othello as a tragic hero

A detailed Summary of othello as a tragic hero

In Shakespeare's Othello, Othello can be considered a tragic hero because he follows Aristotle's six elements of a tragedy. Another tragic hero who follows the same six elements of a tragedy is Oedipus from Oedipus the King. Based on Aristotle's six elements of a tragedy, position, flaw, prophecy, recognition, catastrophe, and reversal, the character Othello from Shakespeare's Othello can be considered a tragic hero.

The first element of tragedy is position, which lets the reader know the position, or status, that the hero is in. In Othello, Othello is the leader of the Italian army and is very important to the people of Italy. "Valiant Othello, we must straight employ you against the general enemy Ottoman (11)." This quote shows how important Othello is to the army and to the war. The same kind of position can be seen in Oedipus the King because Oedipus is king and is respected by the people of Thebes. "King Oedipus, the sovereign of our land...(Sophocles 5)." This quote shows the importance of Oedipus to Thebes, just like Othello is important to Venice. When Othello is chosen to lead the army over seas, he also makes Brabantio mad by marrying his daughter, Desdemona, without his permission. "And, nobl

The forth element of a tragedy is catastrophe, which can be seen when Othello dies. "I kiss'd thee ere I kill'd thee: no way but this, killing myself, to die upon a kiss (91)." This is the last thing that Othello says before he dies which is the catastrophe in the play. Oedipus' catastrophe happens when Jocasta kills herself after she finds out that the prophet of Oedipus was true. "He frees the noose and lays the wretched woman

Othello can be seen as a tragic hero because he follows all of Aristotle's six elements of tragic hero. These are the same six elements that define Oedipus as a tragic hero. The six elements of a tragedy can be seen throughout the plays Othello and Oedipus the King. That is why Othello is seen as a tragic hero through the eyes of the reader.

anger can be seen when Tiresias tells Oedipus that he is the evil that haunts the town. "Good riddance too! You're nothing but a nuisance here, and one I can do without." This is an example of how powerful anger can be because of the anger that Othello feels, he can't even stand to look at the woman that he loves. Once Othello finds out that Desdemona is being unfaithful to him, he approaches her looking for an explanation. "O devil, devil! If that the earth could teem with woman's tears, each drop she falls would prove a crocodile. Out of my sight (67)!" This quote shows how Othello's jealousy has turned into rage, a form of anger.

The second element of tragedy is prophecy, which can be seen when Othello is telling Desdemona the story about when he received the handkerchief. "She told me her, while she kept it 't would make her amiable and subdue my father entirely to her love, but if she lost it or made a gift of it, my father's eye should hold her loathed and his spirits should hunt after new fancies

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Approximate Word count = 1213
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English