In the dying minutes of William Shakespeare’s play Othello, the main character Othello requests of Lodovico, a Venetian messenger, “When you shall these unlucky deeds relate, Speak of me as I am.” But what is he, exactly? One of the most celebrated roles in history of the theater, Othello is a complicated and mysterious character. At various times in the course of the play we despise him, we pity him and we praise him. As a young slave he doggedly worked his way through the ranks and eventually arrives with the grand title of general of the Venetian army having used only his own skill. The full title of the play, Othello, the Moor of Venice, suggests that Othello is an outsider, which is a very important theme of Shakespeare’s. The culture of Venice is learned, and therefore not instinctual to him. Othello has a beneficial quality to him; a quality that he uses time and time again. He uses his foreign and exotic nature to his advantage. Othello’s mystique and masculinity captivates his young Venetian wife Desdemona and sets him apart from her other uninteresting Venetian suitors, and Othello’s stories about the dangerous and exciting outside world and warfare provide marvelous entertainment and wonderment for her. After Brabantio, the father of Desdemona and a powerful senator, learns about the marriage of his daughter and Othello, he is outraged and accuses him of “looting” his daughter. For he sees her as property and doesn’t account for her free will and desire to marry the middle aged Othello, different in race and class. In the courtroom Othello gives a speech, “What conjuration and what mighty magic, for such proceeding I am charged withal, I won his daughter”. (Act i Scene iii) Othello denies the use of witchcraft or ma... ... middle of paper ... ...ct i Scene iii) Othello denies the use of witchcraft or magic to woo Desdemona but insists that it was rather his stories, that enchant her similar to that of the collection of Arabian folk tales featured in One Thousand and One Nights, and his unique qualities that draw her in. Although many arguments could take place over the blame of Othello’s fate, the one murderer no one doubts is jealousy. Although Othello’s insecurities and “blindness” along with one of the most duplicitous villains in all of literature definitely catalyze the deaths at the conclusion of the play, in the end Othello must suffer the consequences manipulated or not. Despite the number of uninteresting characters in the play, Othello, the Moor of Venice contains one of the most intricate characters in any of Shakespeare’s plays, and will be discussed and intensely argued forever.
Of Shakespeare’s great tragedies, the story of the rise and fall of the Moor of Venice arguably elicits the most intensely personal and emotional responses from its English-speaking audiences over the centuries. Treating the subject of personal human relationships, the tragedy which should have been a love story speaks to both reading and viewing audiences by exploring the archetypal dramatic values of love and betrayal. The final source of the tragic action in Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice has been attributed to various psychological, mythical, racial, social sources: Othello’s status as racial outsider in Venetian society, his pagan roots in Christian society, hubris and/or hamartia in Othello or in Desdemona.
Othello’s ethnic background has set him aside as “the other” to the Venetian society. He does not belong to their the Venetian community society and his sense of belonging towards them has been enhanced because of his adventurous childhood experience. Othello ironically states that he will deliver the “witchcraft” he had used to win his fair lady, Desdemona when ending his soliloquy . In Othello’s romantic soliloquy embedded with rich language he recounts his life experience , “The battles,sieges,fortunes that I have passed, I ran it through even from my boyish days “ “Of being taken by the insolent foe and sold to slavery.” These poetic lines highlight his experience of hardship which won Desdemona. However before Othello elopes with Desdemona he was accepted accepted,loved me oft invited me, still questioned me the story of my life.” This facilitates the audience to understand that he was only marginalised for his differences after he married Desdemona.
Shakespeare's tragic hero, Othello, was a man whose gifts far outnumbered his weaknesses. On the battlefield, he was accomplished; in his profession, he was highly ranked; and, in his life, he was blissfully married. Despite these great advantages, however, Othello's destiny was ruin. Everything he had so carefully made for himself would be destroyed by one flaw: his fear of remaining an outsider. He feared this fate, yet he harped on it continuously, tearing himself between his identity as a foreigner and his desire to live as a normal citizen. Even so far back as his first public speech, perturbations caused by this internal unrest surfaced, and it was unrest that would ultimately lead to his horrible and complete undoing.
The Venetian Community setting of the play Othello and its multilayered society standards and customs greatly attribute to the actions of the characters. The author of the article goes into to the difference of the military hegemony, in which Othello originates, and the patriarchal hegemony that is the where Brabantio, and his daughter Desdemona are part of, and its effects on the players in Othello. Their lives are intertwined, even though they are from different hegemony groups which lead to misunderstandings intentional and unintentional throughout the play. Henningfed article is enlightening to the novice readers of Shakespeare’s Othello as it gives in-depth perspective into the societal and cultural aspects and understandings of the characters in the play. The tolerances of Othello by the Venetians is explained in the article by the author as they see Othello as this great military warrior who serves them, they own him for the services he provides to them in war against the Turks. The explanations of the interaction of Brabantio and Othello are explained utilizing their different places in society and examples author Henningfed uses;
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.
Wright, Louis B. and Virginia A. LaMar. “The Engaging Qualities of Othello.” Readings on The Tragedies. Ed. Clarice Swisher. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1996. Reprint from Introduction to The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice by William Shakespeare. N. p.: Simon and Schuster, Inc., 1957.
One of the first impressions gained of Othello is that he is a great war hero. Before much else is said of him, tales of his skill and valor in battle are illustrated and he is shown to be a great and famed warrior. He naturally possesses many attributes typically associated with soldiers. From the beginning Othello is noble, quick to act, judicious, trusting, and gives much weight to the importance of duty. These are all traits that serve to make him great at the beginning of the play, and later, ironically become key elements in his downfall. These aspects can be considered the internal causes of Othello’s tragic flaw. “Othello's nature is all of one piece. His trust, where he trusts, is absolute…. Love, if he loves, must be to him the heaven where either he must leave or bear no life. If such a passion as jealousy seizes him, it will swell into a well-night incontrollable flood.” Othello is pure an...
Othello’s attempts to fit into the Venetian society are noticeable since he converted to Christianity and swore his allegiance to Venice, but in the eyes of the state, he continues to be an outsider and belongs in the battlefield and not in the streets of Venice. Unlike popular belief, Othello knows how to distinguish between times of war and peace. When the war ended, his aggressive tendencies disappeared and he became a civilized man in Venice. But, his reputation causes many citizens to be wary of him. Even though Brabantio seems to like Othello at the beginning of the play, he never expected his daughter to fall in love and marry a moor. He even goes as far as accusing Othello of drugging or putting a spell on Desdemona to get her to fall in love with him
Upon this discovery, Brabantio calls Othello to the Senate to accuse him of tricking his daughter into marrying him, for Brabantio believes there is no way she would willingly marry a Moor like Othello. When the issue of Othello and Desdemona’s marriage is brought before the Senate, Brabantio’s objections all have to do with Othello’s nationality. Brabantio cannot fathom why his daughter would consent to the marriage to a man of Othello’s nationality, unless in some way under a spell. Brabantio explains to the Senate that Othello must have charmed his daughter with witchcraft, in which he cries
Gardner, Helen. “Othello: A Tragedy of Beauty and Fortune.” Readings on The Tragedies. Ed. Clarice Swisher. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1996. Reprint from “The Noble Moor.” British Academy Lectures, no. 9, 1955.
Shakespeare has created the character of Othello to be a ‘hero of the ancient world‘ (Helen Gardner,1995), in spite of this there are certain circumstances beyond his control that contribute to the downfall of Othello. Othello proves to himself and everyone around him that he is a noble warrior that deserves a certain level of respect. Society doesn’t have a problem with Othello leading the Venetian army but does oppose to the marriage of Othello and Desdemona.
William Shakespeare’s play, “Othello, the Moor of Venice” depicts many themes including marriage, jealousy, and deception. Throughout the play different characters deceive one another while also deceiving themselves. This domestic tragedy shows how deceiving others can go too far in the end with the murdering of Desdemona and the death of Othello and how jealously can fuel the actions of a man’s heart. Othello grants the lieutenant’s position to young Cassio instead of Iago and because of that he devises a plan to hurt Othello and cause mischief between him and the other characters including his wife Desdemona. Overall, every character within the play is affected by Iago’s deceptive plan in one way or another.
Gardner, Helen. “Othello: A Tragedy of Beauty and Fortune.” Readings on The Tragedies. Ed. Clarice Swisher. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1996. Reprint from “The Noble Moor.” British Academy Lectures, no. 9, 1955.
The role of jealousy, love and betrayal play a major role in The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice. The entire play is based on the human interactions of the characters as related to Othello and Desdemona. The characters’ personalities, their social status, and their relationships to each other control the story line and their fate in the play. Othello is portrayed early in the play as an outsider with animalistic characteristics by Iago and Roderigo because of jealousy. “Your heart is burst; and have lost half of your soul/Even now, now, very now, an old black ram/Is tupping your white ewe”.(531) Desdemona’s father, Brabantio, accuses Othello of using witch craft on his daughter. “If she in chains of magic were not bound/ Whether a maid so tender, fair, and happy/ So opposite to marriage that she shunned…” (535) This point is important because Othello must defend himself not only to Desdemona’s father, Brabantio, but to the entire Venetian Senate. “And till she come, as truly as to heaven,/ I do confess the vices of my blood./ So justly to your grave ears I’ll present/ How I did thrive in this fair lady’s love, / And she in mine.” (539) Othello proves himself to be an intellectual hero early in the play. He has worked hard to gain respectability and power, but because he has a different background, is from another country, is dark-skinned and is older than Desdemona, he becomes jealous very quickly of Cassio. Cassio is from the same social class, is compatible with Desdemona and is a young handsome man. Iago has also convinced Cassio to seek favor with Desdemo...
Since her first appearance in Othello, Desdemona demonstrates her great love for Othello, her new husband, by defending him against false accusations. In act 1, scene III, Desdemona’s father, Brabantio, is furious after finding out his daughter has secretly married a much older black man. He takes Othello before the duke of Venice and accuses him of using sorcery and black magic to enamor his beautiful, young daughter. Othello denies this, saying that Desdemona has fallen in love with him because of his astonishing war stories. Desdemona then enters and Brabantio asks her whom she owes the most obedience to. She replies, “To you I am bound for life and education… [b]ut here’s my husband; and so much duty as my mother showed to you, preferring you before her father, so much I challenge that I may profess due to the Moor my lord...