The Complex Feelings and Emotions with Othello - Essay Example

Othello Othello, the Moor of Venice, written by Shakespeare in the early 1600s is considered to be one of the greatest tragedies every written. The aim of this paper is to examine the how Othello, the Moor of Venice is an Aristotelian tragedy and if Othello is indeed a ‘tragic hero’ by looking at Aristotle’s description of tragedy and analyzing how Othello fits that description. Othello, the Moor of Venice is a Tragedy and Othello is indeed a Tragic Hero. Aristotle’s concept of tragedy and tragic hero The definition of tragedy given by Aristotle in his famous work the Poetics is, “A tragedy is the imitation of an action that is serious and also, as having magnitude, complete in itself; in appropriate and pleasurable language;... in a dramatic rather than narrative form; with incidents arousing pity and fear, wherewith to accomplish a catharsis of these emotions” (Aristotle, Trans. Butcher, 1932, p. 111) This means that the tragedy is a tale about a serious issue, with a single unified plot, in a dramatized form and it should arouse the feelings of pity and fear so that these feelings are purged and tension is released. The six characters of a tragedy according to Aristotle includes, plot, character, thought, diction, melody and spectacle. According to Aristotle, a tragic hero is a noble person, whose downfall is caused by a serious flaw in character or error of judgment (hamartia). The tragic hero undergoes a reversal of fortune because of the hamartia and this reversal of fortune makes the drama a tragic one. Othello, the Moor of Venice: a Tragedy Othello, the Moor of Venice, is often called the tragedy of passion. Throughout the play, the readers are engulfed with the feeling of both pity and fear, Pity at the gullibility and naivety of Othello, and fear of Othello’s potential action, which is his killing of his wife. The feelings of pity and fear in the audience reach and epitome when Othello realizes his folly and embraces his death, resulting in a cathartic experience. The play is one where human emotions come out to play a very critical role in the course of the action taken by the characters. Emotions like hurt ego, humiliation, jealousy and revenge rule the actions of the primary characters (Kermode, 2000). While Iago’s hurt ego at not being chosen as the lieutenant results in intense humiliation. He cleverly transforms his jealously to Othello’s jealousy and eventually intense revenge. It can be said that Othellos moral stature is great and aspects like evil are alien to him, which makes him a very easy victim to Iago. Because of his loving and noble nature, Othello makes serious error in judgment that lead to the fatal end. Hence, one cannot help but feel pity at the end of the play. At the same time, the play also proves to be a reminder of how anyone can meet the same fate if manipulated by an evil genius like Iago. The complex feelings and emotions are indeed an elevated subject and not trivial, something that Aristotle was very particular about when it came to tragedy and Shakespeare indeed wrote it in a dramatic way. What makes this tragedy very appealing to the audience is that even though the milieu may be very different, any human being is able to relate to the play and empathize with Othello (Bradley, 1960). The consistently loyal character of Cassio serves the purpose of restoring faith about the tenets of loyalty as well as trust. The play reaches an exalted peak during its end, successfully arousing intense feelings. The play also fulfils the six characteristics that Aristotle lays down are also fulfilled. There is a strong plot of a hero, who is a noble man, but manipulated by jealousy in such a way that he loses trust on everything and ends up killing his beautiful wife and in the end, has a downfall, thus displaying a unity of plot. The characters of the plot are well defined, with each playing a critical role. Othello, the noble character with crucial character flaws, Desdemona, the beautiful wife, Iago, the manipulator, Cassio, the honest and faithful follower, all have clearly defined characters in the play. The third factor is thought, which basically means how the dialogues and the monologues of the characters reveal their personality and show a theme. In Othello too, narrations reveal the character, like these lines spoken by Iago, “The Moor is of a free and open nature,/ That thinks men honest that but seem to be so,/And will as tenderly be led by the nose/ As asses are.” (Shakespeare, eds. Bevigton, Kastan, 1998, Act I, scene 3, 399-402). Here, Iago’s character about identifying the weakness of Othello and his plan to manipulate him are revealed. Diction, Song and Spectacle are theatrical elements that Aristotle described as essential. As there is no question about the theatrical efficacy of this great play of Shakespeare, it indeed fulfills the criteria that Aristotle set forth for a tragedy. Shakespeare’s plays have always lived up to theatrical expectations and Othello is one that has been performed down the ages. Shakespeare creates an intense drama of love, passion, revenge, jealousy and envy that evokes very strong emotions among the audience. By the end of the play, these emotions reach such an epoch that the audience feels relief after the play ends, even if it means Othello meeting a fatal end. Othello, the character as a Tragic Hero The character of Othello is regarded as a tragic hero in Aristotelian sense. Othello has a very prominent flaw and shows an error of judgment too (hamartia). While his gullible nature and jealousy are inherent flows in the character, his decision to trust Iago and not have faith on Desdemona show error of judgment on his part. Although some critics feel that Othello is not a typical tragic hero because the hamartia was not inherent in Othello, but his mind was manipulated by Iago (Kolin, 2002). However, the gullibility that Othello displays when he chooses to trust Iago over his wife can be classified his hamartia which, in the end leads to his doom because it was indeed this fatal flaw that reverses the fortunes of Othello. According to Aristotle, the hero is a noble man, but undergoes a downfall, which is exactly what happened to Othello. At the beginning of the play, Othello is a strong and astute character, with intense love for Desdemona. He impresses her with his tales and sagas of adventure, thus winning her love. However, as the play progresses, this love transforms into an unexplained jealously, leading to his fatal fall. Even though he kills Desdemona for ‘honor’, he feels intense remorse when he realizes the folly. He is left with no other choice, but to accept his fate. His nobility further comes out when he begs forgiveness to Cassio. Before ending his life, his emotional, and poetic and heart wrenching attempt about his actions establishes his nobility. His rise to nobility happens when it is too late. When he says, ‘"l kissed thee ere i killed thee. No way but this, killing myself to die upon a kiss’, (Shakespeare, eds. Bevigton, Kastan, 1998, Act V, scene 2, 358-359), the readers or the audience feel the catharsis of pity and fear, which are aroused by the tragic hero Othello. In the end, Cassio’s words prove to be redemption of his nobility ‘he was great of heart’ (Shakespeare, eds. Bevigton, Kastan, 1998, Act V, scene 2, 358-361) and restore the faith of the audience in Othello. One cannot but agree with the words of Bloom (1987), “Othello, within his occupations limits, has the greatness of the tragic hero. Iago breaks down those limits from within”. References Aristole . Poetics. Trans. Butcher, S. H. (1932). Aristotles Theory of Poetry and Fine Art London: Macmillan. Bloom, H. (1987). William Shakespeares Othello: Modern Critical Interpretations. New York: Chelsea House Bradley, A. C. (1960). Shakespearean Tragedy: Lectures on Hamlet, Othello, King Lear and Macbeth. Macmillan London Kermode, F (2000). Shakespeare’s Language. New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 2000. Kennedy, X. J., and Gioia, D. (2009). Literature: an introduction to fiction, poetry, drama, and writing, compact interactive edition. Boston:Longman Pub Group. Kolin, P. C (2002). Othello: New Critical Interpretations. New York: Routeldge, 2002. Shakespeare, W. (1988). eds. Bevigton D, Kastan D.C . Four Tragedies: Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth. London: Bantam Books Read More