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, noble signior, if virtue no delighted beauty lack, your son-.

             in-law is far more far than black (17)." This quote shows that Othello is so respected that the Duke of Venice can see through the color of Othello's skin and gives him praise.

             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 (56)." This quote lets the reader know that the handkerchief is not only important to Othello and Desdemona but it is also important to the play because it's the reason why Othello gets jealous.