Othello and the Tragedy of Racial Discrimination

This short film offers reflections on the impact of performances of 'Othello' by Ira Aldridge, Paul Robeson and Willard White. Professors Carol Chillington Rutter and Tony Howard offer commentary, alongside Adrian Lester who discusses playing Ira Aldridge in 'Red Velvet'.

In this bit on Othello's Racial Identity, by Philip Butcher, there is such scholarly effort to clarify precisely what the proud general was.  But I think ironically that effort clouds the very fact of racism in Shakespeare's time, all the way to the present day views and staging of the play.  Whether or not Shakespeare meant Moor to mean Moroccan in origin specifically, his play is an outright discrimination against Othello based on his skin color.  The more Iago works his evil on him, the less Othello's royal lineage can save him.  It must've been more than a little courageous for Black actors like Aldridge, then, to play him and subject himself to vicious racism and manipulation.