ABSTRACT
Introduction This chapter investigates the symbolic and categorical uses of the terms ‘black’ and ‘white’ in early modern English by exploring the play Othello by Shakespeare.1 In Othello, the terms ‘black’ and ‘white’ are extensively used to describe and categorise humans, and are also used in their symbolic forms. Thus, this chapter focuses on inherent messages regarding the superiority of ‘white’ to ‘black’ in Othello, as well as the diverse ways in which Shakespeare employs the colour black as a human categorising device. More often than not, the categorical use of black does not occur in isolation but in antithetical relation to the colour white. I have, therefore, also found it necessary to identify and explore the use of the colour white in its descriptive/categorical form.
