Shakespeare's Innovations the World

Shakespeare's tragic play, Othello, is an amalgam of diverse antecedents, including the generic influences of the ancient Greek and Roman tragedies, Italian fiction, as well as Renaissance history such as the progression of Christian humanism. Additionally, although Shakespeare incorporates some elements of the medieval morality play into Othello, the fact that his play is a tragedy shows how he modifies it from the typical ending found in a morality play. Furthermore, not only does Shakespeare include the stereotypical Englishman's view of the black race during the Elizabethan era, he also modifies it to convey the importance of looking beyond the skin color, showing the progression of a racially prejudice society to one in which people are treated judicially based upon their character.

In Othello, Shakespeare uses the typical elements found in both Greek tragedy and roman tragedy to compose his tragic play. Aristotle states that the purpose of tragedy is to "arouse the emotions of pity and fear to produce in the audience a catharsis (purgation) of these emotions" (...). This complements Othello because through Iago's monologues, the audience knows he is using Othello's trusting nature to deceive him to "get [Othello's] place and to plume up [his] will in double knavery" (1.3.436). Because the audience and readers are able to witness Iago's planning through his speeches, when Desdemona is wrongly killed by Othello due to the false proof given to him by Iago of her treachery, the audience is not only able to feel for her, but also pity Othello, who too late realized his mistake. Shakespeare's plot helps invoke audiences' catharsis toward characters, which shows how he included the purpose of tragedy, viewed by the Greek, into h...

... middle of paper ...

...tain, and the Moor's wife, Disdemona" (Johnsen-Neshati). Giraldi's story was published in 1566 and Shakespeare's play in 1622. Based on the time difference and the fact that Shakespeare's major characters are similar to the ones in Giraldi's story, one can infer that Shakespeare used Giraldi's plot as the basis for his plot, but innovated it. Both plots are essentially the same; however, one of the major differences between the two is that while Giraldi depicts the Moor and the Ensign "consult[ing] of means and another to kill Disdemona" (Parker) together, Othello devises a plan by himself. Furthermore, Othello willingly confesses to Emilia that "'twas [he] that killed her," (5.2.160) but the Moor in the story "denied the whole charge" (Parker). The fact that Shakespeare depicts his Moor as confessing shows how he modified Giraldi's Moor to be a noble, tragic hero.