#Othello as a tragic hero free

A true Aristotelian tragedy also contains what the Greeks called a katharsis, or a purgation that leaves the audience feeling justified and uplifted. Neither is it the only component of Othello distinguishing Shakespeare’s play from a comedic drama. Therefore Othello fits Aristotle’s description of a tragic hero who has descended from high estate to destruction because of his hamartia.īut the tragic hero is not the only element required by Aristotle for tragedy. Iago recognizes that he can use these weaknesses of Othello’s to hasten his downfall.

#Othello as a tragic hero free

Although the villain Iago is certainly to blame for bringing about Desdemona’s murder and Othello’s suicide, Shakespeare makes it quite clear throughout the play that Othello’s impulsive behavior and irrational naïveté are the main cause of his miserable end, as Iago himself states at the beginning of the play: “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” (1.3. Instead of investigating the matter further, Othello rashly jumps to the worst conclusions about his wife and believes every lie that Iago whispers into his ear.

Othello’s mistake as a tragic hero is believing Iago’s treacherous lies about Desdemona’s unfaithfulness. Thus hamartia is more than a moral weakness it is a crucial mistake on the part of the tragic hero that causes him to plunge from greatness to grief. ‘Tragic flaw’, the usual English translation, can mislead by its concentration on moral weakness – encouraging readers to view Hamlet’s fate as a condemnation of his uncertainty, or Othello’s as a condemnation of his jealousy – since hamartia can also be a matter of ignorance or mistaken judgment” (“Hamartia”). “In Aristotle’s theory of tragedy,” explains The Cambridge Guide to Literature, hamartia is “the mistake or failing which brings about the hero’s downfall. The most distinctive feature of the Aristotelian tragic hero is hamartia his downfall must be brought about by a character flaw or flaw in judgment that leads to his destruction. According to Aristotle, however, the tragic hero’s collapse cannot be a simple deterioration from success to misery. Since Othello enjoys a position of power and happiness at the beginning of the play, this status makes his downfall from beloved general to despised murderer infinitely more tragic and moving (Kennedy & Gioia 857-858). Contrary to common assumption, “high estate” does not mean that the tragic hero must be royal or even noble it simply “gives him a place of dignity to fall from and perhaps makes his fall seem all the more a calamity” (Kennedy & Gioia 856). Othello is not only a successful general in the Venetian army but is also well respected, admired, and well liked. According to Kennedy and Gioia, Aristotle states that a tragic hero must have three dominant qualities: he must be a person of high estate, he must fall from that position into unhappiness, and his downfall must be brought about by his hamartia, or his tragic flaw (856-857). Moreover the plot of Othello contains a powerful katharsis through its climax and conclusion, and an anagnorisis when Othello realizes that Iago and Desdemona are not who they seemed to be.įirst of all, Shakespeare’s protagonist, the Moorish general Othello, fits Aristotle’s definition of a tragic hero. Shakespeare’s protagonist Othello fulfills all of Aristotle’s requirements for a tragic hero, as Othello is a character of noble status who falls from that position of power to one of shame because of his hamartia. Aristotle prescribed three main ingredients for a tragic drama recipe: hamartia, or a tragic flaw in the tragic hero’s character that brings about his downfall katharsis, or a purgation of the audience’s emotions so that they feel that they have learned something from the play and anagnorisis, or the character’s revelation of some fact not previously realized (Kennedy & Gioia 856-857). William Shakespeare’s famous play concerning the downfall of a Moorish general interweaves jealousy, suspense, intrigue, murder, and suicide to create a magnificent tragedy of the highest Aristotelian order.

He may very well have been describing the epic Shakespearean drama, Othello.

The great fourth-century Greek philosopher Aristotle described a tragedy as “an imitation of an action of high importance, complete and of some amplitude: in language enhanced by distinct and varying beauties…by means of pity and fear effecting its purgation of these emotions” (qtd. Othello: Shakespeare’s Aristotelian Tragedy