Matthew Chow

Professor Lobell

FIQWS 10113

26 November 2025

Throughout the semester of FIQWS, it has provided me the ability to analyze and obtain various types of reliable and sophisticated works, as well as becoming a stronger writer. Starting off the course, I presumed that I would not enjoy the class as much as I did. FIQWS provided a new point of view and opinion of musical plays and works, that I will look further into even after the class ends. I feel more prepared and new found confidence for upcoming college courses that involve writing, also involving comprehending readings. From Elinor Fuch’s work, Visit to a Small Planet Some Questions to Ask a Play, it helped me analyze plays differently, focusing on other small details besides characters and plot. This course has assisted in my ability to evaluate the authenticity of certain sources, making sure that secondary sources are peer reviewed for a greater sense of reliability. As we have seen many different points of views, evaluating them analytically, this class has helped me to understand readings much easier. 

In our writings, we choose to pick a specific idea/argument and this course has helped through the way we have learned to form theses and gather evidence to strengthen and support our essay helped to produce well written arguments. FIQWS has prepared me well in understanding authors’ and directors’ reasoning for certain things in musical plays, almost everything has a meaning to it. Class discussions about what we have watched or listened to, allowed me to get a deeper grasp on what is actually going on in the plays. The course helped me dive deeper into the smaller details and nuances within musicals and their actual meanings that are trying to be conveyed by the author. 

Regarding my artifact essay, I wrote about the musical snow. I covered the topic of singing vs talking and the reason why this was implemented into the actual musical. I think that I did a good job at covering this aspect in the musical. This essay helped me improve as a writer, as I analyzed the musical on a much deeper level than I would originally. This taught me how to look at musicals through the lens of the creators and question why they would incorporate certain aspects or leave out things. I think that I was able to accomplish everything that I wanted to when writing this essay.

Transitioning to the Genre Translation project, I made a poem from the musical Oklahoma! that we have watched and talked about. I think that this was able to garner more creativity especially for me and bring more ideas about what I can actually write about or do with the resources that I have. I was able to write in a way where it described what was going on in a part of the work, but not writing in the sense of a research essay. This allowed me to do what I wanted, instead of being confined in a set of rules. I felt that I was content at the end of this project and that I had done everything that I wanted to do. 

Within the research essay, I wrote about Shakespeare’s critique of racism and misogyny in his play of Othello. I have previously read and written about Othello, but I was able to choose what I wanted to write about the play. This essay helped me find and utilize more reliable sources and articles that I could use in the future for my papers. I was able to really dive deeper into the world of Shakespeare and his intentions in writing and I think that this helped to make me a better writer as a whole. I believe that when finishing this essay, I was able to write and do everything that I wanted to accomplish. 

Overall, this class has been great for me, allowing me to ease into college, but still be challenged with my thinking. This class is not too hard, but provides the right amount of difficulty of work to be tasked and asked to be given. The class has helped me improve my writing and comprehension that will help me in the future. I felt that there was a community between peers and professors that allowed for easy assistance and understanding for instructions. Due to the community, I was easily able to communicate with my FIQWS professors and peers, which is great and makes it less a stressful college freshman experience. 

Matthew Chow
Professor Lobell
FIQWS 10113

The impact and influence of Othello featuring racism and prejudice

Throughout the infamous play, Othello, written by William Shakespeare in 1603, it uncovers many different topics of prejudice such as racism and misogyny. The play is a tragedy about a Moorish general who falls victim to manipulation, believing his wife is unfaithful. This ultimately ends with all the characters in the play losing everything they once had. During this time period the play was written, it was the cultural norm for racism and misogyny in many areas. The play however, is able to demonstrate the racial and misogynist issues by revealing their impacts to the characters within the play. Shakespeare critiques and brings recognition to these prejudices and uncovers the effects of these matters that continue to affect today’s society.

In Othello, one of the main topics Shakespeare goes over is racism. The main protagonist, Othello, is a military general who has a darker complexion, and is known as a “Moor”. In many instances of the play, Othello is often criticized for his skin and alienated as he is the only person called a “Moor”. In Bilal Tawfiq Hamaramra’s article of “Shakespeare’s Othello and The Romance of Antar: The Politics of Racism and Self-Fashioning”, “Iago uses the rhetoric of racism to undermine Othello’s security and problematise his marriage to Desdemona” (Hamaramra 31). Shakespeare utilizes the characters and plot to demonstrate the effects of racism as it ruins Othello’s life. The degradation that Othello receives, leads him to become insecure and have second thoughts of whether he should be with his love Desdemona. Additionally, in Paula Marantz Cohen’s “Of Human Kindness : What Shakespeare Teaches Us about Empathy”, she illustrates, “[Iago] with the devious aim of playing on Othello’s insecurity as a black man in a white society […] Othello can accept this argument— that Desdemona’s decision to marry him was “unnatural”” (Cohen 79). Shakespeare highlights the injustice of exploiting the minority due to their skin color. Othello simply accepts that his marriage with Desdemona was a mistake because of his skin. He later goes on to justify Desdemona’s “infidelity” because their relationship is “unnatural” due to his “Blackness”. https://youtu.be/zAcmVH8vqZw?si=cwbJeC2m56nfS1Am&t=120 Within this video, “Is Othello a Racism Play?” Lucian Msamati, an actor who played Iago, argues, “It[the play] does lean very heavily on racism. I think it uses […] very easily for dramatic effect” (Royal Shakespeare Company Debate). The dramatic effect that is created due to racism is able to help underscore the issues of race itself, identified through the prejudice received by Othello. The dramatic effect of racism sparks conversation on this topic, while spotlighting the harmful effects of racism. Shakespeare overall emphasizes the effects of racism throughout the play through the character Othello and the manipulation and undermining that he receives purely based on his skin color.

The topic of misogyny is not as evident, but clearly prominent within the play. The topic is illustrated through the mistreatment of women from men in power in the play. In Cohen’s “What Shakespeare Teaches Us about Empathy”, she writes, “in compliance with her husband’s wishes, become an accessory to Iago’s plot {…}she certainly regrets the result and ends up paying with her life” (Cohen 78). Emilia, the wife of Iago, is obedient and listens to all of his wishes, while receiving nothing in return. She is not considered a person, but merely an “accessory” following Iago’s every word. Later in the play, Emilia acknowledges her mistreatment, telling Desdemona and goes to say how they are indeed human too. The writing Shakespeare uses, criticizes the gender norms and the power men had that control over women. The writing brings awareness and is not simply just a story. In Hamamra’s “Shakespeare’s Othello and The Romance of Antar: The Politics of Racism and Self-Fashioning”, he explains, “Desdemona is “condemned to silence” when Iago has impregnated Othello’s ears with glamorous pornographic word-pictures that make Othello perceive Desdemona as a cipher that he fills with his rank writings” (Hamamra 33). Desdemona is degraded and believed to be unfaithful just through word of mouth at first. Othello, who had loved her, easily considered her to be nothing of importance anymore once learning she had “cheated”. Shakespeare underscores how women are easily able to be dismissed due to their gender, creating this social hierarchy where men are in charge.

Through these important topics, Shakespeare critiques the social hierarchy, illustrating how powerful race and gender can be. Racism is utilized in the play as a tool for manipulation and a way to obtain power. In the article, “Othello and the “plain face” Of Racism”, by Martin Orkin, he writes, “Both Iago and Roderigo use racist insinuation during their attempted putsch against Othello’s position and reputation” (Orkin 3). Both Iago and Roderigo have positions in rank lower than Othello, yet they are able to use race as a lever as an attempt to overthrow him from his position. Through gender, Shakespeare demonstrates the clear gap in the social hierarchy between the men and women that exists. In the article, “Sexual Anxiety and the Male Order of Things in “Othello””, by Edward A. Snow, he illustrates, “the apparent moment of insight and repentance perpetuates (and invites us to become complicit in) the definition of Desdemona as a valuable object, a private possession that was his either to keep or dispose of” (Snow 3). Shakespeare makes it evident that women in the play are of no power. Othello objectifies his wife, Desdemona, and he views her as someone he could change or get rid of at any moment. Desdemona even though she is a noble woman and daughter of a senator, she is absolutely powerless in the comparison to Othello. Both race and gender are powerful themes that Shakespeare applies to the play to critique the social hierarchy.

In essence, throughout the subjects of racism and misogyny, Shakespeare employs these to critique the norms of societies and these critiques even apply to today’s world. Shakespeare highlights the exploitation of race and effects of racism, illustrating the negative outcomes due to it. While gender is not specifically talked about like racism, it is equally as eminent. Shakespeare acknowledges the gender hierarchy through his writing of the mistreatment of the women in the play. The women are degraded and treated inhumanely as the men hold the power. While critiquing these issues, Shakespeare truly displays how powerful gender and race is and their ability to dismantle and disfigure people and relationships. This idea applies not only in plays, but in everyday life as well.

Works Cited:
Cohen, Paula Marantz. Of Human Kindness: What Shakespeare Teaches Us about Empathy. Yale University Press, 2021.
Hamamra, Bilal Tawfiq. Shakespeare’s Othello and the Romance of Antar: The Politics of Racism and Self-Fashioning, www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/25723618.2019.1644001.
Orkin, Martin. Othello and the “Plain Face” of Racism on JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/2870559.
Snow, Edward A. Sexual Anxiety and the Male Order of Things in Othello, The University of Chicago Press, September 1980, https://www.jstor.org/stable/43446996?searchText=othello+misogyny&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Dothello%2Bmisogyny%26so%3Drel&ab_segments=0%2Fspellcheck_basic_search%2Ftest&refreqid=fastly-default%3Af04cde9e0f614798d399491471db782e&seq=1
Royal Shakespeare Company. “ Is Othello a Racist Play? Highlights with Subtitles | Debates | Royal Shakespeare Company .” YouTube, 15 Dec. 2015, youtu.be/zAcmVH8vqZw?si=RDTBeo6dENki5Djf.

The cowboy’s game is a confident one
The cowboy’s game is typically fun
Wooing and teasing
Losing and leaving
The cowboy’s game is pleasure for one

Yet tonight there’s a new fun
A harsh and cold one
He jokes, he laughs, but he holds his heart
He’s clearly just playing a part
When her beautiful round eyes shine in the sky
He can’t help but to lose his disguise

But you see
There’s an anchor, pride, that limits the real state
And she sees no other choice but to retaliate
A frightening game on the seesaw
With all those involved, losing in awe

Truth is not an easy adversary
It’s real scary
It hurts the throat and aches the heart
To aid this pain he fakes the part

He who plays the cowboy’s game
Sport of confidence and fame
Does not seem to have won
As a fraud spoke and truth should have run
The cowboy’s game is not pleasure for this one