The brilliance of a tragedy lies in its ability to maintain its moral and the values it explores even in the tragic ending or in the downfall of its heroes. William Shakespeare does just this Othello, so quintessentially that the deaths in the end do not only refrain from undermining or canceling out the virtues of the play, but they actually restore them to the deceased, who have died because they have lost them. In this play, love, loyalty, and honesty are of foremost importance in the human condition, and when those are questioned or lost, chaos ensues. The tragedy lies in the fact that the truth is revealed only too late, and because of this only death can restore those values. The loss or misunderstanding of the major virtues in Othello lead to the tragic ending, but because Desdemona retains these virtues into her death, she allows them to be restored, and when the truth comes out, Othello dies to reclaim his honor and complete this restoration.
The love between Othello, the Moor, and Desdemona, his wife, is strong from the outset of the play, and Othello relies on this love and on Desdemona’s loyalty. When Desdemona’s father, Brabantio, brings him before the senators, accusing him of corrupting Desdemona, Othello is so confident in her love for him that he offers his life if she says she does not love him: “If you do find me foul in her report, /…let your sentence/ Even fall upon my life” (I, iii, 117-19). He reaffirms this when Brabantio suggests that Desdemona will deceive him. Othello responds, “My life upon her faith” (I, iii, 289) Twice, then, he has trusted his life to Desdemona’s loyalty. This not only emphasizes his love for her, but also his reliance upon her…
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…1988) Othello: An Introduction to the Variety of Criticism Hampshire: Macmillan Press
Hale, Steven. Class lectures. Georgia Perimeter College. April 20th –30th, 1999
Jones, Eldred. “Othello- An Interpretation” Critical Essays on Shakespeare’s Othello. Ed. Anthony G. Barthelemy Pub. Macmillan New York, NY 1994. (page 39-55)
Neely, Carol. “Women and Men in Othello” Critical Essays on Shakespeare’s Othello. Ed. Anthony G. Barthelemy Pub. Macmillan New York, NY 1994. (page 68-90)
Shakespeare, W. (1997) Othello (c. 1602) E. A. J Honigmann (Ed.) Surrey: Thomas Nelson
Human Frailty in Othello
Human Frailty in Othello
Tragedy is an intrinsically human concept; tragic heroes are damned by what they themselves do. Othello is not so much felled by the actions of Iago, but by a quality all people possess– human frailty. Accordingly, Othello is not a victim of consequences, but an active participant in his downfall. He is not merely a vehicle for the machinations of Iago; he had free agency. Othello’s deficiencies are: an insecure grasp of Venetian social values; lack of critical intelligence, self-knowledge, and faith in his wife; and finally, insecurity– these are the qualities that lead to his own downfall.
Othello is the Cultural Other in Venetian society, and while he is very learned, it is probable that he is not fully aware of the social and cultural mores that govern Venice. As a Moor, Othello was reared outside Venice, and thus remains separate and exoticized. Although a great military man, and accepted by the elite of Venice, there is still a foreign-ness to him. The characters in the play, for the most part, call Othello “the Moor” (1. 1. 37, 1. 1. 161, 1. 2. 56). By calling Othello “the Moor,” his proper name is taken away and he is left as an object. He is only accepted because of his military prowess, and seems to be used almost as a commodity; he is sent to Cyprus, with little warning–almost at the whim of the Duke. It is only because he is valuable to Venice that he is not punished for marrying the white Desdemona; Brabantio’s anger is a clear indication that miscegenation is not an acceptable practice. Therefore, being a stranger to Venetian society, even a vague inkling that he is only a body used to fight may lead to insecurity that only exacerbates the deep-seeded, pre-existing …
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…ure Spring 1996:
(Online) accessed. April 27 1999 http://www. Galileo pechnet.edu
Bloom, Harold. “Introduction” Modern Critical Interpretations, Othello Ed. Harold Bloom, Pub. Chelsea House New Haven CT 1987. (1-6)
J. Adelman. “Iago’s Alter Ego: Race as Projection in Othello,” Shakespeare Quarterly v48 Summer 1997: 130.
Jones, Eldred. “Othello- An Interpretation” Critical Essays on Shakespeare’s Othello. Ed. Anthony G. Barthelemy Pub. Macmillan New York, NY 1994. (page 39-55)
Neely, Carol. “Women and Men in Othello” Critical Essays on Shakespeare’s Othello. Ed. Anthony G. Barthelemy Pub. Macmillan New York, NY 1994. (page 68-90)
Norman Sanders, ed. Othello. Cambridge: New York, 1995: 12.
Snyder, Susan. “Beyond the Comedy: Othello” Modern Critical Interpretations, Othello Ed. Harold Bloom, Pub. Chelsea House New Haven CT 1987. (page 23-37)