Othello by William Shakespeare is a play about a black general who is the only one who is black. No one else in Venice or Cyprus comes from Africa like the Moorish Othello. Indeed, with such a high position in the Venetian army, Othello seems to fit perfectly into the role of general; his race has an almost invisible quality. His race seems invisible because his nobility and the respect others have for him transcend the mistreatment he might receive for being so physically different. However, this play is not free from racism or noting race and its connotations. Othello does not truly have a race until it manifests itself in his race or until others choose to notice it. Therefore, race is a latent quality in Othello, a quality not entirely apparent until he gets too personal with the light-skinned people around him and they reject him or he feels rejected and searches for reasons. Important people in Venice supersede Othello's awareness of race. they compete with the great respect they have for him, implying that Othello's abilities far surpass any racist feelings others have for him. Iago, who is Othello's false ensign, even says that he cannot outwardly appear to hate Othello because he would do nothing to get rid of him: every person in Venice needs his skills as a general. However, reading what Iago says helps to see what the common voice of the other light-skinned characters in this play might be about how race and rank interact: “To be produced…Against the Moor for I know, the state, However this may vex him with some control, he cannot cast it with confidence; for he has embarked with such reason in the wars of Cyprus, which are still going on, that for their souls, another of his... middle of paper... whose solid virtue The blow of neither chance nor chance's dart could either look or pierce (67)Lodovico questions Othello's sufficiency, nature and virtue.The Senate obviously saw all these things in Othello since he told them to Lodovico but at this point in the story he has changed a lot: he doesn't feel like the general and therefore he doesn't behave like one and in turn loses all his human qualities Othello's characters as they expect him to be occurs when Lodovico says "O you Othello... you were once so good, [but] fallen into the practice of a damned slave" (89). The transition is smooth in Lodovico's mind: he was once the noble general whose skills surpassed his limits and now he practices the skills of what he truly is, a damned slave..