Racism and interracial marriage in OthelloOthello: The Moor of Venice is probably Shakespeare's most controversial play. Throughout this work the theme of racism is evident, a racism that has become common in Venetian society which rejects the marriage of Othello and Desdemona as anathema. The text expresses racism throughout the play within the linguistic transaction of dialogue to question the social ethics established by Othello, thus making him nothing less than a cultural “other.” Furthermore, Desdemona's character is shown as mad, or out of her mind, for marrying such an "other", and the audience sees her slip from an angelic state of purity to that of a tainted character. Furthermore, the menacing Iago, mastermind of deviant rhetoric, is able to turn Othello and Desdemona against each other until their marriage fails, while at the same time destroying his adversary and friend Cassio. So Iago has a specific agenda, not only to take revenge on Othello for choosing Cassio over him, but also to make Cassio the victim of his plan to destroy the forbidden marriage called a "blood betrayal" by Brabantio (1.2 .166-167). Essentially, Iago is a representative of the white race, a pre-Nazi figure who seeks to inform the audience of the impurity of the marriage between Othello and Desdemona. It demonstrates how this miscegenation is a threat to the existing social order. Therefore, through the analysis of racism, the work represents the hatred possessed by humanity - a hatred so strong that society sees mixing with an "other" as a curse to humanity and a terrible threat to Aryan culture . that the climax, or rather the main premise of the work, appears almost at the beginning; al...... middle of paper......Gardner, Helen. "The Noble Moor." British Academy Annual Shakespeare Lecture: The Proceedings of the British Academy. vol. 41.Oxford University Press. London. 1955. Given, Welker. A further study of Othello: have we misunderstood Shakespeare's Moor? The Shakespeare Print. New York, 1899. Neill, Michael. “Improper Beds: Race, Adultery, and the Horrific in Othello.” Critical essays in Shakespeare's Othello. Ed. Anthony Gerard Barthelemy. New York: G. K. Hall & Co., 1994. 187-215. Newman, Karen. “‘And wash Ethiopia white’: femininity and the monstrous in Othello.” Critical essays in Shakespeare's Othello.Ed. Anthony Gerard Barthelemy. New York: G. K. Hall & Co., 1994. 124-143. Shakespeare, William. "The Tragedy of Othello: The Moor of Venice." The Classic Shakespeare seal. Ed. Alvin Kernan. New York: Putnam Penguin, 1998.