O thou foul thief, where hast thou stow’d my daughter?
Damned as thou art, thou hast enchanted her!
For I’ll refer me to all things of sense,
If she in chains of magic were not bound,
Whether a maid so tender, fair, and happy,
So opposite to marriage that she shunned
The wealthy curlèd darlings of our nation,
Would ever have, t’ incur a general mock,
Run from her guardage to the sooty bosom
Of such a thing as thou – to fear, not to delight!
Judge me the world, if ’tis not gross in sense
That thou hast practiced on her with foul charms,
Abused her delicate youth with drugs or minerals
That weakens motion.
– William Shakespeare
Othello, Act 1, Scene 2. Brabantio, in his first encounter with Othello in the play, claims that Othello must have used witchcraft to manipulate Desdemona and get her to elope with him. In a metaphor, he likens Othello’s spell to chains used to enshare his daughter. Brabantio shows racial prejudice and hatred towards Othello. He remarks that a beautiful and fair-skinned virgin girl who shunned Venice’s wealthy handsome men would never risk her reputation to run to Othello’s "sooty bosom" unless he used "foul charms" on her. He dehumanizes Othello by calling him a "thing" rather than a person. Gender roles of the time are also reinforced, as Brabantio speaks of Desdemona as a possession, "stow’d" somewhere by the "foul thief" Othello.
