Essay
Question:
How
is Othello a tragic hero? How does he establish nobility? Is he a
well-respected man? Why? What is his tragic flaw? How does it lead to
his downfall? Explain where this occurs. Explain the catstrophe.
Shakespeare
was a great legend. He wrote the tragic drama Othello in 1603. Now,
what do we mean by 'the play is tragic'? Is it tragic because the
protagonist dies or is it because the antagonist dies? As plays
revolve mainly around the protagonists, it is obvious here that a
tragic play ends up in the death of the protagonist. Who is the
tragic hero? It is obvious that tragic plays always have a tragic
hero. The obvious answer here is that the tragic hero is the
protagonist who dies at the end of the play.
Now,
guessing the tragic hero becomes easier. That is not the case. Every
tragic drama usually follows a rule. The tragic hero's name is the
title of the drama. The tragic hero’s name can be easily guessed.
In this case, it is obvious that the tragic hero is Othello. Knowing
the tragic drama and this rule can help us know the tragic hero
easily.
In
every drama, the hero has some quality due to which he is popular. He
earns his nobility. Othello earned his status in the city Venice
because of his bravery. In earlier wars, he proved himself really
brave on the battlefield. He was thus chosen as the general of
Venice. When he became the general of Venice, he was well known for
his nobility but then later in the end of the drama, he disproves
himself. Othello is greatly respected due to being the general of
Venice. But, we cannot just say that he is a general that's why he is
much respected. He proved himself as a good general because he saved
Venice many a times (once is even shown in the drama). He was also
known as a kind person except in the end when he disproves himself in
this aspect too.
In
two aspects I have mentioned that he disproves himself in the end.
Why do you think this happened. This can be explained by the concept
tragic flaw. To say, the exact and simplest definition of tragic flaw
is some error committed which leads to the downfall of the hero. This
is why the drama is said to be tragic and the hero is said to be the
tragic hero.
What
must be the tragic flaw that Othello committed that led to his
downfall? Here, we need to know a little about the drama. All through
the second, third and fourth acts, Iago (the antagonist) gets such
bad thoughts into Othello's mind which he shouldn't have believed.
But Othello who was physically strong was mentally weak and instead
of trusting his beloved wife he trusted Iago. All anger built up in
his mind later resulted as a suddenly blasted volcano. Iago is also
responsible for the downfall of Othello indirectly through Othello's
character. Iago and Roderigo from the starting of Act 1 Scene 1
itself start planning how to remove Othello from his general
position. Desdemona herself is a third reason. She is so
straight-forward and nice that Othello got into Iago's words thinking
that what he sees in Desdemona's is action.
These
points that I said can be supported with specific quotes from the
modern text of Shakespeare's drama Othello. They are as follows:
Iago:
Let's shout up to
Desdemona's father, wake him, pester him, spoil his happiness
(Extract from Dialogue 3, Page 7, Scene 1, Act 1)
Iago:
Watch your wife.
Watch how she is with Cassio. Just watch– don't be either
completely suspicious or completely trustful. (Extract from Dialogue
2, Page 145, Scene 3, Act 3)
Iago:
Maybe she was just
naked in bed with him for an hour or so, but they didn't do anything.
(Othello gets really suspicious)(Dialogue 5, Page 191, Scene 1, Act
4)
Othello:
But she's got to die,
or she'll cheat on other men. Put out the light of the candle, and
then put out the light of her heart. (Extract from Dialogue 1, Page
271, Scene 2, Act 5)
This
support has come from the dialogues said by the characters in the
play. Now, you know what is the downfall. You must be thinking when
did it happen. The pathway started being created when Iago's ploy
started in Act 2. But the actual downfall happen in Acts 3,4,5 when
Iago gets false proofs and Othello cannot take it any more. It can be
supported by quotes:
Iago:
Oh, you're happy now,
but I'll ruin your happiness, for all my supposed honesty. (Dialogue
3, Page 79, Scene 1, Act 2)
Iago:
I'll leave this handkerchief at Cassio's house and let him find it.
(Extract from Dialogue 5, Page 157, Scene 3, Act 3)
We
know what is the downfall, when it happened, we should know what
disasters took place. A sudden calamity took place. This is known as
the Catastrophe. The catastrophe in this play was the killing of
Desdemona. Othello killed Desdemona without knowing the truth on his
own but because of Iago's provocations. This horrible disaster led to
his ultimate downfall. He committed suicide! He could not decide what
to do with his life, so, he killed himself. We now exactly know how
is a hero tragic and how everything builds up before a downfall.
Othello is also one of those dramas which follows this way.
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