Recognition in Tragedy - Othello Essay

Othello is a loyal, honest, brave hero, and he won Desdemona’s love with his own performance and the legendary hero life; however, his low self-esteem causes his doubt for himself about his black skin, age, and manhood, his rudeness, reckless, paranoid personality seized him and

In Shakespeare's Othello, Othello's pride prevents him from finding the truth, eventually leading to his demise. Initially, Othello and Desdemona are deeply in love, despite her father's disapproval of their marriage. However, when Othello promotes Cassio instead of Iago to Lieutenant, Iago has his revenge by convincing Othello that Desdemona cheats on him with Cassio, destroying the marriage between Othello and Desdemona. Othello grows to meet his downfall when his trusted friend Iago causes him to think that his wife Desdemona is unfaithful.

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

The ability of passion to bring destruction upon the lives of the unsuspecting is illustrated in Shakespeare’s Othello with the use of both manipulation and deceit. The curse of fierce passion fell namely on Othello as he transitioned from a respected general to an unstable murderer. His downfall is demonstrated through his increasing self-doubt, lack of ability to articulate, and violence. In the start of the play, he is an accomplished general and happy newlywed, and has yet to be significantly held back due to his being a Moor and outsider in Venetian society. As passion overtakes him, however, Othello truly ingrains the idea that he is less than, and those around him begin to blame his actions on the nature of his ethnicity. He has completely lost his identity to his desires and is unable to think rationally. Shakespeare juxtaposes this version of Othello with his initial composed self in Venice to demonstrate the damage of ignorance to logic and heighten the sense of tragedy. The effects of an overwhelming passion involving love, jealousy, and revenge are shown through Othello’s degradation and loss of stability.

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 had the option of having a rational discussion with Desdemona however he decides to blame her without evidence. While reflecting on the information Iago has given him, Othello begins plotting his revenge. Othellos temper made matters worst for Desdemona. Whenever he becomes angered he lashes out on Desdemona and would physically and mentally abuse her. Othello’s aggressive behavior has become suspicious to some, yet he is left alone. Othello commits the murder of Desdemona with no remorse and doesn't think twice about what will happen to him. Othello states, “Yet she must die, else she’ll betray more men. Put out the light, and then put out the light. If I quench thee, thou flaming minister,I can again thy former light restore”(5.2.235). He undoubtedly believes that Desdemona must be killed no questions asked. When Lodovico realizes what Othello has done he is stunned. Lodovico attempts to convince Othello of what he did is wrong, but he believes his actions were right, ”O thou Othello, thou wert once so good,Fall'n in the practice of a damnèd slave,What shall be said to thee?”, othello then states,” Why, anything. An honorable murderer, if you will,For naught I did in hate, but all in honor” (5.2.342-347). Instead of taking responsibility for killing Desdemona Othello is making excuses to protect

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

A man falls into a violent epileptic shock from sheer anger and jealousy. Othello is an aspiring man, who under delusional rage, allows revenge to blind him and so he betrays the trust of friendship and marriage. Actions alone can merit the characterization of evil simply because some deeds are too purely vicious and

Likewise another weakness of Othello’s would be that he is a man who gets confused easily and cannot judge right from wrong. This can be seen when

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

As it was stated earlier, one of the features of a classical tragedy is that an innocent character suffers. However, it seems that this also appears in ‘Othello’, as Desdemona’s suffering is very prominent. In act 4, scene 3, Desdemona is talking to Emilia about all that she is worried about, and thinking about. One of the most emotional things that Desdemona talks about was her “mother had a maid called Barbary: / She was in love, and he she loved proved mad / And did forsake her” (4.3.25-27). She then has a premonition of death and requests Emilia, if she should die, to wrap her body in one of her wedding sheets, which are now on the bed, “If I do die before thee, prithee shroud me / In one of those same sheets” (4.3.23-24). Desdemona sings the “Willow Song,” and, in this indirect way, she faces the real possibility that Othello is going mad and will

He has a disrespect for most things and cannot even be truthful to himself. He declares that Heaven will be his judge. This is unfortunate, taking into account the sort of curses he uses. Desdemona is described by others before the audience sees her speak for herself. Despite Iago's coarse references, her father and husband describe her as being a gentle, loving woman. Even Iago dares not refer to Desdemona in anything other than glowing terms in the presence of her father. Brabantio's assumption that she must have been drugged to fall in love with Othello stems not only from his racial bigotry, but also from his belief that his daughter is "tender, fair and happy" (1,2,66)

Aristotle classifies both recognitions and reversals as the greatest point of tragedy in a play or story. Recognitions and reversals are consistently used to develop character, advance the plot, and get a reaction of pity and fear from the audience. Recognition is the act of realization or knowledge or feeling that someone or something present has been encountered before. Reversals are a major change in attitude or principle or point of view. For the main character or hero/protagonist to realize everything that has happened throughout, reversals are used by the writer or writers. Recognition is a device which helps

   The Shakespearean tragedy Othello contains a number of themes; their relative importance and priority is debated by literary critics. In this essay let us examine the various themes and determine which are dominant and which subordinate.

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.