Othello Tragic Hero Essay

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

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?”

By the middle of the play Othello’s mood and demeanor seem to shift from being peaceful and patient to very anxious, paranoid, and gullible. For example when Othello is talking to Iago and Iago suggests that maybe his wife is not being faithful to him, it becomes Othello’s obsession to get down to the bottom of it and catch her. “I have been talking with your suitor here, a man that languishes in your displeasure / Who is’t you mean / Why, your lieutenant, Cassio. Good my lord” (III.iii.41-43). In this dialog between Othello and Iago, with just two sentences Iago causes Othello to lose trust in his wife and believe she is being unfaithful to him which grows stronger and stronger each scene of the play. Because Iago is extremely cunning and manipulative, he is able to control almost anyone he chooses and he is in control of Othello’s emotions because he knows the things Othello fears. Iago is pretending to be Othello’s friend but secretively is going behind his back and bringing him down. Iago convinces Othello that Cassio is having an affair with Desdemona. “I humbly do beseech

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 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

Now that Michael Cassio is in distraught, he has no one to turn to, but Desdemona, Othello’s wife. Iago’s ultimate destruction is put into full motion. Michael Cassio and Desdemona spend a lot of secretive time together trying to figure out how to convince Othello to reinstate Cassio’s lieutenant position. The only person that knows their time together is Iago, since he is considered a trustworthy friend. This makes Iago’s plan

Othello, not knowing that Cassio was in fact speaking with Desdemona in hopes of being reinstated as Lieutenant, mistakenly believes that the two are having an affair and that Desdemona has lost her chastity. Iago skillfully capitalizes on the situation by developing his attack further: "She did deceive her father, marrying you" (3.3.220). Othello begins to see Iago's reasoning: if she could deceive her father, she could just as easily deceive her new husband. Once Othello's bliss has been decimated, Iago concentrates on weakening Othello's perception of himself; Iago very carefully and very tactfully chooses words and metaphors that subconsciously pit Othello against the Venetians. Othello begins to perceive himself as an outsider in his own country, "a malignant and turbaned Turk" (5.2.365). A fruitful marriage with a Venetian woman becomes out of the question in Othello's mind. Iago's successful manipulation takes a self-confidant man and reduces him to one at ends with himself and with the woman he loved.

It is pretty evident that the most obvious theme in Shakespeare’s play, Othello, is jealousy and revenge. Iago is the key character to almost every event that happens throughout the play. Othello has passed him over for a promotion. Instead of choosing his thought to be ‘right hand man’ Othello chose an outsider, Cassio for the second in command job. This left Iago upset with Othello and extremely jealous of Cassio.

Iago persuades Roderigo to kill Cassio while Othello smothers Desdemona. Emilia then reveals to Othello Iago's manipulation. As Emilia continues to divulge Iago's actions he kills her and flees. When Iago is returned to Othello, Othello wounds him and upon realizing the tragic actions he has brought about, kills himself.

On November 1, 1604, King James I and his court were the first to watch a production of William Shakespeare’s “Othello.” The famous playwright was in the midst of his tragedy period, penning such classics as “Hamlet,” “King Lear,” and “Macbeth.” The story of “Othello” has its roots in the historical events and cultural atmosphere of the late 16th and early 17th centuries.

3, l. 385-387). The news of Desdemona's infidelity to him not only hurts his pride but also causes him to show his jealousy. He really does love her that the thought of her being with another man is unbearable to him. She causes him to be so stressed that he has seizures. When he asks to see the handkerchief that he gave her as a present and represents for him their love, he gets angry and yells at her because he thinks she has given it to Cassio: "Is't lost? Is't gone? Speak, is't out o'th'way?" (Act 3, Sc. 4, l. 93). Near the end of the play, he is so influenced by Iago that he loses all trust in Desdemona. Despite the lack of proof that there is a real affair, Othello wants to murder Cassio and Desdemona for tarnishing his reputation. However, it is his paranoia that is threatening his reputation: "How shall I murder him / Iago?" (Act 4, Sc. 1, l. 188-189). At the downfall of his existence, when he has killed Desdemona, he finally realizes that he is wrong and that he killed his beloved wife because of his unbridled jealousy and pride. He regrets his actions and tries to correct his mistakes by apologizing and asking for the witnesses to speak of him after he is gone as he was before:

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. Throughout the play,

Othello, the Moor of Venice is one of the major tragedies written by William Shakespeare that follows the main character, Othello through his trials and tribulations. Othello, the Moor of Venice is similar to William Shakespeare’s other tragedies and follows a set of specific rules of drama. The requirements include, following the definition of a tragedy, definition of tragic hero, containing a reversal of fortune, and a descent from happiness. William Shakespeare fulfills Aristotle’s requirements in this famous play.

It is then on a theme of hate that the play opens. It is a hate of inveterate anger. It is a hate that is bound up with envy. Othello has preferred to be his lieutenant a military theorist, one Michael Cassio, over the experienced soldier Iago, to whom has fallen instead the post of “his Moorship’s ancient”. Roderigo questions Iago:

The Tardy of Othello, the Moor of Venice play written by Shakespeare is an outstanding play that will make the audience laugh, cry and be on edge during the performance. Othello the main character is a respected General, but has a harsh background that he himself is not sure how to handle outside of a battle field. Othello has no one to blame but himself. Due to his flaws of bad decisions, irrational thinking and jealousy turned him in to the “green-eyed