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The character of othello
Othello's tragic flaw
The character of othello
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Othello and Different Senses of Abnormal
As inconsequential as they may initially seem, the various types of abnormalities in William Shakespeare’s tragic drama Othello do impact upon the audience. Let us explore this subject of the deviant in this play.
In the essay “Wit and Witchcraft: an Approach to Othello” Robert B. Heilman discusses the abnormal attitude and plans of the ancient as manifested in his verbal imagery:
If we take all the lines of one character out of context and consider them as a unit, we have always a useful body of information; but if, when we study Iago’s lines, we find that he consistently describes himself in images of hunting and trapping, we learn not only his plans of action but something of his attitude to occasions, to his victims, and to himself; and beyond that there is fixed for us an image of evil – one of those by which the drama interprets the human situation. (331)
And how about epilepsy? In Act 4 the evil Iago works up Othello into a frenzy regarding the missing kerchief. The resultant illogical, senseless raving by the general is a prelude to an epileptic seizure or entranced state:
Lie with her? lie on her? – We say lie on her when they belie her. – Lie with her! Zounds, that’s fulsome. – Handkerchief – confessions – handkerchief! – To confess, and be hanged for his labor – first to be hanged, and then to confess! I tremble at it. [. . .] (4.1)
Cassio enters right after the general has fallen into the epileptic trance. Iago explains to him:
IAGO. My lord is fall’n into an epilepsy.
This is his second fit; he had one yesterday.
CASSIO. Rub him about the temples.
IAGO. No, forbear.
The lethargy must have his quiet course.
If not, he foams at mouth, and by and by
Breaks out to savage madness. Look, he stirs.
Do you withdraw yourself a little while.
He will recover straight. (4.1)
Epilepsy on the part of the protagonist is unusual and physically abnormal. But the more serious abnormalities in the play are psychological. Iago is generally recognized as the one character possessing and operating by abnormal psychology. But Lily B. Campbell in Shakespeare’s Tragic Heroes tells of the time when the hero himself approached “madness”:
Act iii, scene iii, lines 108-131 of William Shakespeare’s “Othello” unquestionably shows Iago’s trickery and deceptiveness which is masked through his reputation for honesty, reliability and direct speaking. This section not only shows Iago’s slow but powerful act of deception, but also shows the jealousy and insecurities slowly depriving Othello’s inner peace and balance.
Jones, Eldred. "Othello- An Interpretation" Critical Essays on Shakespeare's Othello. Ed. Anthony G. Barthelemy Pub. Macmillan New York, NY 1994. (page 39-55)
The world is sometimes a terrible place filled with disrespect, hurt, confusion, and pain. Huckleberry Finn knows a lot about these issues. He has had many struggles that are not only physical and environmental but he has struggled internally as well. His upbringing is tough and almost nonexistent as far as family goes. What might it be like to have to fake your own death to escape the abusiveness of your own father? Although Huck is a very young boy, who is very much alone he proves that he is capable of thinking for himself, is kind, caring, and concerned for the wellbeing of others; regardless of what other people think.
In Shakespeare’s tragedy Othello, there is present through most of the play such an overwhelming amount of evil that the audience can scarcely remain undisturbed.
Through his animalistic, crude and sensual speech, and by delving into the Elizabethan philosophy of the Great Chain of being, we can indeed divine some of the mysteries of this bewitching and elusive sinner. We can conclude that his beast-filled language is an instrument he uses to manipulate others, that it is an indicator of his rank as the tragedy’s villain and that it offers us a glimpse into his character, showing us his inner weakness in face of his animal passions. Still, just as Iago’s lips remained sealed when Othello demanded what had spurred him to commit his vile deeds, this trickster who has ever lured us and thwarted our understanding will continue to closely guard many of his secrets.
Zender, Karl F. "The humiliation of Iago." Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900 Spring 1994: 323-339. InfoTrac EF Expanded Academic ASAP 1993-April 1996. CD-ROM. Information Access. April 1996.
This paper will prove that Iago has one clear motive and reason for his madness. Iago is not looking for justification that causes him to act the way he does. There is much more to Iago. He is not a man of only excuses, he has goals with his motives, which causes him to act the way he does. As early as the first scene of the play, Iago shows us strong motives for his actions.
Everyone in the world has the same characteristics. Anyone can feel happiness, sadness, anger, or fear. However, the way a person allows certain traits to overpower others is how personality forms. In William Shakespeare’s play, Othello, a wide range of characters are present with different personalities. The protagonist, Othello, spirals into a pit of jealousy and paranoia over the course of the tragedy. The question that follows these actions is whether these uncontrollable emotions are signs of a mental disorder. Othello displays many aspects of a personality disorder, such as being suspicious and untrustworthy of his wife and associates and misinterpreting congenial behavior. Although he does not exhibit all of the criteria, it can be concluded
The play “Othello” by William Shakespeare was written in 1604 during the Elizabeth era. Othello is one of the most extraordinary characters in all of Shakespeare’s dramas. He enjoyed unheralded success in the combat zone, which gave him the reputation as one of Venice’s most competent generals. Even though he has great success in the battlefield, he has a dramatic flaw that causes a downfall in his life. The dramatic flaw that causes his downfall is jealousy. This was brought on by a simple persuasion of Iago, the evil character in the play. Even though Iago used extreme manipulation to get Othello to be jealous, Iago did not really have to try very hard to get Othello in a jealous state of mind. Othello was blinded by his jealousy which led him down a path of constant questioning of his wife and his friend Cassio. Throughout the play we see his dramatic flaw sink him deeper and deeper into a cloud of doubt which eventually leads him to kill not only his love of his life but also himself.
Abnormal Psychology and Iago in Othello When the Bard of Avon created the evil Iago in the tragedy Othello, he entered into the area of irrational behavior and abnormal psychology. This essay will examine this branch of science as it relates to the play. David Bevington in William Shakespeare: Four Tragedies describes the irrationality and self-destructiveness of the ancient’s behavior. Emilia understands that jealousy is not a rational affliction, but a self-induced disease of the mind. Jealous persons, she tells Desdemona, “are not ever jealous for the cause, but jealous for they’re jealous.
A delicate balance of chaos and order exists in our lives; the balance maintains itself by the very acts of human nature. In the drama Othello, the battle between good and evil creates the basic root of human nature as a whole. While at first, order exists in the lives of the Othello and Iago, through dramatic events and manipulation, the balance becomes unstable and starts to shift into chaos. Once the chaos has started, it continues a chain that continues along until the very end where the balance finally restores itself as it would in human nature. Through the inter and intra personal dialogue between Othello and Iago, a certain image of the character becomes developed because of the continued additions and changes to the character’s situation. Seen as the stronger of the two, Othello holds less intelligence in common matters. Iago’s character shapes out to as more of cunning and strong-headed. Shakespeare uses the characters to effectively reaffirm the basic traits of human nature and show how the traits coincide with the theory of order and chaos. Thorough the use of extensive characterization in this drama, along with artful diction, the development of Othello and Iago, represents a view of humans and their lives along with the all too classic good and evil.
The Shakespearean play Othello has enjoyed popularity on the stage and in print for 400 years. What are the features which enhance this quality among readers? And what detracts?
In Shakespeare’s play Othello, the character of Iago takes on the role of a person warped within his own thoughts and feelings. Although people today have the benefit of psychology, back in the 1600s people with severe psychological disorders were left un-medicated and free to roam as citizens of society. Although Iago would have benefited from medication of today, in his mind he was the best, even though his own imagination got the better of him and fed his own misguided mentality. One of the best examples of this warped mentality is a conversation which Iago has with Othello mid-way through the play (3.3.160-66). As one analyzes Iago’s words, the depth and complexity of his mental unrest ooze between the lines of this speech. And after careful analysis of the complexity of Iago’s thoughts in this speech, Iago’s psychological shortcomings of conceit and self-worth unravel before our eyes.
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 hopeful support until the inevitable and unavoidable fall. The evil side of Othello’s tragic flaw came from without, in the form of Iago. The internal flaw exists only in his heartrendingly unshakable goodness and honor.
Because this story takes place before the Civil War, Twain uses this opportunity to make the reader wonder "whether anything has really changed since the emancipation of slaves" (Stocks, Claire). Huck's internal conflict is symbolizing that people, after the emancipation of slaves, have a hard time of changing their views on an idea that has been enforced among society for centuries. Having mixed emotions about his situation, Huck asks himself, "Was Jim a runaway nigger?" (Twain 129). Huck, symbolizing all of America after the Emancipation Proclamation, is trying to figure out whether or not treating colored people differently is good. When Twain was writing this, he was still upset that black people were treated so badly, so he made a character in his story to portrait America's internal conflict of figuring out what is really right. Huck started out thinking all blacks were nothing more then property, but then realizes that Jim was a human just like every white person. Twain wants the American people to at least try to give the newly freed slaves a chance to be apart of