Othello: issues and their representation

Devils, witchcraft, feminine and racial subordination and a fear of disorder, these were the main issues people were subject to during Shakespeare’s time and this is reflected in his play “Othello”. Though a lot has changed after five hundred years that has affected the way people respond to his dominant reading such as the feminist movement and the drive for coloured people’s rites in America.
Act 1 begins with Iago and Roderigo plotting in the dark and doing so very sneakily. ”I follow him to serve my turn upon him”. To an Elizabethan audience the darkness would represent the work of the devil (who supposedly only worked at night) and would stir their supernatural beliefs. Though a modern (Christian) audience after the reforms of the church don’t see the devil as having a large stranglehold on the events in the world and would miss this dominant reading and just see them as being sneaky and maybe only to some a little mischiev...