How are Othello, Lucifer from Paradise Lost, and Oroonoko examples of marginalized characters?

Shakespeare was a master of writing marginalized characters that are incredibly human, especially given the writing done by other playwrights during his life. Examples of this are Shylock from The Merchant of Venice and, functionally, all of his principal women characters. 

Othello is one of the most accessible examples of this because racial prejudice, especially against African Americans, is still a very prevalent part of today's society. 

In the play, Othello is marginalized because of the color of his skin. Here are two ways this occurs:

1. Animal Images: Othello is called an "old black ram" (I.i) by Iago. All of the animal comparisons Iago uses to identify Othello play on the stereotype of the time that black people have wild, animal-like hyper-sexuality. Or, even worse, that they are less than human. Later, Iago will call Othello a "Barbary horse" (I.i).
2. Desdemona's Unnatural Love: Desdemona is a young white woman who has fallen in love with Othello. However, her family cannot accept that she would have fallen in love with a black man! This love, they say, is "against all rules of nature" (I.iii) and a "judgment maimed" (I.iii). How could she have fallen for someone she "feared to look on" (I.iii)?

Despite all the horrible treatment Othello endures, the play is actually quite forward-thinking because it presents these racist opinions as wrong. Othello is actually an upstanding military general, well-respected and deserving of his rank and honors.

Next, Aphra Behn’s Oroonoko.

Oroonoko is an African prince who is captured and becomes a slave. The racial tensions he faces are similar to those faced by Shakespeare’s Othello. The white English view the Africans as total savages. And why not? They hear stories all the time of how the Africans “cut into pieces all they could take, getting into houses and hanging up the mother and all her children about her.”

Behn, much like Shakespeare, does not continue in the stereotyping of her day. She presents Oroonoko as an intelligent, controlled person—a real person. He is described in contrast to the savagery around him, even in his physical features. (“His nose was rising and Roman, instead of African and flat.”) In fact, Oroonoko is such a great example of an English gentleman that the white society around him seems savage by comparison. Oroonoko’s marginalization is largely by this society. He struggles to find a place in it given the color of his skin.

However, it is important to remember that Oroonoko is not as heroic as he seems. He, an African, sold slaves long before he was captured as one.

Lastly, let's examine Lucifer from Paradise Lost.

Lucifer's marginalization is subtler than Othello's or Oroonoko’s. Before he attempted to overthrow God, Lucifer lived in Heaven, where all angels were equally treated and equally loved. How could he have felt marginalized?

The answer is that Lucifer creates his own marginalization. His absolute pride and desire cause him to be cast out of Heaven to Earth, which he originally thinks is more beautiful. If he could have accepted his place in Heaven, Lucifer would not have faced being a literal outcast.

Also examine Lucifer's language. It sets him apart from the character of God. Lucifer speaks in beautiful, almost Shakespearean dialogue. He is interesting and bold, like Iago from Othello or an evil Hamlet. God, by contrast, is a boring authoritarian. Which character are we more likely to sympathize with?

Thus, we’re left to wonder if Lucifer is actually the hero of the story. Was he thrown out of Heaven (quite evocatively marginalized by God) for being interesting? For wanting more than God was willing to offer?

Which characters are depicted as marginal in Othello, Paradise Lost, and Oroonoko, and why?

Both Beowulf and the works about Sir Gawain function as outgrowths of oral traditions that celebrate and memorialize the heroes of a specific culture and give members of those cultures models to emulate. As we move into the early modern period, literary works become increasingly focused on the individual qua individual rather than as culturally paradigmatic.

Othello: In many ways the characters of Othello appear to be similar to those of the heroic tradition. The leading characters are all either the nobles of Venice or noble warriors in her service. The first character who is an outsider is the prostitute Bianca, who serves a minor role in Iago's plot to make Othello jealous. Like the servants and messengers, though, Bianca does not represent a distinctive break with earlier traditions, as there are often servants and other minor characters who are not nobles who play ancillary roles in heroic epics and in romances. The obvious major figure who is an outsider is the protagonist, Othello himself, who despite being an heroic warrior and a General in the Venetian army, is by heritage a Moor, an African Muslim. Although he is a Prince in his own land, he suffers some degree of prejudice due to his dark skin and foreign origins, with Iago in particular being prone to racist slurs. 

Paradise Lost: Paradise Lost is a retelling of the Bible, and thus contains figures who are divine rather than human. Even Adam and Eve, existing before the Fall, are quite different from postlapsarian humanity. The narrative is one that focuses on insiders becoming outsiders, the double fall of Lucifer and humanity, described as follows:

The first sort [Lucifer and followers] by their own suggestions fell,
Self-tempted, self-depraved: man falls deceived
By the other first: man therefore shall find grace,
The other none (3:129-132) 

Lucifer was once the brightest of the angels and thus an insider, but he and his angels rebelled, and thus were cast out of Heaven and became outsiders, living in Hell. Similarly, by eating the forbidden fruit in response to Satan's promptings, Adam and Eve sinned and were cast out of Paradise, becoming outsiders. The Son, in his plan to sacrifice himself to save humanity, also volunteers to become a temporary outsider.

Oroonoko: This story by Aphra Behn is also concerned with a form of fallen hero. Prince Oroonoko, as an African, would be "outside" English culture. Moreover, over the course of the narrative, Oroonoko and his wife are sold into slavery, and much of the novel focuses on their lives as slaves and participation in a slave rebellion. They are displaced both from the central life of the court and from the geographical region of Africa, thus becoming doubly outsiders.