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Nature of shakespeare comedies
The drama of Shakespeare
The drama of Shakespeare
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Throughout history, countless writers have been commended for their work, yet people still had criticized them. Famous Writers like William Shakespeare, Harper Lee and Charles Dickens all have endured much criticism throughout their lifetime by fellow writers. Movie producers also tend to ridicule traditional stories and plays, focusing on a writer’s weaknesses. One of the most famous plays by Shakespeare, Othello, can be seen in bits of the story Tom Thumb, in which Fielding most definitely ridicules the famous play.
Fielding created a mockery of out Shakespeare 's Othello, ridiculing several major themes and events that occurred in the play. For example, the introduction of jealousy as a conflict in Tom Thumb. The complicated love hexagon between Tom Thumb, Huncamunca, Grizzle, Glumdalca, and the King and Queen. “The Spring of all love” is the love of Tom Thumb for Huncamunca, while the jealous Grizzle is
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As almost all of Shakespeare’s tragedies, there is a huge fatality count at the end of Othello. Cassio is wounded in the leg, and Roderigo is killed by Iago in the dark. In the final scene, Othello smothers and murders Desdemona while Iago murders Emilia for speaking out against him. Othello then kills himself. Iago is taken off to be tortured but, but is not killed. (Putnam) In Fielding’s Tom Thumb, Thumb is eaten by a cow and dies, but his ghost appears. Grizzle takes it upon himself to kill Thumb’s ghost, while Huncamunca then procceeds to avenge Tom Thumb by killing Grizzle. At the end everyone kills themselves, even the king falling to his death. At Shakespeare’s times, these were true tragedies, where everyone died. It was entertaining at his time, and every play that he wrote ended in a memorable way. Henry Fielding created his own opinion of Shakespeare’s tragedies, and wrote his most famous one ridiculing
How Othello Follows the Rules of Tragedy Tragedy is not just simply one sad event, in ancient Greek plays and in Shakespeare's tragedies it usually follows a number of common ingredients or rules. Firstly it involves a conspicuous or exceptional personality. For example in the occurrence of Princess Diana's death she was the exceptional character. She was a woman who had done an astonishing amount of work for charities and a Princess. The second rule of tragedy is that it must be unexpected and constructed with previous happiness or glory.
Picture this- William Harold Shakespeare, the most coveted playwright in the history of the world, sitting at his desk, perspicaciously pondering over what shall become his most prominent and delicate tragedy yet. Of course, given what little is known about Shakespeare displays, such deepseated imagery cannot simply be accomplished without first the propriety of haste and vinction. And yet, his very own rhetorical vibe displays allows such a vague perception to be conceived. Throughout the whole of Othello, the great Shakespeare remarks through an astounding display of pronouns, allitteration, and cacophonous diction his own resentment of both the King of Italy and the poor conditions of the said novelist. Starting in none other than the primary and vivacious opening scene, allitteration commands the novel and displays steers it towards bitterness and self-loathing.
“I asked her to wear something revealing, so she showed up in a prophet's toga.”(CITE) Jarod Kintz’s words are an example of miscommunication, or failure to comprehend meaning. In this case, it is implied that one person misunderstood the message of another, but incomprehension also applies to problems other than falsely interpreted requests. Incomprehension can occur when people misinterpret another’s words or intentions, or when a person misreads situations or events. The outcome described in Kintz’s quote is unexpected and unintended, but there are instances of incomprehension that have consequences of greater severity. Perhaps a classic tragedy with a high body count falls under these parameters.
Othello as A Tragedy of Outsiders The most obvious way of being an outsider in Othello is through being a foreigner, and a non-Venetian. Othello and Cassio are both outsiders in this sense, Othello is a black man, a "Moor", and Cassio is a "Florentine". Othello begins in Venice, in Shakespeare's time the great commercial centre of the western world. Venice was the place of great hustle and bustle, merchants and tradesmen from other lands were commonplace, and yet we see throughout the play how Othello and Cassio are ridiculed. Cassio is degraded as he is from Florence; Iago calls him "a great arithmetician".
11 Dec. 2011. The "Othello". Shakespeare for Students: Critical Interpretations of Shakespeare's Plays and Poetry. Ed. Anne Marie Hacht.
Texts and their appropriations reflect the context and values of their times. Within Shakespeare’s Othello and Geoffrey Sax’s appropriation of Othello, the evolution of the attitudes held by Elizabethan audiences and those held by contemporary audiences can be seen through the context of the female coupled with the context of racism. The role of the female has developed from being submissive and “obedient” in the Elizabethan era to being independent and liberated within the contemporary setting. The racism of the first text is overtly xenophobic and natural, whilst the “moor” is unnatural whereas the updated context portrays Othello’s race as natural and racism as unnatural. Therefore these examples show how Shakespeare’s Othello, and it’s appropriation, Geoffrey sax’s Othello, reflect the context and values of their times.
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.
In the tragedy Othello, Shakespeare creates a mood that challenges the way a person sees his or her self and the world. Subjects like racism, sexism, love, hate, jealously, pride, and trickery are thoroughly developed in the play of Othello to enable the audience to view the characters and also themselves. The Shakespearean tragedy of Othello was written in a time of great racial tensions in England. According to Eldred Jones, in 1600 just three years before Othello was written, Queen Elizabeth proclaimed an Edict for the Transportation of all "negars and blackmoores" out of the country ("Othello- An Interpretation" Critical Essays 39). It is in this atmosphere that Shakespeare began the masterpiece of Othello, a drama about a noble black Arab general, Othello, who falls in love with and marries, Desdemona, a young white daughter of a senator. From the above knowledge one may conclude that Shakespeare wrote Othello to express that all people, of all ethnicity, are basically the same in human nature. Shakespeare borrowed the idea of Othello from an Italian love story by Giraldi Cinthio. However, Shakespeare focuses more on the differences in color and age between Othello and Desdemona than Cinthio. Shakespeare does this to escalate Othello’s isolation from the rest of Venetian society and to display Othello’s vulnerability due to his color. In the tragedy not only is Othello susceptible to weaknesses but so is every major character . The tragedy reminds humans that even one’s good nature can be taken advantage of for the worse. The drama Othello expresses, through relationships and emotional attitudes, a theme that all humans are vulnerable to destruction even if they are in positions of power and glory.
In Act three, Scene three, Desdemona agrees to speak to Othello in Cassio’s behalf) As Desdemona and Cassio discuss Cassio’s loss of rank and trust in Othello’s eyes. Iago brings to Othello’s attention the discussion taking place between Cassio and Desdemona. Iago knowing full well why the discussion is happening. Iago hints the pair seems to be spending a lot of time together. Iago plants the seed of doubt in Othello’s mind Othello begins to ponder the idea of whether Iago suspicions are true.
due to his race are vast, for example at the start of the play when
The Tragedy of Othello William Shakespeare’s, The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice, from the sixteenth century is an excellent example of Renaissance humanism. “A poet of unparalleled genius, Shakespeare emerged during the golden age of England under the rule of Elizabeth I.”(Fiero 3:98) He produced comedies, tragedies, romances and histories. According to Webster’s pocket dictionary, a tragedy is defined as a form of drama in which the protagonist comes to a disaster, as through a flaw in character, and in which the ending is usually marked by pity or sorrow. I would like to concentrate on the character Iago and the theme of deceit.
"Othello." Shakespeare for Students: Critical Interpretations of Shakespeare's Plays and Poetry. Ed. Anne Marie Hacht. 2nd ed. Vol. 2. Detroit: Gale, 2007. 649-87. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 30 Oct. 2013. .
When asked to pick two plays of William Shakespeare, I could not help but think of my two favorite plays Othello and Hamlet. These are my favorite plays because in both it can be seen how the protagonist’s downfall was driven by themselves with help of others. For example, Hamlet is acting on instructions from his ghost father, while Othello was being manipulated by Iago. Each protagonist was put in a situation where their tragic flaws not only brought their downfall, but others as well, including their loved ones.
Shakespeare’s famous play Othello is a play of love that has turned bad by the unfounded jealousy of the protagonist character Othello. Arguably the contribution of Othello’s susceptibility to manipulation, his weaknesses and the manipulation of other characters tactics such as Iago each contribute to the downfall of Othello. However, to the extent of which each is more significant varies and this is what will be analysed in this essay.
The topic of betrayal and manipulation is a common theme in the play Othello. A numerous amount of characters in the play betray others, and also themselves. From planning affairs that ruin marriages and friendships, to not trusting their significant other. Ways that the play Othello brings out the theme of betrayal is Othello and Desdemona being the one’s who were most affected by Iagos betrayal with their marriage, Iago plotting to put the handkerchief with Michael Cassio, and the death of those who either betrayed, or were betrayed.