Every Shakespearean tragedy share common conventions. A convention is an element that all stories of the same genre have in common. A tragedy is a dramatic composition, often in verse, dealing with a serious or somber theme, typically that of a great person destined through a flaw of character or conflict with some overpowering force, as fate or society, to downfall or destruction. Othello is a tragedy that is no exception. In Othello, Othello is the tragic hero who is deceived by his so called best friend to think that is wife is cheating on Othello for his lieutenant. Othello’s jealousy ends up being his flaw that leads to his downfall. Romeo and Juliet, another great Shakespearean work, shares many of the same convention that Othello has. in Romeo and Juliet, Romeo is the tragic hero and has fallen in love with women from his families arch rivals and must its challenges. In the end his rash decision making leads to his downfall. These two plays, both Othello and Romeo and Juliet, share the same core conventions.
These conventions cover the aspects of a play that give it a feeling of mystery or wonder. These conventions are fate, the supernatural, and fallacy. Fate is something that inevitably befalls a person based on past and present decisions. This can be seen in Othello when Othello fell for Iago’s plan leading him to his gruesome end. In Romeo and Juliet Romeo was doomed to die because of rash and careless behavior. The second convention is the supernatural. The definition is something that is unexplainable by natural laws or phenomena. In Othello this can be mentioned when Brabantio accuses Othello of sueding his daughter by way of witchcraft and when Desdemona came back to life only to blame her d...
... middle of paper ...
...ourney he faces many challenges and hardships where his tragic flaw took a place in. Romeo’s flaw is that he rushes into the situation not thinking of the consequences. This is the ultimate reason for his downfall when he hastily kills himself at the site of his fiance’s fake death. This reason these plays are called tragedies. They depict a sad ending that could easily been avoided.
In conclusion, a tragedy can be defined as a work of art, with the downfall of an otherwise heroic figure. Heros in these tragedies are commonly articulate and an pay a the main role of the pay, but they display at least one significant weakness which will ultimately overcome the other virtues of the hero. The conventions of a tragedy are a common theme throughout all of shakespeare's plays with a theme of death, sadness, and tragedy to be seen as a work of art.
Aristotle defines tragedy in his respected piece Poetics and many other forms of literature. Many tragic heroes such as Oedipus Rex and Romeo and Juliet fit well into this mold of a tragic hero as defined by Aristotle. For example, they were flawed but well intentioned and their lives ended in a catastrophic death. Those plays, and many others in the genre, had all the elements of a tragedy: plot, character, thought, diction, melody, and spectacle. They were fantastic displays of misery that aroused pity and fear in the audience.
Othello is one of Shakespeare’s four pillars of great tragedies. Othello is unique in comparison to the others in that it focuses on the private lives of its primary characters. When researching the subject of Othello being an Aristotelian tragedy, there is debate among some critics and readers. Some claim that Shakespeare did not hold true to Aristotle’s model of tragedy, according to his definition in “Poetics,” which categorized Othello as a classic tragedy as opposed to traditional tragedy. Readers in the twenty-first century would regard Othello a psychological thriller; it definitely keeps you on the edge of your seat creating the emotions of terror, heart break, and sympathy. This paper will focus on what Shakespeare actually intended regarding “Othello” and its Aristotelian influences.
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?”
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. Aristotle, the famous philosopher, outlined several requirements in which a play or piece of drama is to follow.
The play Othello, written by William Shakespeare, is a tragic play that goes over a variety of topics, from love to death. Othello is a tragic play due to its many aspects of death throughout it. One character that falls to the hands of death is one of the main characters, Othello, and another being his wife Desdemona. Each of these deaths are a direct cause of another character’s actions, Iago. Within the play there are scenes of manipulation, betrayal, jealousy, lust, deceit, and murder. This play, Othello, contains many characters that have important roles to the development of the play and the plots that occur. These characters are the ones that make the play what it is and create the various moods and themes throughout the play. The characters
Beginning with the Greeks, tragedy has been an essential form of entertainment. Although it has changed slightly over time due to different religious and social values, it is still written and performed to this day. Perhaps the most well known tragedy of all time is Shakespeare's Hamlet. Hamlet is perhaps the epitome of all tragedy. Not only does the tragic hero Hamlet meet his demise, but all the main characters in the play at some point due to some flaw in their character, or some fatal decision, also meet the same fate. It is because of their character flaw and/or their fatal decision at some time during the play that their death can be justified.
A tragedy typically deals with the downfall of an important character, in a serious play, via a fatal flaw. The audience would feel upset for the character as his weakness is not his fault and his in his nature. A tragedy has an unhappy ending or ongoing poignant events and during Act 5 sc3 and Act 3 sc3 in Shakespeare?s Coriolanus many of these take place.
A tragic play is a combination of dramatic scenes that act out a tragic event and usually labors unhappy endings. The play would usually portray the downfall of the main character. According to Aristotle, “Every Tragedy therefore must have six parts, which parts determine its quality—namely, Plot, Character, Diction, Thought, Spectacle, Song.” Based on Aristotle’s definition, Oedipus and Hamlet are a good examples tragedy. They both have been developed with a strong Plot and Characters. According to Aristotle, Plot is considered to be “the soul of tragedy” and very important in a play. Aristotle also implies Character to be second in line when it comes to developing a successful tragedy.
The presence of certain literary elements creates a more dramatic and realistic image for the readers throughout the piece. William Shakespeare included literary elements in The Tragedy of Othello to bring the story line to life. Throughout the tragedy, Shakespeare used the elements of theme, dramatic irony, and symbolism along with many others. These three literary elements are significant because they help readers fully understand the complexity of the plot. The theme of jealousy, the dramatic irony, and the symbolism throughout the tragedy create the thrilling atmosphere readers experience.
Webster’s dictionary defines tragedy as, “a serious drama typically describing a conflict between the protagonist and a superior force (such as destiny) and having a sorrowful or disastrous conclusion that excites pity or terror.” A tragic hero, therefore, is the character who experiences such a conflict and suffers catastrophically as a result of his choices and related actions. The character of Hamlet, therefore, is a clear representation of Shakespeare’s tragic hero.
Tragic heroes tend to have very pre-determined paths; usually making the most virtuous of characters destined to suffer. The hamartia or ‘tragic flaw’ is the typical reason the hero falls. Shakespeare was noted to be one of the best writers of tragedies, one of his most prominent to be Othello. In Othello, we find a number of tragic flaws two including pride and ambition. In William Shakespeare’s play, Othello, pride and ambition are used to identify the outcomes for the main characters in the play when seeing the resolution of the play, perceiving those who survive and those who don’t, and considering each character’s role in the turn of events.
Of the 38 plays Shakespeare has produced over his lifetime, his tragedies are the most heart-wrenching, horrifying productions the theater has ever seen. In these tragedies, there are gruesome ideas such as lethal love, megalomania, and the absolute corruption of heroes that were originally considered to be wholesome. The latter theme can especially be seen in the play Othello. In this tragedy, there is an ongoing theme of corruption in a considerable amount of characters in the play, the most significant change being in Othello. Othello undergoes a shocking transformation, as he starts off as the storybook hero, a reputable soldier who illustrates great passion towards his wife, but transforms to become a twisted
Even though it may seem as if the role of tragedy in a play causes nothing but mishaps, they hold a much greater significance and reach towards a universal concept that sets tragedy apart from other genres such as comedy. Often, tragedy is inflicted upon a character because of their own personal flaw. The character, which can also be noted as the tragic hero, is someone who falls as a result of their flaw. Character traits such as pride, arrogance, ambition, etc. may make a character admirable and praiseworthy, but when it is excessively overdone, it can become their worst enemy. At times, the problems a character inflicts upon themselves can not only harm them, but also those around them that they may not intend to hurt.
Some scholars say that the tragic hero is Julius Caesar, while others say it is
A tragedy, in terms of literature, is when the main character is not seen as indestructible. The main character has flaws and a tragic ending. One of the most famous writer of tragedies is William Shakespeare. Shakespeare, author of Hamlet, (biography.com) was alive between the years 1564 and 1616. His occupations were playwriting and poetry and he was brilliant. William, being the poet and play writer he his, wrote almost 400 different pieces. Some of his most famous plays include: Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, and Hamlet. Hamlet is considered a tragedy because Hamlet, the main character, has a character flaw which is being very reluctant. Also throughout the play nothing really seems to go the way that Hamlet plans. Finally, the end of the play ends expectantly with a death from just about every main character except Horatio, Hamlets best friend.