Most people will consider and agree that Othello is a dramatic tragedy. Shakespeare cleverly wove many different layers into his playwright and thus it has stood the time as a literary masterpiece. There are many different definitions of tragedy and Othello would fit into most of their definition. Aristotelian tragedy consists of many parts to meet the definition described by Aristotle. Using these requirements through definition, Othello still would qualify as a tragedy as discussed through thought, diction, tragic hero, and emotional action.
Beginning with the definition, “A tragedy is the imitation of an action that is serious and also, as having magnitude, complete in itself; in appropriate and pleasurable language;... in a dramatic rather than narrative form; with incidents arousing pity and fear, wherewith to accomplish a catharsis of these emotions.” Both the definition and play can lay together and see the corresponding indicators that create the needed tragedy. As the emotional action of the play unfolded, the entire cast began to embrace the unforeseen conflict. This embrace started to change their character and how the audience would perceive them as a whole. This one emotional action not only effected the two directly involved, Othello and Iago, but Cassio, Desdemona, Rodrigo and even Emilia. This action would justify itself in magnitude and complete itself at the end of the play. The diction and thought of Iago to weave this action from seedling to fruition is unequaled. Iago cautiously and meticulously placed careful thought into Othello’s mind. The thought process not only spoken out by Othello but also permeated through action and emotion.
To conclude comparison through definition, the entire tragedy draws ...
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...2014. http://vccslitonline.cc.va.us/tragedy/aristotle.htm.
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This paper contains 237 words of teacher’s comments. What one perceives is influenced by one’s environment. The setting and commentary surrounding events changes our perception of them. Any innocent gesture can be perceived in the wrong way with enough persuading from someone else. Even if someone has total faith in another person's innocence, they can be persuaded to doubt them through the twisting of events. Once just a small amount of doubt has been planted, it influences the way everything else is seen. This occurs throughout the play, Othello. In this play, Iago influences Othello's perception of events through speeches and lies, making him doubt Desdemona's fidelity. Iago uses his talent of manipulating events to exact his revenge on Othello. Iago's twisting of events in Othello's mind leads to the downfall of Othello as planned, but because he fails to twist Emilia's perception as well, he facilitates his own eventual downfall.
Othello avoids all irrelevancies and the action moves swiftly from the first scene to the denouement. We never get lost in a multiplicity of incidents or a multitude of characters. Our attention remains centered on the arch villainy of Iago and his plot to plant in Othello’s mind a corroding belief in his wife’s faithlessness. (viii)
Aristotle continued to express a tragedy arouses both pity and fear, pity for the doomed hero and fear for all humans who are subject to the same forces and weakness. It would not be difficult to discover that Othello demonstrate weakness and fear in the play, and Shak...
11 Dec. 2011. The "Othello". Shakespeare for Students: Critical Interpretations of Shakespeare's Plays and Poetry. Ed. Anne Marie Hacht.
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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.
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.
Kennedy, X. J., & Gioia, D. (2010). Literature an introduction to fiction, poetry, drama and
... ultimately recognizes the goodness of Desdemona. The play’s antagonist, Iago, is finally put to shame as the terrible person that he was, and the power of evil was revealed. In the last act the guards took him away to be executed and he was put to death. Othello’s character is shown at the end when he commits suicide due to the enormous amount of regret and pain that he experienced. His love for Desdemona and the outcome of the play was truly tragic. He realized his faults and as a result, no longer wanted to remain living. In conclusion, Othello the Moor is a tragic hero due to his self-centered nature and his innocence. He allowed himself to be controlled by someone instead of trusting his heart in the process. Aristotle’s definition of a tragic hero is embraced through the character of Othello, the moor, and the play is indeed considered an Aristotelian tragedy.