Both Iago and Roderigo's xenophobic attitudes are flagrantly seen in the text. They constantly make demeaning comments about his appearance calling him an "old black ram", "thick lips" and telling Brabantio that his grandchildren will be beasts and have "coursers for cousins" as a result of Desdemona's marriage to Othello. Roderigo describes him as "an extravagant and wheeling stranger of here and everywhere", as though to be cautious of him, a contaminated foreigner that must be quarantined. Othello regards his race as a disservice that deprives him of the smoothness of Venetian men, and is privy to feelings of insecurity, after the doubt of Desdemona infidelity builds in his mind. He says "Haply, for I am black And have not those soft parts of conversation That chamberers have, or for I am declined Into the vale of years,--yet that's not much-- She's gone" . From this quote we begin to see the cracks hiding behind Othello's eminence, that sever with Iago's infiltration to cause his collapse. .
Moreover, it is evident that Othello's love to Desdemona can be redefined as an obsession, and is so immense that he instantaneously submits to the suspicion Iago feeds in his mind; he cannot believe that the love he has for this woman is requited. From the relationship they share we can see the respect that Othello has for women, very much unlike the misogynistic attitude of Iago, who maliciously belittles his wife in the presence of Desdemona and Cassio; "Sir would she give you so much of her lips as of her tongue she oft bestows on me, You'll have enough.". He further says in act 3 scene 1, whilst conversing with Iago "I would change places with a baboon before I would drown myself for the love of a female bird," epitomising prejudice to women in the patriarchal context of the play. His relationship with Emilia is entirely polar to Othello and Desdemona's relationship.
