Since Othello utters that since he is with Desdemona, her reputation “is now begrimed and black,” it presents how a black man can tarnish the “fresh” identity of a white women. Since Othello is accepted and praised as a war hero, but not accepted as lover, love becomes a barrier that leads to a tragedy. Societal expectations push people to the point where they try to surpass society’s norms. Though, when they reach this tipping point, tragedy will
The sympathy felt for a character often remains through character revelation. In spite of the change in personality and morals the first impression of the character is not forgotten. Othello who commits violent acts throughout the play ends his life with honour, reminding us he was originally introduced as a respected man of high position. A person can be manipulated by others to act outside of their character, and their emotions can blind them from making good decisions. In the end a person’s true character is reflected upon the way they react to the results of their wrong doing.
In ‘Othello’, our titular character has worked his way up from slavery to reach his high position of army general, but he still holds himself to particularly great standards because of how his double consciousness has affected him. In the opening of the play, the people of Venice are outraged at the fact he has eloped with the senator’s daughter, Desdemona, both because he was not one of the approved suitors, and because he is a “Moor”. Othello realizes he must change himself and behave in an acceptable manner for the white society around him in order to be accepted by the people, and so he boasts that he is “from men of royal siege”, making certain that his “demerits may speak unbonetted as to proud a fortune as this that I have reached”. He makes clear in his speech that he considers himself deserving of both his position and his wife, through using the intense, powerful language of the people around him, filled with beautiful imagery and recountings of the struggles he has been through, as though he feels the need to validate himself and prove his worth in their terms. This is further shown later, as we see Othello’s insecurities come to light, displaying that he is not as certain of his identity as that he presents to others.
Othello starts out as rational and confident, but when Othello’s jealousy leads him to a downfall and to an end, he becomes a beast without a ounce of rationality. The progression of othello’s character conveys the idea that he once had it all, he was rational and a confident warrior. The exposition of Othello introduces Othello as a confident and rational warrior and a loving husband to Desdemona. He was a trusting man who would believe in the absolute best in everyone.
Just as in Sophocles' timeless Antigone, in Othello, hubris proves again to be a great man's hamartia. Similar to King Creon's tragic fall, Othello's blind killing of his soulmate, Desdemona, displays that pride can only lead in one's implosion. No ending is as quintessentially Shakespearian as watching a once loyal subordinate become disparaged to the point of blind fury by his formal idol. The fatal concoction of hubris and the desire to excel can land in disaster, and the ends rarely justify the means.
Shakespeare’s Othello was written in the late period of Queen Elizabeth 1’s reign to expose the reality. The formation of the capitalist social structure was accelerated with a sort of fierce egoism when resources were unevenly distributed. Shakespeare sensed the huge gap between humanism and realism so that the tragedy Othello came into being. The tragic love between Othello and Desdemona is implicit.
William Shakespeare, the 16th to 17th century English playwright, dwelt on themes dealing with human nature: love, hate, power, jealousy, humour, discrimination and self-respect. He made the often-quoted observation that “our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we might oft win by fearing to attempt”, voicing the danger of doubt which could ultimately lead to loss of self-esteem. In his play, Othello, the moor, who was perceived as a courageous military hero, met his downfall due to the erosion of his self-esteem, and as a result, tragedy ensued. In the play, Othello trusted Iago unconditionally, to the extent that he came to seriously question himself and the trustworthiness of Desdemona, his wife, whom he genuinely cared
The characters of Othello and Desdemona could be complicated when analyzed by many, many readers and scholars, and could become more so as the story reaches its end as both are “consumed and wrapped in the darkness” both physically and mentally. There are some scholars like Macaulay Marcia in her work “When Chaos Is Come Again: Narrative and Narrative Analysis in Othello,” that envision that each character is impacted by a form of “narrative construction.” Each important character of the story would impact the way characters see themselves, and the way each character would see others and their actions. The “narrative construction” used by Shakespeare in Othello would also impact in which the direction the story will go, and in return what sort of actions the characters in Othello would perform. It could also impact the way characters would affect other characters around them.
Brooks DeWitt Dr. Wellmann English IV Dual Credit - 2nd 15 February 2023 Shakespeare Drama Essay Despite being a brilliant warrior, Othello is a highly introverted foreigner in Cyprus, forcing him to carry out a deed that would ruin his life. Othello experiences many motivations, but two stand out significantly more than the others. In the astonishing play, Othello William Shakespeare illustrates Othello’s motivation to action due to his insecurity and his love for Desdemona.
Shakespeare 's Othello centers around the power of jealousy and how it can end up causing the death of a couple and some of those around them. Othello seems to grow incredibly jealous of his wife, Desdemona, and his lieutenant, Cassio’s fake affair that Iago, the villain, has convinced Othello of. As an act of jealousy, Othello decides to kill Desdemona to prevent her from hurting more men and then after realizing everything was part of Iago’s plan he kills himself due to the guilt he feels after having killed his wife. Shakespeare’s use of figurative language and symbolism in act 5 scene 2 reveals how even though Othello truly loves Desdemona, his jealousy for what he believes she has done has completely clouded his judgment and taken over
Shakespeare’s novels are consisted of two categories between tragedy and comedy, as the novel Othello falls into the category of a tragedy. For a piece of literature to be considered a tragedy it must acquire a tragic hero that experiences a tragic fall. The protagonist, Othello, represent the acts and characteristics of a tragic hero. Othello is known for his jealousy and trust leading him towards his personal ruin. The jealousy caused by assuming his partner has committed infidelity led him to a state of madness.
Throughout history, societies have succumbed to the toxic concepts of racism, causing an unthinkable amount of chaos and devastation. While racism on its own can lead to many societal evils, racism coupled with jealousy can create a truly catastrophic force that can only lead to pure destruction. When someone of a different race and culture is placed in this kind of society, this destruction will only naturally follow. In the play Othello, William Shakespeare focuses on the tragic outcomes of Othello, a Venetian general and black Turkish Moor, and Desdemona, his white Venetian wife. Throughout the play, both covert and overt racism, assimilation, and jealous dispositions all foreshadow the untimely death of Desdemona and Othello.
The common aim of playwrights of any time or location is to capture and hold the attention of their audience; this is what Shakespeare has clearly done. The tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice, is one of Shakespeare 's most renowned plays. Through construction of intriguing characters, exploration of universal themes, use of comic relief and a well-written script featuring a compelling plot, Shakespeare ensured the tragedy of Othello would hold the interest of the audience; despite being over four centuries old. It possesses so many conditions that can be accentuated to hit nerves with both a Shakespearean and modern audience. The entire plot of Othello is very much like the attitudes and methods of our modern day society.
The Moorish General Othello is an accurate definition of a tragic hero. Not only is Othello a very successful general in the Venetian army, he is also seen as a respected, honorable, noble hearted man. These traits are admired greatly amongst the characters found within Othello. This includes Iago who admiringly states that Othello is “of a constant loving, noble nature [and] will prove to Desmona a most dear husband’ (2.1.290-292). In order to truly feel the tragic downfall, an understanding of “high estate” being not of royalty or of noble stature, but one that “gives him a place of dignity to fall from and perhaps makes his fall seem all the more a calamity” (Kennedy & Gioia 856) is needed.
These two villains slander Othello to the point of eradicating any pity the audience could have developed towards Othello. The Venetians also have a hidden fascination for Othello and his foreign qualities but, they mask feelings with negative slurs. The audience also affected by the portrayal of Othello, and are persuaded to feel pity for him because of his circumstances; being betrayed by his ensign and being looked down upon because of his Moorish descent. Shakespeare also uses racism as a creative apparatus to generate a metaphor between Desdemona and Othello.
