Two tragedies from two different time period, Medea and Othello show similarities and differences in their characters, story plots and settings. Euripedes’ Medea written in the classical period and Shakespeare’s Othello written in the romantic era, the two tragedies shows different feel of what tragedies are.
First of all, the most obvious difference between these two play is how Medea shows unities (time, place and action) whilst Othello has none. It’s clearly shown in the first scene, as soon as the characters come out, that in the Medea, it’s a set place, and there would be no movement. The staging is nice and clear and throughout the whole story, the characters are in one place, and there is a unity between the time, place and action; this it to say that the characters are in one place, throughout the entire play. Whereas in Othello, it’s more Hollywood-like as in that, it’s out in the real world, and not set in a theatre like place. Therefore the play seems more realistic to the contemporary audience, however there is a loss of unity between the three categories – time place and action. However since the contemporary audience are used to these settings, they can easily catch on with the complexity of the story without getting too confused.
A minor difference that the audience can see in the play is the fact that violence is shown one play while violence isn’t showed in the other. In Medea, because people back in those days believed in the reasoning instead of emotions they didn’t focus too much on the violent part of the play. Instead, they kept the play nice and clean so that it kept a nice and simple feel to the overall play. So for example, in Medea, when Medea had to kill her children, it was done when the doors were closed, and we found out that she has done it when Jason goes into the room and storms out in fury blaming Medea for the death of their children. Likewise, the audience only hear about the burning of Creosa through the nurse when she comes on stage to tell the devastation she saw to Medea. This way, there is absolutely zero violence shown, and we only hear about the death and the pain. In contrary, Othello shows no restriction in violence, when Iago stabs Roderigo, the audience can clearly see that the knife enters body and soon we see blood and it gets really messy.
In both works the protagonists act in opposition to the established cultural roles society has dealt them. In ancient Greek society, women were controlled by their father before they were married, and controlled by their spouse once they were married; Medea opposes this convention and ultimately succeeds in overthrowing it. In fact the theme of reversal of gender roles pervades the entire text. This is exemplified when at the end of the play Medea domineeringly states, “Now of...
Medea and Antigone are two stories of women fighting back for what they want, or what they feel is right. These stories take place in ancient Greece, around the time of its rise to power. Medea and Antigone are both strong, sometimes-manipulative characters but have different moral settings that control what they do.
The play Othello by William Shakespeare is based on an Italian story in Giraldi Cinthio's Hecatommithi (Grolier). In Othello we encounter Iago, one of Shakespeare's most evil characters. Iago is an officer in Othello's army and is jealous of Cassio's promotion to Lieutenant. Through deception and appearance, we see unfolded many lies and clever schemes. The astonishing thing about Iago is that he seems to make up his malicious schemes as he goes along without any forethought. Noted writer Samuel Taylor Coleridge describes Iago's plan as "motive-hunting of a motiveless malignity" (Scott 413). Iago seizes every opportunity to further advance his plan to his advantage. Greed plays a major role as a motive for his various schemes and lies.
The tragic play Medea is a struggle between reason and violence. Medea is deliberately portrayed as not a ‘normal woman’, but excessive in her passions. Medea is a torment to herself and to others; that is why Euripides shows her blazing her way through life leaving wreckage behind her. Euripides has presented Medea as a figure previously thought of exclusively as a male- hero. Her balance of character is a combination of the outstanding qualities of Achilles and Odysseus.
rapidly, it may not be indicated by the script that it has changed, and was most
Nick Potter states: “Othello is a tragedy of incomprehension, not at the level of intrigue but at the deepest level of human dealings. No one in Othello comes to understand himself or anyone else.” Within Shakespeare’s Othello, no character fully understands themselves of one another. This is especially true in human dealings, where the intentions of characters and how others interpret them are often misaligned. Conflict, and eventually, tragedy arises in Othello due to the incomprehension between characters, as well as within the characters themselves. From the reader’s perspective, it is tragic to understand the reality behind all the incomprehension, since the characters are oblivious to what the readers are aware of.
Many motifs are shared between both the plays Medea, by Euripides, and Oedipus the King, by Sophocles. Both playwrights were known for their innovation in the theatre, so their plays both contain daring elements, along with the more common ones (Gainor, et al. 89/135.) The plays were written in the same time period so they contain the same morals that were being taught to the writers in ancient Greek society. Not only did the plays share the same popular culture beliefs, but they also contained a lot of the same characters- as they were believed to be real Gods, Goddesses, and creatures, by the society. I believe the most prominent motifs shared between the plays are revenge, duty, and death. Revenge plays a great deal in the decision making
In William Shakespeare's Othello violence can be found in several different ways. Violence can be expressed physically, mentally, and verbally. This tragic play shows how jealousy and envy can overpower a person's mind and lead them to wreak havoc on others. Not only does this story give many different examples of violence, it displays how mental violence can promote physical violence, and continues on in that cycle. Mental promotes physical which ultimately leads back to mental.
Of Shakespeare’s five greatest tragedies, Othello is by far the most passionate and gripping. It is a tale of love, deception, evil, honesty, and virtue. Othello himself is set apart from other Shakespearean tragic heroes by the absolute feeling of affection the audience feels for him even unto the very end of the play. Any discerning reader painfully recognizes the virtue and goodness of Othello throughout the entire play, in contrast to the general degeneration of character so typical of a tragic hero. It is this complete pity that makes the death of Othello so tragic as the audience lends their full support to the inevitable and unavoidable fall.
... his place as a king, to losing his wife and children. The audience feels pity for him because he was trying to save Thebes. However, the audience always knew Medea had some evil characteristics to her when she betrayed her family with no shame or dignity to escape with Jason. The Medea and Oedipus the King both have the same criteria Aristotle states in Poetics. Tragedies depict the downfall of the noble heroine and hero through their fate, hubris and the will of gods. They did not die at the end but they did experience a change from high prosperity to a low prosperity.
The Women of Othello Shakespeare's Othello presents us with a male world in which women have an especially rough time. Desdemona, Emilia, and Bianca are all rejected by their respective partners, and all three love their men unselfishly and unreservedly, even when confronted by behaviour that we would deem grounds for divorce at the very least. All the women are engaged in unbalanced partnerships: they feel more for their self-centred men than the men are capable of reciprocating. However, the women also display genuine emotions toward each other that is not reflected in any of the male-male relationships. Emilia and Desdemona are both wives to men that have made the military their lives.
Medea’s illegitimate marriage and the betrayal of Jason drive Medea to extreme revenge. Medea chooses to act with her immortal self and commit inhumane acts of murder rather than rationalize the outcomes of her actions. Medea see’s this option as her only resort as she has been banished and has nowhere to go, “stripped of her place”. To create sympathy for Medea, Euripides plays down Medea’s supernatural powers until the end of the play. Throughout the play Medea represents all characteristics found in individual women put together, including; love, passion, betrayal and revenge. Medea’s portrayal of human flaws creates empathetic emotions from the audience. The audience commiserates with Medea’s human flaws as they recognize them in themselves. Medea plays the major role in this play as she demonstrates many behavioral and psychological patterns unlike any of the other Greek women in the play; this draws the audience’s attention to Medea for sympathy and respect.
This mutual suffering between Medea and the Chorus raises issues such as the treatment of women at the time when this play was written. When Medea married Jason, she married herself to him for life. She was expected to be totally obedient and to accept whatever her husband willed. For her to look upon another man other than her husband would have been totally unacceptable. Whereas Jason marries another woman while he...
... takes matters into her own hands and doesn’t wait for a man to handle things for her. Also, her internal conflict that is visible throughout the entire play signify that she actually thinks for herself, and is strong enough to need to make serious decisions on her own, regardless of her gender. All of this goes back on the traditional Greek society, and helps make Medea into a play that is ahead of its time. With Euripides challenging the notion of misogyny, he creates Medea to show how powerful and dangerous a woman can be in a story, even though it was never heard of in the modern eras.
...hough the two demonstrate the elements in different ways, they both achieve an effective tragedy. Now after learning about Aristotle’s philosophy on tragedy, one can examine any type of tragic poetry, play, movie and analysis if the elements are portrayed. Its interesting to see how much of Aristotle’s philosophy has effected poetry in the art of the Greek tragedy, Medea, and the modern movie, No Country for Old Men.