In what ways does Shakespeare present Othello as a typical tragic hero?
Professedly, Shakespeare appears to present Othello as tragic hero, exposing his tragic flaw, which consequently leads to his downfall, through his use of language, structure and form. It could be argued ‘Othello’ appears to conform to Aristotle’s principles of tragedy, of the noble protagonist who undergoes perpetia and endures suffering, resulting in his ultimate downfall due to harmatia, which he eventually realises, providing catharsis for the audience. However, upon further study, such devices may be interpreted to provide a different perception of the protagonist, as more of an atypical victim, exposed to the harsh reality of the society he longs to fit into,
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Shakespeare presents this through heavy use of fragmented speech and repetition: “Lie with her? Lie on her...Handkercheif-confessions-handkerchief!”. Not only does this highlight Othello’s maddening state, it also demonstrates his insecurity and disbelief as he is constantly questioning himself, losing control. He makes brash decisions and crude outbursts of how he will “tear [Desdemona] apart” and “chop her into messes”. In doing this Shakespeare is enabled to present Othello as returning to his basic, animalistic sinful state, losing stature and composure and drawing closer to his ultimate decline, but an alternative view would be to see Othello’s insecurity as his downfall. Perhaps this so called “trust” he has placed in Iago is not because he is the “faultless hero” described by Bradley, but rather someone whose trust is neither “strong” nor “absolute!, as Leavis claims. Maybe it is just a ploy to keep the reputation he has sent his entire life building intact. This suggests that, rather than a hero, he is in fact a selfish character motivated by power and a need for acceptance rather than love. In Act 3, he speaks of being “haply black”, and his insecurities are revealed as he believes he is inarticulate, barbaric and lacking “those soft parts of conversation...that clamberers have”. Instead of his trusting nature and jealousy being his harmatia, something Desdemona believes the “sun
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
A “tragedy, for Shakespeare, is the genre of uncompensated suffering” (Dutton and Howard, 2003, p. 9). To really understand the play Othello is to truly understand a tragedy; thus, this researcher will analyze Aristotle’s view point and compare it to phrases (or quotes) from Shakespeare’s Othello.
"Othello is essentially an noble character, flawed by insecurity and a nature that is naive and unsophisticated". Looking at William Shakespeare's Othello The Moor Of Venice, the central character, Othello is revered as the tragic hero. He is a character of high stature that 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 all of the participants. Othello is first shown as a hero of war and a man of
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
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.
Othello’s love for Desdemona was so deep he could not bear the thought of another being with her; “If she be false, O! Then heaven mocks itself. I’ll not believe’t.” Iago uses the characters of Cassio and the obsessive Roderigo as his weapons in his cunning plan. Iago drives the idea into Othello’s mind that Desdemona has been unfaithful, inciting him into a state of jealousy. “Excellent wretch! Perdition catch my soul, but I do love thee; and when I love thee not, chaos is come again.” Othello growing insecurities about his wife’s faithfulness only adds to his psychological suffering which in turn acts as a catalyst towards the suffering of other characters involved in the play.Iago tells these lies with the intention of driving Othello insane as well as establish his dominance and influence the situations of those characters close to Othello. Evidence of this comes in one of Iago’s soliloquies from act two, scene one; “That Cassio loves her, I do well Believe’t: That she loves him, ‘tis apt and of great credit.” This section shows that he is trying to convince himself that his own manipulative lies are true and is trying to reassure his motives by justifying his own actions. By convincing Othello
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
The relationship of the characters in Othello are shaped by the theme of truth and lies. Othello has trouble believing in his relationship with Desdemona because he considers too many outside opinions. Iago is the center of creating manipulations to alter the truth of the actual information. Therefore, Othello questions his fidelity with Desdemona because Iago plants different information to manipulate Othello’s mind and ultimately disrupt his relationship. According to Samuel Taylor Coleridge, “Othello wishes to excuse himself—to excuse himself by accusing” (151). Othello has others easily influence his decisions, in which he is incapable of trusting himself. Needless to say, Othello finds it easier to accuse Desdemona of her wrongdoings and for being unfaithful; he does not question Iago’s creditability. In addition, the theme of truth and lies arise from Othello’s inability to understand himself, so Othello initially has Iago dictate. For that reason, Iago is able to tell Othello anything, knowing that Othello does not question him. However, Othello does not see that Iago manipulates him, and Iago’s lies are perceived as the truth, as it contradicts what Desdemona says.
This quote by Iago puts into Othello's mind that Desdemona may be cheating on him with Cassio. Othello then begins to question whether he was right to marry or not and although without proof, he believes in Iago's words. This is shown in his statement, “why did I marry? This honest creature doubtless sees and knows more, much more, than he unfolds”(Shakespeare 1324), indicates that he quickly turns to doubting his love Desdemona and takes Iago as being credible and true. It also causes him to become jealous and angered with only a simple touch of trickery by Iago. This marks his first sign to a down hill plunge in moral.
When first introduced to the play, Othello, I had been told that Othello was a tragic hero driven insane by a villain. The person who described him to me had led me to believe that Othello was a victim. However, when reading the play Othello, I did not feel he was a victim at all. On the contrary, Othello demonstrates all of the classic signs of a wife abuser:, interference in the relationship between his loved one and her family, prior use of violence, elevating his loved one to an unreasonable standard, unreasonable jealousy, and the use of physical force against his wife. Taken together, these factors highlight that Othello is not a tragic hero, but simply a wife-abuser.
The traits of the tragic hero lead the audience to feel compassion for the helpless victim. However, for Othello this is not the case. His demise was of his own doing. The moment he showed violence towards Desdemona, the audience lost interest in comforting Othello. Instead, they blame him for his own ultimate ruin.
‘Othello’ was written between 1601 and 1603. It was first performed in the Elizabethan courts during the Christmas season. The idea of a ‘perfect’ tragedy is the idea that the tragedy is faultless; it does what is expected; so makes the audience feel empathy and sympathy for the characters who suffer. There are two different types of tragedy: classical tragedy and Shakespearean tragedy. The tragic hero in this play is the main character, Othello. Othello's misfortune comes about because of his jealousy, trust, and his pride. This essay aims to look at, and compare, how Shakespeare wrote his tragedy, and how other tragedies are written. I will mainly compare ‘Othello’, for Shakespearean tragedy, and ‘Oedipus Rex’, by Sophocles, for
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.
William Shakespeare, born in the year 1564, is often considered to be one of the greatest, if not the greatest, writer in the English language. His works range from ingenious poems, such as Fear No More, to plays, such as The Tragedy of Othello. In The Tragedy of Othello, Shakespeare details the story of a celebrated military hero who falls victim to the machinations of a conniving villain who goes by the name of Iago. In his play, he portrays Othello like a tragic hero, a type of literary character. A tragic hero has many characteristics, 3 of them being that they must have an error in judgement, they must have a reversal of fortune, and they must recognize that the reversal of fortune was brought about by their own actions. Furthermore, they must also have a fatal flaw, that eventually leads to their downfall. Othello demonstrates all of these characteristics in the play, proving him to be a tragic hero. Othello makes an error in judgement, which leads to his change in fortune, and later realizes that his actions are what caused said change in fortune.
By using these guidelines, Shakespeare created one of his greatest Aristotelian tragedies. This is because he applied the Poetics’ guidelines to complex plot, the tragic hero, and the establishment of pity, fear, and catharsis of the audience’s emotions. The complex plot follows Othello and his transformation from nobleman to monster through the exploitation of his tragic flaw. As the plot moves from exposition, complication, challenge, conflict, climax, and finally to dénouement, Othello goes through a recognition scene which leads to a reversal in his fortune and his scene of suffering.