Brabantio Protests the Marriage of His Daughter Essay

Brabantio Protests the Marriage of His Daughter - Essay Example This essay would therefore like to determine whether Othello is doomed to fall because of his position as a Black, or because he is merely an outsider. But even with the second option, the play would demonstrate xenophobic tendencies. What was the attitude of Shakespeare’s England to Blacks? England first â€Å"encountered† Blacks sometime in the sixteenth century, probably around 1554 (Orkin 166). By 1601, however, there must have been enough rise in the Black population for Elizabeth I to have noticed and criticized the â€Å"great numbers of Negars and blackamoors which are crept into† England (Jones 12). There was therefore, already a culture of mistrust against the Moors in England. The word â€Å"black† at the time had many different, negative associations of evil, as the OED suggests. However, Shakespeare may not have been part of this attitude. Aaron in Titus Andronicus is still a racial stereotype, but by the time Shakespeare writes Merchant of Ve nice, he is ready to present a more dignified Moor (Orin167).