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Year 9

Exploration of the theme of race in 'Othello'

I can evaluate the significance of race in the play ‘Othello’.

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Year 9

Exploration of the theme of race in 'Othello'

I can evaluate the significance of race in the play ‘Othello’.

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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. Race cannot be considered a theme in the same way that jealousy and love are themes but it must be considered.
  2. Othello's racial identity is undefined but being an outsider makes him vulnerable to Iago's machinations.
  3. Before Othello, Black characters in Elizabethan drama were often villains; the presentation of a noble Moor was new.
  4. Imagery of black and white, light and dark is regular, suggesting colour is important in the play.

Keywords

  • Dislocate - move something from its place or position

  • Prejudice - an unfair opinion about a person or a group not based on actual evidence

  • Xenophobia - extreme dislike or fear of foreigners

  • Insular - ignorant of cultures, ideas or people outside of one’s own experience

Common misconception

Othello acts in the way he does simply due to his hamartia: jealousy.

We must interrogate why Othello is targeted by Iago, how his outsider status makes him more susceptible to manipulation and insecurity.


To help you plan your year 9 english lesson on: Exploration of the theme of race in 'Othello', download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

Ask students what they think is most to blame for Othello's downfall.
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Content guidance

  • Depiction or discussion of discriminatory behaviour
  • Depiction or discussion of sensitive content
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Supervision

Adult supervision recommended

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This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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Starter quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
In Shakespeare's 'Othello', which character dehumanises Othello at the beginning of the play?
Desdemona
Cassio
Correct answer: Iago
Q2.
In 'Othello', what epithet do characters use to describe Othello that marks him out as an outsider?
The General
Correct answer: The Moor
The Foreigner
Q3.
In 'Othello', what does Brabantio say that shows his stereotyping of Othello?
Correct answer: ''she is abused, stolen....corrupted''
''My daughter! O, my daughter!''
''My particular grief Is of so floodgate and o’erbearing nature''
Q4.
Which belief was held in Jacobean England about race?
everyone was equal regardless of race
Correct answer: darker skin was associated with moral impurity
lighter skin was associated with moral impurity
Q5.
What happens to Othello in Act 3 Scene 3 of 'Othello' that suggests the play is at its peripeteia?
He hits Desdemona
He makes a plan to murder Iago
He sails back to Venice
Correct answer: He says that his race may be the reason that Desdemona has been 'unfaithful'
Consumed with jealousy, he enters a trance
Q6.
How does Shakespeare subvert racial stereotypes in Jacobean England through 'Othello'?
Correct answer: By introducing Othello as a noble Moor
Correct answer: By characterising Iago as the evil villain
By showing Othello to be animalistic

Exit quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
What does it mean if Jacobean society was insular?
They were well travelled.
They welcomed all cultures to their society.
Correct answer: They were ignorant of other cultures.
Q2.
Which idea was embedded in the cultural consciousness of Jacobean England?
Everyone was equal
Women were superior to men
Lightness and light skin was associated with evil
Correct answer: Darkness and dark skin was associated with moral deviance
Q3.
What reveals that Othello has fully internalised the racial stereotype that black equates to sin by the end of the play 'Othello'?
Correct answer: ''Her name, that was as fresh... is now begrimed...As mine...face''
''Haply for I am black and have not those soft parts of conversation''
''Threw a pearl away''
Q4.
In 'Othello', how does Othello's outsider status make him more vulnerable to Iago's machinations?
He doesn't speak the same language as Iago
Correct answer: He is socially inexperienced in Venetian society
He is too busy proving himself as a good warrior to listen to scrutinise Iago
Q5.
What happens to Othello as the play 'Othello' progresses?
he becomes empowered by his race
Correct answer: he becomes dislocated by other people's perception of his race
the significance he places on race diminishes
Q6.
What does the image of Othello killing the 'malignant Turk' as he kills himself in his final soliloquy in 'Othello' suggest?
Correct answer: He acknowledges his status as an outsider
Correct answer: He wants to kill the part of him deemed as 'other'
He is proud of who he is
He wants Iago to suffer a painful death