Love is a powerful blindfold; it can make a person see things that are not there or look away from things that would pain a lover. Othello is blinded in his love for Desdemona, blind to all the consequences of a secret love, and ultimately blinded to the treachery of his friend Iago. Desdemona is also blinded, she does not see the color of Othello's skin, and even up to the last she never curses him for his actions. Othello and Desdemona prove that love is more powerful than race to each other but proving it to the world is a different matter. Desdemona's father Brabanzio holds racist thoughts, and calls them aloud in response to the union of his daughter and Othello. Iago uses racism to wield power and speaks of Othello's blackness as a means of bringing people such as Brabanzio, Roderigo, and many other people closer to his side. The issue with the racist comments made through the play is that they are made out of spite for Othello, and not for his color but for his position, and his wife. Othello does not portray any of the qualities that the racist stereotypes would make him out to be, and only after much deception from the person that he most trusts does he display any bit of the savagery it is claimed all Moors possess. Othello maintains a civilized manner throughout the play, more so than the men around him who drink and fight and lie and deceive, until the end when he has been strung too far along and he kills Desdemona. Jealousy and rage over the supposed infidelity of Desdemona drive him to kill her, and not the racism that is held by some of the members of their society.
             The play is peppered with racist comments and jibes about the color of Othello's skin. Particular characters are seemingly infatuated with his race, and hope that it will serve as a means to destroy him. Also, the reader must take into consideration that at the time the play was written it would not have seemed racist because it woul...