1、on inevitability of tragedy of “othello”abstact: “othello” was written by shakespeare in 1604 and it is the most controversial one of shakespeares four major tragedies. according to many views on the tragedy of “othello”, in my opinion, the tragedy must be inevitable. based on racial discriminnation

2、, this paper tries to explore the causes of tragedy of “othello”, including internal and external causes. because of the tumor of racial discrimination in society, the white has superiority of its race and culture ,while the black has to take the burden of their sense of inferiority complex. when ot

3、hello as one representative of blacks couldnt bear the whites racial discrimination and his own self-abased sense, he will make a action beyond imagination, namely, he kills his beloved wife and destroies himself that leads to the tragedy. key words: inevitable, racial discrimination, inferiority co

4、mplex, tragedy摘要：奧瑟羅是莎士比亞在1604年所創作的，它是莎士比亞四部主要悲劇中最有爭議的一部。根據對奧瑟羅悲劇的不同觀點，筆者認為，這部悲劇是必然發生的。從種族歧視的角度分析，本論文探究了造成奧瑟羅悲劇的內外原因。由于社會存在種族歧視這顆毒瘤，白種人有著種族及文化優越感，而黑人不得不承受自卑的心理壓力。奧瑟羅作為黑人的代表，當他不能忍受白人的種族歧視以及他自卑心理無法自拔時，他會采取意想不到的行動，那就是殺害自己深愛的妻子并且自殺，從而導致悲劇的發生。關鍵字：必然的，種族歧視，自卑情結，悲劇contentsabstract.1introduction.2chapter1 a

5、nalysis of racial discrimination.41.1 on racial discrimination briefly.41.2 racial discrimination in “othello”.4chapter2 internal causes for tragedy “othello”.7 2.1 the whites superiority of its race and culture.72.2 people living on the margins of society owing self-abased characteristic.102.3 flaw

6、s in othellos characterists.13chapter 3 external causes for tragedy of othello183.1 brabantios prejudice against othello.183.2 iagos scheme.213.3 desdemonas overconfidence in her love.22conclusion.25notes.26bibliograbhy. 27acknowledgementintroductionwilliam shakespeare is one of the great dramatists

7、 and poets, symbolizing the great achievement in literature in the english renaissance. as we all know, william shakespeare has written many famous plays, including comedies and tragedies. among them, othello is one of shakespeares four major tragedies. although the plot of the play is very simple,

8、it reflects many aspects of life. the plot of “othello” is like this: the main character othello who is a moor kills his beloved wife desdemona who is beautiful and has white skin and then committs suicide for many reasons. since hundreds of years ago, many critics have been arguing on what the root

9、 of tragedy is. one view is that jealousy and credulity make othello lose his reason and human nature, and another view is that the great power of evil causes the tragedy of othello however, i think, no matter what the view is, the tragedy is inevitable and it has a close connection with othellos bl

10、ack skin. iago is a dangerous person who provokes the anger of desdemonas father, then arouses othellos sense of inferiority complex and consequently loves between othello and desdemona ends with thorough destruction. on the angle of racial discrimination, “othello” just reflects the whites superior

11、ity of its race and culture and people living on the margins of society owning self-abased characteristic in their deep heart. so, in consequence of such a society background, othellos characteristics have many shortcomings, desdemonas father has prejudice to black othello；iago would do harm to the

12、marriage between the white and the moor； desdemona has over-confidence in love between othello and her. because of so many factors that cause the tragedy of othello, the tragedy must happen and it is inevitable, but not accidental.chapter 1 analysis of racial discrimination1.1 on racial discriminati

13、on briefly“race is born as human society exists” said it in “human rights dictionary”. so, race is also regarded as ethnic group, which has common origin and heredity. certainly, different races have different physiology characteristics and cultures. because of different races, racial discrimination

14、 commonly appears. especially in western society, the black and yellow are looked down upon and the white think their race is the most powerful one in the word, while any other race is inferior. so, the white oppose the marriage between the white and the black, refrain the blacks basic rights and fr

15、eedoms and furthermore carry out race isolation policy and so on. racial discrimination typically points out taxonomic differences between different groups of people, even though anybody can be racialised, independently of their somatic differences. according to the united nations conventions, there

16、 is no distinction between the term racial discrimination and ethnic discrininaton. 1.2 racial discrimination in “othello”in fact, this racial discrimination can be reflected in the shakespeares tragedy play” othello”. firstly, desdemonas father brabantio is the typical one. he is one representative

17、 of the upper lever rulers who have racial discrimination towards othello.it is too true an evil: gone she is; and whats to come of my despised time is nought but bitterness. now, roderigo, where didst thou see her? o unhappy girl! with the moor, say st thou?1in brabantios eyes, his daughter shouldn

18、t marry a moor who belongs to the inferior race. moreover, he regards it as a shame. brabantio is set in his prejudices of black people, and will not trust even his beloved daughters judgment once it contracticts his own racist beliefs. thus barbantio suggests that a disrespected white man just like

19、 boderigo is superior to a respected noble and gentleman in the army whose only problem as brabantio sees it is that he is black just like othello. secondly, iago and roderigo also have racial discrimination towards othello. beginning with the opening lines of the play, othello remains at a distance

20、 from much of the action that concerns and affects him. roderigo and iago ambiguously refer to a “he” or “him” for much of the first scene. when they begin to specify whom they are talking about, especially once they stand beneath brabanzios window, they do so with racial epithets, not names. they i

21、nclude” the moor”,” the thick-lip”, “ an old black ram ” and “a barbary horse”. so, othellos status as an outsider may be the reason he is such an easy prey for iago. besides, from what roderigo says to brabantio in the following, we can know in the white mind, white girls like desdemona shouldnt ma

22、rry “a stranger” who has just a black skin.your daughter, if you have not given her leave, i say again, hath made a gross revolt; tying her duty, beauty, wit and fortunes in an extrsvagant and wheeling stranger of here and everywhere. 2as a result, on analysis of the play, racial discrimination appe

23、ars every part of the play. in my opinion, the real root of tragedy of “othello” is racial discrimination which is the malignant tumor of the society. in this play of “othello”, although othello and desdemona feel deep love in each other, the reality of society is so cruel that it is no simplity of

24、othello and desdemonas true combination. brabantio opposes against marriage of desdemona and othello strongly, just due to othellos black skin; iago and roderigo tries their best to destroy the happiness of desdemona and othello. finally, it makes othello pay price with his and his wife blood.chapte

25、r 2 internal causes for tragedy “othello”2.1 the whites superiority of its race and culture2.1.1 the whites superiority of its race since great geography was discovered in the 15 century, the whole earth, navigators and challengers appeared one by one in europeans eyes. european got through the new

26、course to east paradise, fought for markets and materials in the east and plundered pearls, jewels and slaves in the africa, mexico and western india. european countries such as britain and france treated badly towards africa colonize. they controlled black peoples politic and sprit in a hegemony wa

27、y. under such a background, blacks were regarded as inferior race, namely “low class”. moreover, blacks had no culture position, no right and no self-esteem. in other word, they were called “uncivilized human”. in europeans mind, they looked down upon everything in africa and considered africa as un

28、civilized world while european as civilized one. clearly, european has superiority of its own race.in shakespeares times, great achievements and marvelous talksof out sea aroused peoples great interests, just like othellos tells about his experiences to desdemona and her father.wherein i spake of mo

29、st disastrous chances, of moving accidents by flood and field of hair-breadth scape; the imminent deadly breach, of being taken by the insolent foe and sold to slavery, of my redemption thence and portance in my travels history: wherein of antres vast and deserts idle, rough quarries, rocks and hill

30、s heads touch heaven it was my hint to speak, such was the process3othellos such experiences just point out he was one representative who suffered the whites aggression, enslavement and robbery and so on in that times. at the beginning of the play othello has been a senior general in venice, but he

31、is just a “black general” or “moor” from the beginning to the end. furthermore, as for the great difference between othello and desdemonas skin, iago takes the chance to plot against him, calling othello” an old black ram” and desdemona” a white ewe”.zounds, sir, you are one of those that will not s

32、erve god, if the devil bid you. because we come to do you service and you think we are ruffians, youll have your daughter covered with a barbary horse; youll have your nephens neigh to you; youll have courses for cousins and gennets for germas. 4from what iago says, we can know iago thinks his race

33、is superior to moor. moor is just a black horse. in other word, moor, in the white mind, doesnt belong to human being. at the beginning of the play, iago has superiority of his race, so he wouldnt like to attend to a black general; maybe he thinks he is better than the moor. so, when iago finds othe

34、llo looks superior to him, in his deep hearts, he hates othello who has a skin in black. moreover he takes advantage of othellos black skin to arouse othellos senseof inferiority complex and jealousy. as a result the tragedy happens.besides, desdemonas father brabontio is angrier with othello. when

35、he realizes his daughter married a moor, he feels very ashamed. in fact, brabantio is one representative of the white, so the superiority of race exists all the time. it is common that brabontio has such a feeling after hearing the news of marriage, because in brabantios opinion, othello is an “ugly

36、 black ghost”. his daughter is just enchanted by othellos witchcraft. ay, to me; she is abused, stoln from me, and corrupted by spells and medicicines bought of mountebanks; for nature so preposterously to err, being not deficient, blind, or lame of sense, sans witchcraft could not. 5according to ot

37、hellos experience, iagos attitude towards othello and brabantios racial discrimination, we can clearly know that the white has superiority of its race, so othello is just outsider who has difficulties in surviving in such a society.2.1.2the whites superiority of its culturein the play of “othello”,

38、the whites superiority of its culture can be shown from othellos acceptance of catholicism. as we all know, since the time of renaissance, christian religion was regarded as the center one in european, however, other religions were called paganism in european, including all the “heterogeneous races”

39、. however, heterogeneous believers were often regarded as “uncivilized persons”. so, the mission of colonists is to make heterogeneous races “civilized”. in other word, it is to transplant the whites culture into heterogeneous races. from the play, we can know the moor othello who suffered a lot had

40、 accepted catholicism and the culture of the center religion country. “for christian shame, put by this barborous brawl.” from the word which othello says, we can clearly know he submits to the center religion of the white. he considers it as an honor. however, the white just treat him as a tool. ot

41、hello can be sent any battlefield in order to service the white. since othello has accepted the religion, it is easy for him to accept the whites opinion about prejudice to women. the prejudice is that women are descendants of xiawa and easily changeable in born. just as what iago said to othello.in

42、 venice they do let heaven see the pranks they dare not show their husbands; their best conscience is not to leavet undone, but keept unknown. 6othello began to accept what iago said about white womens dissolute characteristic. then he has suspicion of his wife. consequently, it causes the tragedy.

43、in sum, it is the result of othellos acceptance of the culture of the white.2.2 people living on the margins of society owing self-abased characteristicfanon points out in his book” black skin, white mask” that blacks have a conscious and semi-conscious feeling of the psychological pain in the face

44、of racial discrimination. therefore, black people have experience of racial discrimination and its crime. under colonialisms economic, political and cultural invasion, without doubt, black people become a group of the inferiority and self-humiliation. in order to make the white change their attitude

45、 towards blacks, black people try hard to get rid of the yoke of their own nation race and the inferior quality, then squeeze into the society and erase a black identity because of their own shame inadvertently on the color of their skin. unconsciously, blacks generate hatred feeling on their skin a

46、nd have a low seft-esteem and self-destruction of body and soul. othello as a black man and marginal person has such a period heart struggle that iago has the opportunity to take advantage of him, which leads to the tragedy.it should be said that, from the beginning, there will be a non-harmonious n

47、oise in the love between othello and desdemona. one is a white and good-looking young aristocrats lady and the other is an old black warrior. the great contrast between them not only causes the uproar of the white, but also affects othellos own mind. if there is no desdemonas suggestion that othello

48、 had a friend that loved desdemona, his friend should but teach how to tell othellos story and he will receive the love of her, othello is afraid to reveal the sincerity of his love. and the other to allow othello to be aware of his marginalized people is his father-in-law brabantio. although othell

49、o has become a general in venice government through his effort to get rid of his original slave position and squeeze into a class society, in fact, at brabantios bone, othello is still regarded as “ugly thing”. nevertheless, the humiliating sense of othello comforts temporarily comfort when desdemon

50、a bravely shows her sincere love towards othello. so, desdemona is just like “the genial sunshine” after storm, as a result, the soul of him tastes the great joy.however, iago who is insidious provokes othellos sense of inferiority complex again and again as a marginal person. moreover, what slander

51、 of iago is that the adulterer of desdemona is cassio who is pretty and young and has all the conditions of gaining womens affections. these are certainly what othello misses, but whats more important is that cassio is a white person. however, it is what othello can never belong to. after hearing ia

52、gos weight words.not to affect many proposed mathes of her own clime, complexion, and degree, whereto we see in all things nature tends-foh! one may smell in such a will most rank, foul disproportion thoughts unnatural. but pardoxme; i do not in position distinctly speak of her; though i may fear he

53、r will, recoiling to her better judgement, may fall to match you with her country forms and hapily repeat. 7what can be said hits the hearts of othellos self-abased mind. his color and his marginal status is a fact and he can not change it. it is from here that othello begins to feel strong psycholo

54、gical pressure. iago defeats the trace of othellos trust for desdemona.“she did deceive her father, marrying you;”why , go to then; she that, so young. could give out such a seeming, to seal her fathers eyes up close as oak. 8from iagos suggestion, othello begins to feel ashamed.haply, for i am blac

55、k and have not these soft parts of conversation that chamberers have, or for i am declined into the vale of years,-yet thats not much shes gone 9the heart of othello couldnt be quiet and the happiness begins to be replaced by humiliation and anger. to be true, when othello finds his first gift a han

56、dkerchief for his wife given cassia, his self-abased characteristic has reached beyond imagination. he finds his marginal identity is the sources of desdemonas betray and meanwhile, he begins his frenzied revenge. consequently, othellos sense of inferiority complex leads to the tragedy.2.3 flaws in

57、othellos characteristicsfrom above discussion about the social factors that cause the tragedy of othello, besides, other factors are from flaws in othellos characteristics, such as othellos sense of inferiority complex, jealousy and credulity. however any persons characteristics are affected by the

58、society. othello is the same as that and his characteristics are the outgrowth of the society. in othellos society, racial discrimination appears everywhere. it is understandable that othello as a marginal person who is often looked down upon owns a sense of inferiority complex. because of a sense of infe