Othello, By William Shakespeare

Othello has been described as one of William Shakespeare’s most popular plays because the play focuses on its themes of good and evil, military, politics, love and marriage, religion, racial prejudice, gender conflict, and sexuality; but the controversy and debate surrounding Othello is “Why is Othello a qualification for a tragedy?”

The tragic hero, Othello, is a Moorish general in the Venetian army that has just married the Venetian nobleman’s daughter, Desdemona. Although Othello was not born into nobility (upper class), his marriage to Desdemona brings him to a noble stature in Venice society. Othello is much older than his wife and of different descent and race, but he willingly stood before Desdemona’s father and fought for their love and right to marriage, he states, “How I did thrive in this fair lady’s love, / And she is mine” (1.3.127-28). This qualifies him to meet the first Aristotelian component for being the plays tragic hero. The first distinguishing feature Aristotle identifies in regards to the tragic hero is that he is the protagonist in high

In Shakespeare’s Othello, the nominal character, an honorable Venetian general, is driven to madness through the deceptions of his honest right hand Iago. Iago plots to ruin Othello and through his deception, he drives Othello’s insecurities by implanting the idea of infidelity of his beloved wife Desdemona. Othello goes on to murder his wife, and after he discovers Iago’s plot, he kills himself. In a time when women were looked down upon, Shakespeare crafted a drama in which women took part in major roles. Modeled by Elizabethan England the women in Othello were portrayed in a light justified by society as in Othello, these women were nothing more to than objectified possessions, forced to submit to the ever dying will of their husbands. This is displayed by Desdemona and Emilia’s and relationships with their husbands.

By Othello’s declaration of his love for Desdemona and undoubtable respect for those who surround him, we are reminded that Othello is a war hero, and a General to be admired. Shakespeare carefully chooses the Senate and Duke, all well reputable and influential figures of venice, to press the name ‘Valiant moor’ into the audience’s mind, this is to deliberately counteract the damage Iago made to Othello’s character and image within the first act. However, when Shakespeare places Othello away from the power of Venetian society, Othello is exposed to his weaknesses, can be viewed as far from virtuous. We are thus able to view Othello as a character easily

Throughout my study of “Othello”, I have learnt of the many aspects of Othello’s character. He is noble and strong, yet he has many insecurities and is recognised for trusting others too easily. This causes him to obtain the famous title of ‘tragic hero’. According to Greek philosopher Aristotle there are certain characteristics of a tragic hero. These include a noble birth, a tragic flaw that eventually leads to his downfall, a reversal of fortune brought about by the hero’s tragic flaw, his actions results in an increase of self-awareness and the audience must feel pity or fear for the character.

The extent of which Othello is a tragic hero has been open to much debate; the basis on which he is judged falls to Aristotle’s established view of the crucial elements that distinguish whether a person is truly tragic. According to Aristotle, a tragic protagonist is a nobleman or person from high status, who contributes to his own demise and illustrates a flaw or weakness in judgment. The tragic protagonist must make a fall from a high state of being to a low state or death. The tragic hero’s downfall, said Aristotle, was brought upon by some error of judgement. Aristotle’s theory is not the final word on tragedy, however it can support in pinpointing the pivotal traits in

In Othello, the Moor of Venice, the titular character, Othello, is the protagonist and subject to scrutiny as to whether or not he is a tragic hero in the conventional Aristotelian definition of the term. Aristotle believed a tragedy served to exercise "the mature citizen's moral sensibilities" (Ferrari, 1999, p. 181). There are several different components of Aristotle's definition of a tragic hero, which essentially serve as a set of criteria to determine whether or not Othello truly is a tragic hero and, by extension, determine whether or not this play is a conventional Aristotelian tragedy. A thorough analysis of Aristotle's definition of the term when applied to Othello, however, reveals that his characterization is not congruent with that of a tragic hero since he displays a number of characteristics that are ill befitting of such figures which means this play is not an Aristotelian tragedy.

Love and jealousy are powerful emotions that can induce behavior that would otherwise not normally be warranted. In Othello, The Moor Of Venice, jealousy is a very important component of the play. Iago uses jealousy to control the Moor, Othello, into committing various acts against his wife, Desdomona, and one of his soldiers, Cassio. It can be deduced that the sheer power of jealousy is the most important theme in Othello because the play shows how a strong General, such as Othello, is subject to this malicious emotion and its trickery, how the strong emotion of love can be transformed into the omnipotent emotion of jealousy, and how jealousy can shroud the truth.

A noticeable theme throughout Othello is that looks are not always what they appear to be. We see this right from the start and all the way to the end. The characters take what they hear and interpret and mold it so that what they see automatically fits into the mental mold they have already created, therefore confirming their suspicions. Iago makes use of a deadly weapon, his words, to mislead characters into misinterpreting what they see. The characters in Othello are unable to recognize the hidden meaning of words often missing the deeper meaning and accepting them at face value. This is evident in several passages, such as Cassio’s fight with Montano and when Iago and Cassio speak about Bianca. Othello believes everything to be true or false, black or white, and real or fake. According to Iago, “The Moor is of free and open nature that thinks men honest that but seem to be so; and will as tenderly be led by th’ nose.” (Othello 2.1.391-393) Just the very nature of Othello’s character makes him vulnerable to Iago’s poison. The combination of interpreting words at their surface meaning and believing what they hear leads to copious amounts of jealous.

Perhaps the most interesting and exotic character in the tragic play "Othello," by William Shakespeare, is "Honest" Iago. Through some carefully thought-out words and actions, Iago is able to manipulate others to do things in a way that benefits him and moves him closer toward his goals. He is the main driving force in this play, pushing Othello and everyone else towards their tragic end. Iago is not your ordinary villain. The role he plays is rather unique and complex, far from what one might expect. Iago is smart.

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.

In this life that we live, different individuals go about their business oblivious of their individual struggles that confront them. According to www.dictionary.com, a struggle is defined as, “a forceful/violent attempt or effort to get free from restraint or contrition”. Some of these struggles are more pronounced than others. From Othello, the tragedy by William Shakespeare, we can see how humans are faced with individual contentions, and their daily actions are in fact, efforts of trying to free themselves. In the discussion below, we not only consider Othello’s struggles of being different, gullible, timid, inferior, proud and selfish but also, Iago’s conniving personality, hatred, greed, manipulation, selfishness and slander.

Tragedy is best felt when an innocent person kills himself while not knowing the truth. The best example of that would be the play Othello by the great William Shakespeare. As little as a handkerchief could make a difference if it is a symbol for something. In the play Othello by Shakespeare, handkerchief is first introduced by Othello to his beautiful mistress, Desdemona, as a sign of their love. At the end of the play what gets Othello to take extreme measures by the location of the handkerchief. As the symbol of the handkerchief transforms from a strong symbol of love to a gift then to factor of suspicious and evidence.

Shakespeare’s Othello is seemingly about the blooming affection between a man and a woman. However, it is a love story gone wrong—or is portrayed as so by the author. In the historical context of Othello, which is set during the Turkish-Venetian war in the 16th century, it is essential to emphasize that Othello is the love story between Othello, the Moorish general, and Desdemona, the Venetian lady. This racial difference is most problematic to the eyes of the white Venetian society, allowing characters like Brabantio, Roderigo, and Iago to use this weakness against Othello. The hatred and jealousy, especially by Iago, is clearly illustrated through the language they use in referring to Othello. While Shakespeare uses characters like Iago

How much is too much?? We can see, Othello serving as an example to demonstrate the expectations of a woman in the society, the practice of privileges in male-controlled marriages, and the suppression and restriction of femininity throughout the play. According to Shakespeare 's society built upon beliefs, women were meant only to be married. As their only occupation, marriage held massive responsibilities of house management and child nurturing. Additionally, women were expected to be silent, untainted, and obedient to their husbands, and all men in general. In our societies women 's subordination is the natural order because women were thought to be physiologically and psychologically inferior to men.