Who among the following has used lines from the Shakespearean play Othello to critique racism in one of his poems?
Correct Answer :
Derek alton Walcott
Solution :
The correct option is Derek alton Walcott.
Derek Walcott, the Saint Lucian poet and Nobel laureate, famously critiqued racism and colonial prejudice by engaging with William Shakespeare's tragedy Othello in his poem titled "Goats and Monkeys".
The title of the poem itself is a direct quote from Othello (Act IV, Scene 1), where the phrase "Goats and monkeys!" is used to evoke animalistic, lustful, and dehumanizing stereotypes regarding race and sexuality.
In the poem, Walcott deconstructs the racial politics of the play, exposing how Venetian society (acting as a stand-in for colonial Europe) views the Moorish general Othello. Walcott critiques the racist imagery used by Iago and other characters—such as the portrayal of Othello as a beast or a "black ram"—to show how systemic racism seeks to strip Black individuals of their humanity and reduce them to base caricatures.
By contrast, the other listed figures do not fit this specific description:
• Edward Kamau Brathwaite is a key Caribbean poet known for his development of "nation language" and his historical-cultural trilogy The Arrivants, rather than using Othello in this manner.
• Frantz Fanon was a Martinican psychiatrist and philosopher who wrote seminal anti-colonial prose works like Black Skin, White Masks and The Wretched of the Earth, rather than poetry critiquing racism through lines from Othello.
• Ngugi wa Thiong'o is a renowned Kenyan writer and academic primarily known for his novels (e.g., A Grain of Wheat) and essays advocating for decolonizing the mind and writing in indigenous African languages.
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