Othello Essay
“A tragic Hero must arouse some sympathy as well as a sense of loss at his parting”
In the light of this statement discuss the presentation of Othello in the play
First published in 1622, during the Renaissance period, William Shakespeare’s play
“The tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice” commendably shows “A tragic hero must
arouse some sympathy as well as a sense of loss at his parting” through the protagonist
Othello. Set in Venice and Cyprus, this play not only illustrates jealousy as the “green
eyed monster” but also shows how fatal the consequences can be. The reader follows
one example of a character foil; Othello, a loyal general in the Venetian Army and Iago,
a disloyal standard-bearer. Therefore Shakespeare encourages us to decide whether
Othello can be classified as a tragic hero. This is seen through the character
development of Othello, as we understand Othello initially through the way he is
established, then move on to see ways in which sympathy is aroused during the play
and finally explore his demise.
A hero is defined as a person, who is admired for their courage, outstanding
achievements or noble qualities. Avoid definitions and, instead, aim to include statement
sentences which link with your response to the topic Shakespeare works hard in the
opening Acts of the play to shape the audience’s perception of Othello as a hero. After
closely analysing the play, we see Othello fully fits into the definition of a Hero as he
displays all the qualities. Othello is introduced to us as a Christian Moor who has earned
a high reputation as a general and commander of the Venician armed forces who later
also becomes the governor of Cyprus who displays courage on a number of occasions.
For example being a moor, he is victim of racist remarks by the anthologist Iago
numerously. This is seen in the very first scene when Roderigo and Iago ridicule Othello
in explicitly racial terns calling him “Barbary horse” and “thick lips”. Therefore despite
having such a high ranking, racist language describes Othello as a beast or animal, not
only classifying Othello as an outsider to a white Venetian society, but also as less
human being and therefore less deserving of respect. However this goes even further
as Othello is also prejudiced for his age. Therefore despite all these remarks, Othello
keeps himself calm and nonviolent, not reacting to these comments. Furthermore,
Brabanzio, Desdemona’s father believes that Othello used witchcraft and other things to
trap Desdemona into his love and therefore kidnapped her. Not only does this show
how Othello is classified in society, but it shows us just another example of harsh
behaviour that Othello must tolerate. This is as Brabanzio insists that Desdemona could
never have been sexually drawn towards a Moor in the absence of some kind of
deception on his part. Furthermore, Othello’s decision to marry Desdemona without her
father’s permission is a daring action by Othello and confirms his character to be
courageous and willing to take risks – qualities of being a commander and governor.
However despite the accusations placed on him, Othello defends his marriage to
Desdemona so powerfully that it forcers the Duke to admit his admit “I think this tale
would win my daughter too”. You have moved away from the topic towards the end of
this paragraph. Always come back to it – in this case you are writing about the fact that
in the opening scenes Shakespeare works hard to convince us of Othello’s heroic traits
Othello and Desdemona love each other for the 'differences they perceive in one another;'3
Desdemona perceives Othello as a valiant warrior, and Othello perceives Desdemona as a
woman with genuine feminine grace.
Othello, the black protagonist of the play possess power in the professional domain,
however, in the private and social domain, he is marginalised and dislocated because of his
race, leading ultimately, to a loss of power in both. Therefore this then
Despite their differences in age, race and experience
One important dramatic event is the soliloquy, which is where a character speaks to the
audience and other characters are unaware of what is being said.
Therefore we see how even though Othello is a victim of racial prejudice by numerous
characters such as Roderigo, Iago and Brabanzio, he holds himself up mentally and
physically and tries all he can to overlook the comments and instead focuses on
carrying out his roles as general and husband of Desdemona excellently.
Paragraph 2:
Ultimately, characters and event engages us to connect with what is happening in the
play taking a toll on us mentally as we form opinions on what we think is right or wrong.
How does this relate to the topic? Stay with the concept of a tragic hero It is in Act 2,
that our sympathies are truly aroused for Othello whose character goes from a noble
and loving husband to a jealous insecure lover. Othello, being the victim has been
corrupted by the ‘pestilence poured’ into his ears and his shameful decision to murder
Desdemona is the manifestation of the toxic effect Iago has made on Othello’s brain. On
a number of occasions Iago plots against Othello through his soliloquies while Othello
breaks down unable to control himself or his anger towards Desdemona. Firstly one
example of a soliloquy is in Act 4, Scene 1
The audience is left to feel disgust towards Iago’s evil doings but sympathy for Othello
as he begins losing control of himself repeatedly falling into epileptic fits. When Iago
informs Othello he saw Casio with the handkerchief – Othello and Desdemona’s love
token, Othello cries out in anguish clearly indicated how he is feeling as his world is
being torn apart. Othello also states in a masculine form. 'O monstrous, monstrous!'
(3.3.428) Othello cries when he hears of Casio’s dream about Desdemona from Iago.
This torment leads Othello to assert his masculinity in an overbearing manner, providing
for the victory of Iago's scheme, the silence of Desdemona, and the loss of the match of
two minds.
However another example of how sympathy is aroused in the play is with the stripping
of Othello’s position. He no longer has a good reputation and is stripped of the position of
being in charge by Iago.
Lastly we also feel sympathy towards Othello when his personal insecurities creep back
in. When alone, Othello voices his worries saying it’s unrealistic for him to expect
Desdemona to love him, stating the negatives within him. He states, he is black, not well
mannered and considerably older than she is. Therefore we see as soon as doubt
creeps in about Desdemona’s faithfulness, Othello loses his manhood and now begins
to take the racial prejudice he had formerly shrugged off to heart. As we see the
negativity forming within Othello, we begin to feel a sense of sadness for his character
as we can almost feel the pain he has within himself.
Thus it is clear that Shakespeare has effectively created a hero – but also a gullible
human victim of Iago’s manipulation who is no longer in control of his fate.
Therefore in the play, Othello, we can and would label Othello as the tragic hero of the
play
Another aspect which is vividly pointed out as Othello’s positive is his
his tragic suicide the moment when he acknowledges both the atrocities he has
committed and the noble deeds he has done.
There is no doubt Shakespeare has mastered the task of showing “a tragic hero must
arouse some sympathy as well as a sense of loss at his parting”. Therefore while we
can appreciate Othello’s gullibility and foolishness as inherent weaknesses in his
character, we can also see the tragedy in his character as he becomes a jealous lover
and irrational murderer.
Othello’s parting comes as result of his horrendous, potentially unforgivable actions. He
was poisoned to the extent he now allowed jealousy to feed itself. For example in Act 4,
Scene 2 when Desdemona denies being unfaithful and asserts both her loyalty and love
to Othello, Othello becomes angrier and suspects Desdemona’s virtue is just a cover for
whore like behaviour
In comparison to Othello’s frantic, epileptic state in prior scenes, Othello is now firm in
his decision to kill his innocent wife. As he approaches Desdemona, she pleads to be
allowed to live, increasing our anguish as we witness a terrible murder.
As an audience we are moved to self-pity and horror,
Jealousy affects almost all of us at some time in our lives and through Shakespeare we
see the destructive effects it has throughout the play.
You make some really good points here. In its current form the essay is difficult to
follow. I suggest you carefully plan the order of ideas and paragraphs. Remember that
each statement sentence should clearly link with the topic and your response to it. Aim
to have 3 body paragraphs. Have confidence in your ideas but be sure to plan carefully
before writing.