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

These attitudes and values that are revealed in the text are done so through the representation of race and gender.

Brabantio who represents higher society’s views of women has an idealised view of them. To him daughters have to be subservient, and obedient, by making her own decisions in marriage, Desdemona represents betrayal in his eyes. To the people of Elizabethan times it would probably seem that Desdemona undermines her position in society and changes gender politics by marrying without her father’s consent.

How society felt about women is shown by their influences on Othello's behaviour and who he believes about Desdemona’s infidelity. Othello believes Iago over Desdemona, who is his wife.

To the Elizabethan's, who thought hierarchically, fair skin was the epitome of beauty and therefore dark skin ranked below it. The term "black" was used in a variety of texts to stand for sin, filth, ugliness, evil, and the Devil. This value is ascribed to Iago when he describes Othello as the “black moor” hinting at something other than just colour.

Act II scene i shows Iago’s strongest views on women. Iago makes generalisations of women, when he says “you are pictures out of doors, bells in your parlours, wildcats in your kitchens; saints in your injuries, devils being offended; players in your housewifery, and hussies in your beds.” (II.i.109-112).

How these representations reflect the attitudes and values of Elizabethan society is through the way that women are portrayed in the text as I have discussed earlier. In Elizabethan society there was a myth of women's insatiable lustfulness and women were seen as voracious monsters. It was thought that female sexuality was a threat to the patriarchal society, and must be safely contained.

In conclusion, values and attitudes of a particular time and place are revealed in Othello through the representation of race and gender. How these attitudes and values are revealed is through the the way they are portrayed, the character construction, the stylistic techniques, the language, the content of speech and the symbolism.

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.

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Approximate Word count = 2411
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)