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Othello Tragic Hero

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In Shakespeare's Othello, Othello can be considered a tragic hero because he follows Aristotle's six elements of a tragedy. Another tragic hero who follows the same six elements of a tragedy is Oedipus from Oedipus the King. Based on Aristotle's six elements of a tragedy, position, flaw, prophecy, recognition, catastrophe, and reversal, the character Othello from Shakespeare's Othello can be considered a tragic hero.

The first element of tragedy is position, which lets the reader know the position, or status, that the hero is in. In Othello, Othello is the leader of the Italian army and is very important to the people of Italy. "Valiant Othello, we must straight employ you against the general enemy Ottoman (11)." This quote shows how important Othello is to the army and to war. The same kind of position can be seen in Oedipus the King because Oedipus is king and is respected by the people of Thebes. "King Oedipus, the sovereign of our land (Sophocles 5)." This quote shows the importance of Oedipus to Thebes, just like Othello is important to Venice. When Othello is chosen to lead the army overseas, he also makes Brabantio mad by marrying his daughter, Desdemona, without his permission. "And, noble signior, if virtue no …show more content…

" with that recognizance and pledge of love which I first gave her; I saw it in his hand: It was a handkerchief, an antique token my father gave my mother (87)." Once Othello says this, Emilia knows that Iago is the person who set up Desdemona and Othello isn't the one to blame. Recognition can also be seen in Oedipus the King after the shepherd tells the story of the baby. "For if you are the one he says you are, make no mistake: you are a doom-born man (Sophocles 67)." At this point in the play, Oedipus knows that he is the one who is causing the problems in Thebes because the Tiresias was

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