines the numerous
implications of black, but he also investigates the many connotations of white. In
essence, he suggests that character distinctions based on color are groundless.
On the other hand, if one character could be characterized as black, it would
be lago. Without a doubt, he is the true sexually perverted warlock. For example, it
is he who repeatedly conjures up pornographic images of Desdemona and Othello.
His first lines in the play suggest his motive for destruction: "Sblood but you'll not
hear me!1If ever I did dream of such a matter, abhor me" (I. 1.4-5). In other words,
he is disgusted by the mere thought of the sexual union between the fair Desdemona
and the Moor. Indeed, his motivation stems from the horrific images of Desdemona
making love to a black horse instead of her husband, Othello.
Moreover, like a warlock, lago summons help from devils to help him destroy
Desdemona and Othello:
How am I then a villain,
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To counsel Cassio to this parallel course
Directly to his good Divinity of hell:
When devils will the blackest sins put on,
They do suggest at first with heavenly shows,
As I do now. (II. iii. 322-27).
lago's power is like one who practices witchcraft; through mind control, deceit, and
hell's assistance, he successfully destroys the lives of his victims. In short, by
exposing the Bianca's eroticism and lago's wickedness, Shakespeare debunks the
myth that Othello is lustful and evil because he is black.
Even though Shakespeare successfully proves that Othello does not conform to
the negative stereotypical images of blackness, the veritable tragedy of the play is
that Othello himself begins to assign the vicious stereotypes to his wife, which
ultimately drives him to rage and murder.
Convinced that Desdemona is guilty of
adultery, Othello ironically begins to refer to her as a black devil. Before he kills
her, he vows to trost her honesty as much as:
summers flies are in the shambles,
That quicken even with blowing. 0 thou weed,
Who art so lovely fair, and smell'st so sweet,
That the sense aches at thee-would thou hads't ne'er been born!
(IV. ii. 68-71).

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First, Othello compares Desdemona's honestly t""reeding
black summer t1ies. Even
though he has falsely accused and stereotyped by Europeans, he mercilessly
condemns Desdemona by accusing her of adultery.
Just as his European
counterparts were unable to associate virtue with his blackness, he is now unable to
associate true virtue with Desdemona's white skin. Again, Shakespeare questions the
vaUdity of color-coding human character.
Secondly, Othello identifies his wife with a black weed. He transfers the false
stereotypes from his own person to Desdemona.
Othello sees Desdemona' infideUty as a corruption of nature itself.. .
Weeds represent the corruption of vegetable nature and the more so
when they are themselves rotten, turned from green to black. The
adjective 'black' is therefore appropriate on the naturalistic as wellas
the metaphorical level. (Melchiori 356)
Thus, Othello transfers the black stereotype to Desdemona. Just as the Venetians
assume their marriage is unnatural, Othello wrongly accuses his wife of an unnatural
affair. Othello even resorts to calling her a black weed or, in other words, a rotten
whore. Just as the Venetians beUevethe negative stereotypes about blackness
without regard to actual nature of the Moor, Othello imagines that his wife could be
capable of deceit:
Othello, knowing his blackness is not what it seems to others, can all the

more easily believe that Desdemona's whiteness is not the emblem of
virtue others assume it to be. (Adler 256)
In reality, Othello is blind to his wife's adual purity, but since he has been wrongly
stereotyped, he blindly misjudges Desdemona. Without a doubt, Shakespeare
presents confticting images of black and white to illustrate the ludicrous, but familiar
act of color-coding character according to stereotypes. In essence, "black and white
are used with the confused values of fable and reality" (256 Adler).
To complicate matters further, black Othello is both tile victim and dieaggressor.
In other words, Shakespeare implies that blackness cannot be
stereotyped; Othello is at first preyed upon by Iago, but eventually murders
Desdemona. At tirst Othello contradicts the stereotypical lustful, beastly black male.
It is Iago who "most adroitly pushes Othello toward the (re)discovery of his black
origins. Beginning with Act 3, scene 3, he taunts Othello with the division, difference
[and] difference" (Adler 316). In order to deepen Othello's insecurity, Iago
constantly reminds Othello of his blackness. Moreover, as Iago suggests that it is
only natural that Desdemona would choose to have an affair with white Cassio.
Consequently Othello pledges to kill the black whore. However, after smothering his
wife, Othello exclaims that he is the victim of evil:
Pale as thy smock! When we shall meet at compt,
This look of thine will hurl my soul from heaven,
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And fiends will snatch at it. Cole, cold my girl
Even like thy chastity,
o cursed, cursed slave! Whip me, ye devils,
From the possession of this heavenly sight. (V. ll.274-79)
As Othello touches Desdemona's cold corpse, he senses her purity. Ironically, he
blames the devils or evil for her murder, even though he clearly is the aggressor.
Thus, "Othello's blackness is now neither African nor devil, but that of the victim,
damned to hell" (Adler 256).
On the other hand, Shakespeare suggests that black could represent evil. For
instance, because Othello murders Desdemona, the negative stereotypes are no
longer myth; he acts out the negative stereotypical images of blackness: "during the
play, Othello does become a beast, a sexual deviant, a whoremonger a devil, and a
rapist" (Little 322). He becomes exactly what Shakespeare attacks: the black man as
evil.
In conclusion, Shakespeare has presented both the victimization and
aggression of blackness to prove that
Black and white are used with the confused values of fable and reaUty:
it is a fable that the devil is black, yet black Othello is damned by killing
his wife; it is a gable that white is the color of virtue, the fair Bianca is a
whore, and yet the virtuous Desdemonais lovelyfair. Black and white,

used with the confused values of fable and reality, reinforce, rhetorically
the tragic theme of Othello. (Adler 256).
Clearly, the tragic theme of Othello is that the characters are unable to realize that
evil has no color, that purity has no color, and that racist attitudes founded upon
stereotypes have DOfoundation.
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