Sympathy For Othello In Shakespeare's Play

The extent of which Othello is a tragic hero has been open to much debate; the basis on which he is judged falls to Aristotle’s established view of the crucial elements that distinguish whether a person is truly tragic. According to Aristotle, a tragic protagonist is a nobleman or person from high status, who contributes to his own demise and illustrates a flaw or weakness in judgment. The tragic protagonist must make a fall from a high state of being to a low state or death. The tragic hero’s downfall, said Aristotle, was brought upon by some error of judgement. Aristotle’s theory is not the final word on tragedy, however it can support in pinpointing the pivotal traits in

Desdemona is portrayed as a very inquisitive women, whom loves to explore the things and people outside of her class. She fell in love with Othello because of her curious nature and being attracted to his acts of bravado. Her intentions are sincere; however her curiosity in this act is seen as folly. She asks her cousin Lodovico about his arrival and informs him of Cassio’s dismissal. This angers Othello as she is praising another man, taking a persona of being proactive about him. For Othello this concludes that she is disobedient and has dishonored him - to put her in place, he resorts to violence:

Rhetoric is all around us—it is everywhere—and people use and tailor rhetoric to benefit them, and the reason they do this is because each person has lived a life filled with struggle, heartbreak, challenges, happiness and bliss. The reason I bring this up is because understanding this will make teaching writing and rhetoric more effective; one of the things I enjoy doing is applying life to teaching because that will make an instructor more relatable. My research interest is heavily based on finding new approaches and strategies to teaching college English effectively that will appeal to a college audience—and I hope to experience this at Oregon State University.

‘Othello’ was written between 1601 and 1603. It was first performed in the Elizabethan courts during the Christmas season. The idea of a ‘perfect’ tragedy is the idea that the tragedy is faultless; it does what is expected; so makes the audience feel empathy and sympathy for the characters who suffer. There are two different types of tragedy: classical tragedy and Shakespearean tragedy. The tragic hero in this play is the main character, Othello. Othello's misfortune comes about because of his jealousy, trust, and his pride. This essay aims to look at, and compare, how Shakespeare wrote his tragedy, and how other tragedies are written. I will mainly compare ‘Othello’, for Shakespearean tragedy, and ‘Oedipus Rex’, by Sophocles, for

The tragedy of Othello, written by William Shakespeare, presents the main character Othello, as a respectable, honorable, and dignified man, but because of his insecurities and good nature, he is easily taken advantage of and manipulated by his peers and alleged friends. The dynamic of Othello’s character significantly changes throughout the play. The contrast is most pronounced from the beginning of the play to its conclusion, switching from being calm and peaceful to acts of uncontrolled venomous rage. Othello’s motivation in the play appears to be his love and concern for his wife Desdemona, which ironically, ends up being his downfall in the end.

The main character in the film Black Swan, twenty-eight year old female Nina Sayers, displays signs of numerous disorders through her abnormal behavior. Nina’s life is consumed by her occupation: professional ballerina/dancer. Nina resides with her mother and rarely socializes with others. She has difficulty concentrating, is restless, irritable, suffers from muscle tension, and sleep disturbances from nightmares. Nina also feels very uncomfortable in social and intimate situations. She appears to be unable to successfully interact with those around her. The interaction that Nina has with her fellow dancers appears to be strained and superficial. Nina exhibits behavior that indicates she views all other dancers as competition instead of

It is here that the audience begins seeing a different identity of Othello. Who was once regarded as so valiant and courageous, was now beginning to show signs of severe insecurities dealing with matters, most importantly, such as his lack of experience in love and marriage causing shadows of doubt over his confidence in himself and his ability to be loved by and worthy of someone like Desdemona. Desdemona, although not intentionally, seems to be the reason for all the unrest in Othello. This is an instance in the play when irony shines it's smiling face upon Shakespeare's most tragic characters. Othello feels truly happy with the presence of Desdemona in his life (Act II.1, 181-187):

Othello had the option of having a rational discussion with Desdemona however he decides to blame her without evidence. While reflecting on the information Iago has given him, Othello begins plotting his revenge. Othellos temper made matters worst for Desdemona. Whenever he becomes angered he lashes out on Desdemona and would physically and mentally abuse her. Othello’s aggressive behavior has become suspicious to some, yet he is left alone. Othello commits the murder of Desdemona with no remorse and doesn't think twice about what will happen to him. Othello states, “Yet she must die, else she’ll betray more men. Put out the light, and then put out the light. If I quench thee, thou flaming minister,I can again thy former light restore”(5.2.235). He undoubtedly believes that Desdemona must be killed no questions asked. When Lodovico realizes what Othello has done he is stunned. Lodovico attempts to convince Othello of what he did is wrong, but he believes his actions were right, ”O thou Othello, thou wert once so good,Fall'n in the practice of a damnèd slave,What shall be said to thee?”, othello then states,” Why, anything. An honorable murderer, if you will,For naught I did in hate, but all in honor” (5.2.342-347). Instead of taking responsibility for killing Desdemona Othello is making excuses to protect

For starters, Othello has been through countless dangerous adventure; his experiences make a great contribution to his nobility. Specifically, he talks about his traveling through “rough quarries, rocks, and hills whose heads touch heaven” (1.3.157). This means Othello has been to many different dangerous places throughout his life. He has experienced many deadly incidents; after countless times he has been between the realm of life and death, he is disciplined enough to become a fearless hero. His bravery to face harshness and roughness in life is a main part of his personality that creates his greatness. Finally, his courage to admit his sin of jealousy and willingness for redemption is very honorable. In particular, when he realizes his foolishness for misunderstanding his wife and kills her, he ends his life by his own hands “to die upon a kiss” (5.2.412). This is evidence of the fundamental truth that Othello kills his wife over his jealousy, his craziness, and his foolishness; so he kills himself to redeem his crime. For a man to admit his fault is a very hard thing, yet Othello, as a great general, forgets his pride to admit his flaw; it is even harder for one to kill himself to ask for forgiveness. He kissed his wife before he killed her, now he kisses her again before he kills himself; he makes an end to what he started the same way fair and square. Othello’s action show his inconsolability, as well as majestic remorse; his rue is priceless. Othello’s gallantness in acknowledging his mistake and his bravery to punish himself shows his nobility. Hence, his hardship experiences, and his sincere remorse make a major contribution to his

In Shakespeare?s play Othello, Othello himself is the tragic hero. He is an individual of high stature who is destroyed by his surroundings, his own actions, and his fate. His destruction is essentially precipitated by his own actions, as well as by the actions of the characters surrounding him. The tragedy of Othello is not a fault of a single person, but is rather the consequence of a wide range of feelings, judgments, misjudgments, and attempts for personal justification revealed by the characters.

This quote explains the shift in Othello’s personality. Othello is fueled by the jealousy of Desdemona and enraged that she would do such a thing to disrespect him. His pride was shattered and his feelings were hurt.

Most murder mysteries and tragedies end with killings that are committed with sole action, but in Othello, a tragedy by William Shakespeare, the reader is shown that you can end a man’s life with just words and a plan. Taking place in Venice, Italy the play is about a moor, Othello, who falls in love with a fair skinned woman who goes by the name of Desdemona. Eventually the two get married, but Iago, the main antagonist, plans to seek revenge by killing both Othello and his wife. Shakespeare shows how Iago uses rhetorical devices to convince Othello that Desdemona is having an affair resulting in both their deaths.

The relationship between Desdemona and Othello in the play ‘Othello’ is used to express and observe the way that humans are selfish by nature. Although both Desdemona and Othello do sincerely love each other, both of them find great personal gain in their marriage, which clearly contributes to their feelings for one another. Othello, who is a black leader in an overwhelmingly white, Christian society, has come from a troubled and difficult background, being “sold to slavery” and working in the military all his life. In finding a good Christian wife in Desdemona, he finds someone to always support him in hard times, as evidenced in his summary of their romance, “she loved me for the dangers I had passed, and I loved her that she did pity them”. This quote suggests that their love is more self-serving than he lets on; Desdemona loves Othello for the adventures he has been on and the stories he tells, and Othello loves Desdemona because she listens and devotes herself to what he has to say. When Desdemona gets a chance to explain their relationship herself, she is particularly proud of the fact that she “did love the Moor to live with him; my downright violence and storms of fortunes may trumpet to the world”. We note that she mentions her ‘violence’, the way she deliberately disobeyed her father and fled his company to secretly marry a man who is not one of her father’s approved suitors. This furthers the idea that Desdemona seems to be in love with Othello because of the adventures he has been on, and the excitement and liberty of her being with such a man; she is seeking her own freedom in a misogynistic society by defying her father to marry Othello. Their relationship is

. He is admired by everyone in the play, even Iago comments on what a good man Othello is. Secondly, a tragic hero can not be perfect. He or she must have a flaw of some kind. In Othello’s case it is that he allows his emotions to take over. Manipulated by Iago’s lies, Othello is forced to confront emotions he obviously can not handle. His wisdom and patience are replaced by anger and hate. The power of these destructive emotions ultimately lead to Desdemona’s death and Othello’s suicide

Othello not only kills Desdemona despite knowing she may be innocent, but he does so to protect his own reputation. When Othello is called a murderer by Lodovico, he says he is “An honorable murderer.../ For naught [he] did in hate, but all in honor” (5.2.308) Othello admits that he killed Desdemona to protect his own honor. His need for a good reputation got in the way of his awareness that his wife was innocent, and by admitting this he takes on responsibility for the murder. When Lodovico is ready to take Othello as a prisoner, Othello tells him he has “done the state some service, and they know’t” (5.2.355)