When Othello realizes that he had been manipulated and killed his wife (desdemona) for no reason he says “..perplexed in extreme; of one whose hands, like the base judean, threw a pearl away richer than all his tribe; of one whose subdued eyes, Albeit unused to the melting mood, drop tears as fast as the arabian trees their medicinal gum(V ii, 402 ) Othello imagines h is just like an indian who “threw a pearl away” without knowing its true value. What's intriguing about the passage is that Othello supports the notion among Elizabethans that black africans and indians are “base” ( uncivilized) and summarizes accounts of europeans encounters with native americans and how europeans traded worthless beads for precious gems and gold thus agreeing with the idea that natives we to ignorant ro know the true value of anything. Othello talks of this matter in this passage to compare with the experiences he has undergone. Basically saying that Othello is the native and desdemona is the pearl. Its also important to notice how Othello compares desdemona to a pearl because it's a white gem commonly associated with purity. Thus again bringing up racism. As stated By Nicole smith “ The treatment of race in Shakespeare’s Othello is masterful. Building upon the motifs and images established in the earliest lines of the play, Shakespeare deftly portrays how a man can be defined and judged based solely on his race and not on any of his personal abilities or merits.”
When Othello realizes that he had been manipulated and killed his wife (desdemona) for no reason he says “..perplexed in extreme; of one whose hands, like the base judean, threw a pearl away richer than all his tribe; of one whose subdued eyes, Albeit unused to the melting mood, drop tears as fast as the arabian trees their medicinal gum(V ii, 402 ) Othello imagines h is just like an indian who “threw a pearl away” without knowing its true value. What's intriguing about the passage is that Othello supports the notion among Elizabethans that black africans and indians are “base” ( uncivilized) and summarizes accounts of europeans encounters with native americans and how europeans traded worthless beads for precious gems and gold thus agreeing with the idea that natives we to ignorant ro know the true value of anything. Othello talks of this matter in this passage to compare with the experiences he has undergone. Basically saying that Othello is the native and desdemona is the pearl. Its also important to notice how Othello compares desdemona to a pearl because it's a white gem commonly associated with purity. Thus again bringing up racism. As stated By Nicole smith “ The treatment of race in Shakespeare’s Othello is masterful. Building upon the motifs and images established in the earliest lines of the play, Shakespeare deftly portrays how a man can be defined and judged based solely on his race and not on any of his personal abilities or merits.”