The Venetian society that Othello is set in is representative of the writers context.

The attitudes and values that Shakespeare reveals through the text are those same attitudes and values of Elizabethan society in England in the sixteenth-century.

Although Othello is set in Venice and Cyprus, the attitudes and values shared in the text are probably reflective of the attitudes and values of Shakespeare's own society. It is difficult to assess the attitudes and values of people in sixteenth-century Britain to the relatively few blacks living amongst them. We are given an insight into those attitudes and values through the representation of race and gender in the text of Othello.These attitudes and values are indicative of what a culture believes in and supports.

By the time Othello was written the English were becoming more and more aware of the existence of other races in the world besides themselves.

There had been a lot of travelling and blacks were beginning to be used in Europe for the slave trade. During the time the play was written, the Queen of England had banned all blacks from entering the city. She spoke of them as "Negars and Moors wh

The way the attitudes and values of Elizabethan England are represented through gender is based on the portrayal of women in the text.The three women in the text are Desdemona, Emilia, and Bianca. And together they construct a well rounded view of women in society. From Angel through realist to whore. The other way women are portrayed is through the portrayal of them by other characters. The characters who offer the most notable portrayals are Iago, Brabantio, and Emilia.

The idea of race developed as a way to explain social divisions in a society that thought it believed in equality. And what constitutes race has changed quite dramatically since then.

It is important because women in "Othello" make up the backbone of the play. Without them there to antagonise the men and generate intense feelings of love, hatred and jealousy, the play could not and would not exist.

Othello is presented initially as a dangerous beast by Iago, before he reveals himself to be of noble, human, status, only to degenerate later to the condition of a bloodthirsty and irrational animal. He is the hero of the play and this is achieved by his last speech(V. ii. 340-356) where he rights himself at the end of the play. "I kissed thee ere I killed thee: no way but this, Killing myself, to die upon a kiss" (V. ii. 359). By showing us these contrasting images of the moor, Shakespeare is revealing the two different attitudes to race. The one of acceptance, as shown through characters such as Montano. And the one of hatred, as shown through characters such as Iago.

Therefore, to marry without the bride's father's permission could be seen as an act of theft. This may explain why Brabantio reacted so strongly to the union of Othello and Desdemona.These attitudes and values contrast quite drastically to those ascribed to society today. Nowadays coloured skin is a common occurrence and a character such as Othello would be quite socially accepted. Race is both more accepted and more abused than in Shakespeare's time.

The way race is portrayed reflects Shakespeare's and his society's attitudes to race.

The supposed inferiority of women follows from the fact that human societies have been dominated by men.

Othello is a perfect example of where the women are made to seem inferior to the men through the use of stylistic techniques, plot, and use of language. But why is this so important?

Some common words found in the essay are:
Act II, Othello DesdemonaThese, Iago Desdemona, Desdemona Othello, Ham Genesis, Venice Cyprus, Mythology Women, Valiant Othello, Shakespeare Brabantio, Iago Roderigo, attitudes values, elizabethan society, values elizabethan, race portrayed, attitudes values elizabethan, society's views, revealed text, values elizabethan society, representation race, race gender, representation race gender, character othello, view women, attitudes values revealed, vehicle representation society's,
Approximate Word count = 2371
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)