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Introduction
William Shakespeare’s play, Othello, the Moor of Venice, describes tragedy using Othello as the protagonist. Othello is a Moorish soldier in the Venetian army who is highly qualified and respected. In the play, he finds himself in several tragedies resulting from racial discrimination, envy, love, and infidelity. Other characters involved in Othello’s tragedy are Desdemona (Othello’s wife), Iago (army ensign), and Cassio (Othello’s lieutenant). Throughout the play, these characters interact with Othello at different levels to create tragic incidences. The experiences that Othello went through from his prominence to downfall are sufficient to label him as a tragic hero; hence, Shakespeare’s play, Othello, the Moor of Venice, can be classified as an Aristotelian tragedy.
Main body
Many people in Venice admired Othello for his exceptional military expertise. In contrast, Iago hates Othello for appointing Cassino, a younger soldier, to a lieutenant position. One more reason Iago hates him is Othello’s marriage with Desdemona despite being of Moorish origin. Desdemona’s father is also furious over Othello’s marriage since he was opposed to her daughter getting married to a black husband. Before long, Iago becomes jealous of Othello’s success in the profession and marriage. Coupled with a suspicion that Othello might have slept with Emilla, his wife, Iago plans to disrupt Othello’s marriage and profession completely. He secretly plans a plot that proves to Othello that Desdemona is promiscuous. Iago is sure that the actions Othello takes after realizing that Desmodena is cheating on him would be vital for his downfall.
At the beginning of the plot, Iago warns Othello to be suspicious that Cassio is dating Desdemona. Later on, he aims to create a scenario that will confirm to Othello that Casio and Desdemona are dating. One day, Desdemona happens to drop her handkerchief, the first gift Othello gave her, which Othello termed as very important to their relationship. Iago requests his wife Emilla to steal the dropped handkerchief for him. After Emilla successfully steals it, Iago quickly places it in Cassio’s bedroom as evidence that he has an affair with Desdemona. Iago approaches Othello and asks him to listen to him as he interrogates Cassio over the handkerchief. After listening carefully, Othello is convinced that Cassio is sleeping with his wife.
Othello turns tragic after Iago succeeds to cheat him that his wife is promiscuous. Remorsefully, Othello decides to kill his wife and orders Iago to kill Cassio over the matter. Immediately, the main hero starts tormenting his wife by beating her up even sometimes before Venetian dignitaries. At the same time, Iago hires Roderigo to kill Cassio. Unfortunately, when Roderigo attacks Cassio on his way out of the Bianca lodgings, they fight until they get wounded. In the process, Cassio realizes Roderigo is the attacker. To avoid the plot leaking, Iago stabs Roderigo to death. On the same night, Othello struggles with Desdemona to death in their matrimonial bed. Fortunately, Emilla is the first witness to discover that Othello has killed his wife. In his justification, he mentioned the handkerchief as proof of infidelity. Emilla exposes her husband for plotting the handkerchief menace.
More tragedy in the play is witnessed after Emilla confesses what her husband has done. Immediately, Iago kills Emilla for betraying him. On the other hand, Othello stabs Iago, though not to death, as revenge for the conspiracy. Both Othello and Iago are apprehended and charged with murder. Later, Othello commits suicide using a knife he has secretly carried at the time of his arrest. Desdemona is Othello’s tragic paradigm in this play. She remains loving to Othello yet she suffers in his hands after Iago plots her as unfaithful. For all the time Desdemona is married to Othello, she vows to have maintained their relationship at all cost. She even sacrifices her father’s racial sentiments over marrying a black man. The author argues that Desdemona was the most sinned character in this play.
Othello’s tragic repercussions can be linked to that of Aristotle, who defines tragedy as a replication of action of great importance, magnitude, or completeness through emotions created due to panic and pity. Othello in Shakespeare’s play is the epitome of this definition. In the play, Othello’s life is dominated by incidences of intertwined killings, conspiracy, dilemma, and jealousy. All the scenarios describing Othello’s downfall from a prominent army boss depict a perfect Aristotelian tragedy in Shakespeare’s play.
Throughout the entire play, Othello proves to be a tragic hero according to Aristotle’s tragic principles. Aristotle, being a Greek critic, summarized the characteristics of a tragic hero into three. First, the tragic hero must be a person from a high estate like a noble or prince. Secondly, such a person must exhibit the tragic fault, and be poor in judgment. Finally, a tragic hero must fall from the high estate to a lower one. These three characteristics precisely describe Othello’s turn of events throughout the play. For instance, besides Othello being a highly skilled army general, he is adored and esteemed by the Venice people. Traditionally, it was a norm among the Italians that a foreigner of sound military expertise should head their army. Consequently, Othello is the Governor-General of Venice holding the topmost position in the army.
Aristotle asserted that a high-state tragic hero must not necessarily be from the noble or royal family. The fact that Othello, a Moor, holds such a prestigious position in the foreign land, quantifies him to be likened to a high-estate status. Therefore, his fall from this prominent position is a tragedy of its kind. At the beginning of the play, Othello enjoys a powerful position as the army boss. His downfall from a power icon to a murderer makes his life tragic. Aristotle avowed that one cannot be a tragic hero due to a mere downfall. Instead, the downfall of a tragic hero must be contributed by his or her faults. Alternatively, the downfall can be a result of the hero’s poor judgments that eventually land him or her in downfall. In this context, Othello is quick in judging Iago’s trickery that Desdemona is unfaithful. Instead of investigating the allegation before taking an action, Othello quickly believes every word Iago tells him.
Despite the play portraying Iago to be responsible for Othello committing suicide and killing his wife, Othello’s downfall is self contributed. Shakespeare is categorical that Othello’s impulsive character and irrationality is the key cause of his depressing ending. At the beginning of the play, Iago asserts that generally Othello is honest, open, and tends to believe other people’s opinions. Iago decides to use this weakness to facilitate Othello’s downfall. He is sure that Othello would do something stupid when he learns this fact. For sure, Iago is successful in his plotting. However, Othello’s downfall is oriented to his poor judgment of the scenario created by Iago. Therefore, Othello is a perfect example of Aristotle’s tragic hero in Shakespeare’s play.
According to Aristotle, a tragic hero is not sufficient to quantify a tragedy. The critic asserts that a tragedy must contain purgation which portrays justification to the audience. In Shakespeare’s play, nearly all the characters end up dead. We do not expect the audience to be amused by the play’s conclusion. However, the audience seems to have a sense of justification from the teachings they got from the characters. Aristotle further stated that panic and pity caused by various tragedy scenarios constitute purgation. Shakespeare succeeds in influencing the audience to feel sorry for Iago, Cassio, Desdemona, and Othello towards the end of the play. The audience also feels pity for Othello when he stabs himself after realizing Desdemona is innocent. Despite the play ending remorsefully for the couple, the punishment imposed on Iago brings a sense of justice to the play.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the play begins when Othello is a prominent and respectable army commander in Venice. He successfully marries Desdemona, a white, despite the racial discrimination about marriage in the land. Iago, out of jealousy, plans and successfully disrupts Othello’s marriage and profession. The main character’s radical measures after getting a suspicion that Cassio, his lieutenant, is sleeping with his wife, put him in total tragedy. When Othello kills his wife, the play turns tragic and several characters die as a result. From how the events intertwine in the play, it is beyond doubt that Othello is a tragic hero. According to Aristotle’s tragic principles, his experience is a perfect match. It is, therefore, appropriate to classify the play as an Aristotelian tragedy.
Bibliography
Dutta, Shomit. Greek tragedy. London: Penguin Books, 2009.
Kennedy, Joseph X. Literature: an introduction to fiction, poetry, drama, and writing. 12th ed. Boston: Pearson, 2013.
Luca, Carmen Abigail. “Cracked within the ring” the spillable female body in Shakespearean tragedy. Tuscaloosa, Ala.: University of Alabama Libraries], 2010.
Shakespeare, William. Othello the moor of Venice. S.l.: Duke Classics, 2012.
Staley, Gregory Allan. Seneca and the idea of tragedy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010.
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