Othello (The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice) is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1603. Shakespeare based the play on a story “of the Unfaithfulness of Husbands and Wives.” The story revolves around its two central characters: Othello, a Moorish general in the Venetian army and Iago, his unfaithful ensign. This play has withstood the test of time, and because of its lasting themes of racism, love, jealousy, betrayal, revenge and repentance, it is still preformed and appreciated by many until this day. Jealousy is the heart of this play. At the beginning of the play, we can see jealousy has twisted Iago just as badly as it will eventually warp and corrupt Othello. Apparently once a good and honest soldier, Iago allows jealousy to lead him down a dark path from which he does not or cannot turn back.
As defined by Aristotle, Othello does fit the description of a tragic hero. Aristotle’s definition of the tragic hero is: "a [great] man who is neither a paragon of virtue and justice nor undergoes the change to misfortune through any real badness or wickedness but because of some mistake." Tragedy depicts the downfall of a noble hero or heroine, usually through some combination of hubris (defined as excessive pride or self-confidence), fate, and the will of the gods. In our Textbook, they list Aristotle’s three tragic flaws as follows: he must be a person of high estate, he must fall from that position into unhappiness, and his
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
What is a tragic hero and why is Othello considered one? The tragic hero archetype is used in many different pieces of writing and with every character comes a different way of using it. While adding to the tone of the story it also adds to the characters overall personality from the reader's perspective. In Shakespeare's Othello he uses this in his main character. This slowly comes together throughout the play and is presented with many examples. There are examples of Othello's high status, tragic flaws, and his inevitable downfall.
Othello has enduring relevance because of the themes which Shakespeare has used, the complexity of the characters and the way in which he uses language to create meaning. The play explores ideas such as jealousy, manipulation, racism and sexism, all of which people nowadays can still relate to. It is also a timeless classic because of the way in which we can reinterpret it into a modern context. Othello is a tragedy which was first performed in 1604 for an Elizabethan audience in London. It’s a story of jealousy and deception in which Iago deceives Othello, a General of Venice, into believing that Desdemona, Othello’s wife, cheated on him with Cassio, his Lieutenant.
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
Shakespeare’s Othello is a play consistently based on jealously and the way it can destroy lives. One is quick to think this jealously is based on Othello’s lack of belief in Desdemona’s faithfulness to him or his suspensions over Desdemona’s affair with Cassio, Othello’s honorable lieutenant. Upon closer inspection of the jealously that exists throughout the play it becomes clear that his jealously is not the sole start and reason for all of the destruction that occurs. Iago, a good friend of Othello, is not who he appears to be. Iago’s own jealously of those around him pushes him over the edge. He begins to deceive all those who believe he is a true, honorable, and faithful man. Throughout Othello, Iago incites his own jealously in
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.
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
serve god if the devil bid you” and he also says “the moor is now
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
William Shakespeare’s Othello, the Moor of Venice is a play of great manipulation and jealousy. Iago is the antagonist character of the play Othello. Iago becomes irate and filled with jealousy when Othello names Michael Cassio as his lieutenant, because Iago believed he should have been the one promoted not Michael Cassio. By manipulating everyone around him, Iago portrays himself as an honest noble man whom can be trusted. Iago being known for the honest man he earns everyone’s trust and therefore learns their weakness for his ultimate plan of destruction. Iago’s greatest skill is disguising his manipulative schemes of destroying and betraying the ones around him with what he leads people to believe as honesty. Iago uses their
Traditionally in a tragedy the tragic hero has several parts; noble stature, hamartia (usually as a result of hubris), free choice and a nemesis. Othello as a character of noble blood seems to conform to all these. Up until Act III Scene iii Othello, “noble Moor” is in an elated position and is very aware of his importance. It is in Act 3 Scene 3 where Othello takes on a new persona, where his confidence and happiness is tragically replaced with jealousy and rage.
The play “Othello” by William Shakespeare was written in 1604 during the Elizabeth era. Othello is one of the most extraordinary characters in all of Shakespeare’s dramas. He enjoyed unheralded success in the combat zone, which gave him the reputation as one of Venice’s most competent generals. Even though he has great success in the battlefield, he has a dramatic flaw that causes a downfall in his life. The dramatic flaw that causes his downfall is jealousy. This was brought on by a simple persuasion of Iago, the evil character in the play. Even though Iago used extreme manipulation to get Othello to be jealous, Iago did not really have to try very hard to get Othello in a jealous state of mind. Othello was blinded by his jealousy which
.In the play, Othello written in 1603 By William Shakespeare the idea of the power of intense jealousy is shown between the characters of Othello and Iago by demonstrating the lengths a person is willing to go due to the jealous mind that has been created in them. Topic sen: In the play the root of most of the issues is Iago; He deems it necessary to hurt other people because he himself is Jealous for not getting the job he wished for.
Othello is commonly mislabeled as a tragic hero. The classification of a tragic hero comes from Aristotle and to be a tragic hero, a character must have specific traits. These traits include: Sacrificing themselves for a greater cause, not being responsible for mistakes, and their biggest weakness must be pride. By this definition, Othello’s actions, attitudes towards women and insecurities make him incapable of being considered a tragic hero. Throughout the whole play Othello, Othello needs validation.
In Othello by William Shakespeare, the villainous Iago devises a plot with the hopes that Othello and his wife, Desdemona, will be separated so that he can take Othello’s position as head of the Venetian Military. Iago’s scheme consists of him convincing Othello that Desdemona is cheating on him with his lieutenant, Cassio. Iago has told no one else about his ploy so while everyone else’s actions remain true, he manipulates their every move for his benefit. While their actions may not lead to results that they expected, exploring the reasoning behind everyone’s actions, can give insight to their values since the actions were based on what they believed was the best thing to do. To the characters of Othello, honor is more important than