Shakespeare's play “Othello, the Moor of Venice” is a good illustration of Aristotle’s tragedy. The play has all of the different qualities to be considered as Aristotelian tragedy. Othello, the tragic hero imitates the basic human emotions such as jealousy and pride which becomes his flaw. The flaw creates the climax and leads to ultimate downfall of a tragic hero. The tragic hero realizes his flaw evoking the readers to feel sympathy for him. The play takes the readers through the logical sequence of the plot. Readers can see the transformation of tragic hero from a man of courage and dignity to insecure, capable of being fooled and loses sight of everything.
The play opens in the city of Venice, where the audience witness Senator Brabantio's
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“Othello” is not an “original” play invented by Shakespeare. It is perhaps taken from collection of stories by Giraldi Cinthio, an Italian writer (Kernan, 1986). It is translated by means of language with significant changes and made attractive for its own purpose. Shakespeare made significant changes in the character of Iago and presented Othello as a tragic hero, worthy of tragedy. “Othello” is created to win the readers’ sympathy. Instead of facing punishment, he is made to end his own life so as to bring catharsis on the …show more content…
The Othello is a single complex plot divided into five acts. The plot revolves around the revenge of Iago, the antagonist and jealousy of Othello, the protagonist. The situation develops in one direction of happiness and then suddenly reverses into another direction of disaster. The plot becomes complex when Othello transforms from nobleman to monster through the exploitation of his tragic flaw. The plot moves from exposition to complication, challenge, conflict, climax and finally to resolution keeping the tragic hero consistent. The moment of recognition that arises from incidents occurs in Act V when Emilia reveals that Iago is a liar and when Othello realizes that he has wrongly killed his trustful wife. Othello discovers that his wife is not a whore but a caring and respectful woman. He regrets and realized that he has reached the end of his journey which leads to reversal in his fortune by killing himself. He says “Whip me ye devils, from the possession of this heavenly sight!”
William Shakespeare wrote Othello in 1603. It is a tragic, love story full of love, honour, and betrayal. Othello is the protagonist in this drama. He is a skilled fighter and he is not from Venice. He falls in love with Desdemona, a beautiful and innocent woman from Venice. Her father disowns her for the marriage because he is racist toward Othello. Iago is the antagonist in the drama. The drama starts with him and shows that he is an instigator. He manipulates his way in to the lives of all of the characters and gains their trust. Iago is responsible for most of the sins. He takes on the role of Satan in the ways that he entices the characters into sinning, which leads to their own
Twisted Affection Othello is about a tragic love story that focuses on the theme of love, jealousy, and betrayal. Shakespeare’s true motive of writing Othello is discussed by many scholars of different time with no definite answer. However, when we focus on specific words and the characters’ interactions, we can discover more of the story. Othello can also be interpreted as a story focusing on homosexual love. For example it is implied that Iago, who originally wants to kill Cassio, holds affection toward Cassio instead.
In William Shakespeare’s Othello, Othello is the tragic hero. He is a character of high stature who is destroyed by his surroundings, his own actions, and his fate. His destruction is essentially precipitated by his own actions, as well as by the actions of the characters surrounding him. The tragedy of Othello is not a fault of a single villain, but is rather a consequence of a wide range of feelings, judgments and misjudgments, and attempts for personal justification exhibited by the characters. Othello is first shown as a hero of war and a man of great pride and courage. As the play continues, his character begins to deteriorate and become less noble. Chronologically through the play, Othello’s character
The tragedy of Othello, written by William Shakespeare, presents the main character Othello, as a respectable, honorable, and dignified man, but because of his insecurities and good nature, he is easily taken advantage of and manipulated by his peers and alleged friends. The dynamic of Othello’s character significantly changes throughout the play. The contrast is most pronounced from the beginning of the play to its conclusion, switching from being calm and peaceful to acts of uncontrolled venomous rage. Othello’s motivation in the play appears to be his love and concern for his wife Desdemona, which ironically, ends up being his downfall in the end.
Books related to Othello Othello - The protagonist and tragic hero of the play. A Moor commanding the armies of Venice, he is a celebrated general and heroic figure whose "free and open nature" will enable Iago to twist his love for his wife Desdemona into a powerful jealousy. Desdemona - The daughter of a Venetian Senator, and Othello's bride. The most sympathetic character in the play, she is deeply in love with her husband, and her purity contrasts strongly with Iago's wickedness. Iago - Othello's ensign, and Shakespeare's greatest villain. His public face of bravery and honesty conceals a Satanic delight in manipulation and destruction. Passed over for a promotion by his commander, he vows to destroy the Moor. Cassio -
In Shakespeare?s play Othello, Othello himself is the tragic hero. He is an individual of high stature who is destroyed by his surroundings, his own actions, and his fate. His destruction is essentially precipitated by his own actions, as well as by the actions of the characters surrounding him. The tragedy of Othello is not a fault of a single person, but is rather the consequence of a wide range of feelings, judgments, misjudgments, and attempts for personal justification revealed by the characters.
"The tragic flaw is the most important part of the hero and the events that occur in the work is a reflection of that flaw." Aristotle
Most murder mysteries and tragedies end with killings that are committed with sole action, but in Othello, a tragedy by William Shakespeare, the reader is shown that you can end a man’s life with just words and a plan. Taking place in Venice, Italy the play is about a moor, Othello, who falls in love with a fair skinned woman who goes by the name of Desdemona. Eventually the two get married, but Iago, the main antagonist, plans to seek revenge by killing both Othello and his wife. Shakespeare shows how Iago uses rhetorical devices to convince Othello that Desdemona is having an affair resulting in both their deaths.
Shakespeare's play, “Othello, the Moor of Venice,” is a powerful example of a tragedy and it’s main character, Othello, is an excellent illustration of what Aristotle constitutes as a tragic hero. The play imitates life through basic human emotions such as jealousy and rage. In addition, Othello is far from being a perfect character - another quality that meets Aristotle's requirements. Othello also matches Aristotle's ideas of tragic hero because our Othello realizes the error of his ways, causing us to feel sympathy for him. If we carefully examine the third scene in the third act, we can see how Othello fits into Aristotle's definition of tragic hero. This passage reveals how much Othello has deteriorated as far as his ability to reason
Heroes can come in many different shapes, sizes, and personalities. In William Shakespeare’s play, Othello , the character Othello is a tragic hero. A tragic hero can be defined as a literary character who makes a judgement error that inevitably leads to their destruction. Othello portrays character traits such as he is a man of noble stature, his downfall results from tragic flaw , and he is catastrophic. Othello was a man of noble stature.
In the play Othello, jealousy is shown to be very evident through the actions of the characters. Jealousy is an emotion that everyone shares, and it is ultimately responsible for the tragic ending of the play. Everyone feels jealous at certain times of their lives, and this feeling can cause people to do irrational things. This human emotion also shows people to be weak in the sense that they are never happy with what they have. Shakespeare shows through Othello, Iago, Roderigo, and Brabantio that jealousy is the most corrupt and destructive emotion.
Though the name of the play written by William Shakespeare is called "Othello," the character Othello is not the main character, but rather Iago is. Iago is the character who drives the play, he is the one who makes things happen. Without his greed and hated, there would be no play at all. The whole play is centered around Iago's revenge and in doing so, he is willing to make other people's lives miserable. Through "Othello," Iago uses the other characters to avenge the wrong doings which Othello has inflicted upon him, and will go to any means to do so.
Othello is a tragic hero because of his greatnesses and his weaknesses. He is a noble man who possesses all the qualities of a military leader, which he is. He has control over himself and shows courage as well as dignity. Just as Othello is a virtuous man there are some flaws within him, these flaws complete him ff as a tragic hero. Othello is often blinded by trust and can not see a person for who they really are. He trusts the people around him even when they mean to afflict harm upon him. Through this, it can be seen why Othello is one of the most tragic hero out of all the characters from Shakespeare’s many plays.
Within this play, fundamental questions about humanity, as well as situations, attitudes, and problems that continue to hold strong universal meaning to this day are explored .It shows Shakespeare’s ability to create characters who resemble real life individuals and reflect lifestyles and personalities accurately. You could not help but be moved by the dark despair and utter wretchedness of Othello’s downfall! Shakespeare has dramatically explored many aspects of the human condition in this play, The Tragedy of
Prompt: Write a paragraph identifying the theme of Othello. Be sure to use textual evidence with text. Othello Although in the play “Othello” by William Shakespeare Rage appeals as a theme however, the real theme is Jealous Rage.