A tragic hero is a character who has two personalities whereby he has greatness and also has a flaw in his character. Othello is such a character as he is presented by Shakespeare. He is a gullible and a proud man as he is jealous. As a man of great stature his greatness is eliminated not only by his environment but also by fate. These characters are important in the play as they are important in giving the play its true meaning. In the first act, Othello says "Hold your hands, both of you of my inclining and the rest. Were it my cue to fight, I should have known it without a prompter" (I, ii, lines 97-100) which indicates the nature of the power he possesses. In the fourth act he says “"I kissed thee ere I killed thee. No way but this, Killing myself, to die upon a kiss" (V, ii, line 413-414) which is the scene when he kills himself after being fooled into murder. He killed for jealous thinking he was killing for justice. Based on his characters and unfolding scenes in the play this paper will determine as to why Othello is a tragic hero.
Othello is a man endowed with greatness and power. In the first act Othello is portrayed as a benevolent man and his power is from his military elite status. He has a pure and innocent love for his wife Desdemona, who is young and beautiful. He is also an even tempered man even when he is tempted into anger by Iago he does not concede to this. However the villainy of the protagonist Iago changes his nature and leads to fatal consequences from Othello’s actions.
Othello also have weaknesses in his character since later in the play his inner being is exposed as jealous. This is the turning point of events in the play whereby the once virtuous man turns into villain and ends up dead. The plot develops dramatically as Othello becomes a victim of Iago’s villain schemes and he is tricked into murder. This is evidence as to why Othello is a tragic hero. First, all his actions are focused into noble actions and in the search and execution of justice. However, the path he follows guided by the villain unknowingly leads him to committing murder and suicide.
In the play the hero becomes victim to circumstances that lead to his psychological health getting destroyed gradually by the treacherous schemes of Iago. He becomes weak in every single way since even though he is outgoing he is not an observant man and that is the reason he does not discover the wicked schemes of Iago. He is a mysterious man as he believes that magic is present in his surrounding environment and he ends up not understanding the common working of the minds of other people. That is the reason why the villain gets to destroying his emotional health and stirring up jealousy in him and in the end a murder committed and his own death. This is why he becomes a tragic hero.
In conclusion this paper has identified the reason why Othello is a tragic hero. First, he is a benevolent man of a good moral values and he posses power from his high military rank. His surroundings are full of men with disloyal and treacherous people who do not have the similar nobility and goodness. Iago is the villain character in the play that plots against Othello and almost manages to trick Othello into a vicious cycle. Othello is a man who also is in power to control what is going on in his life as well as his being since he is great warrior. The first flaw in his character is his gullibility in that he is unable to uncover the plot Iago has against him until the very end he finds himself in a tragic situation and a tragic death. The second character that indicates a flaw in his personality is being jealous. He is a man who fights for justice and he also has a great and innocent love for his wife. The plot by Iago leads him into a trap which stirs up his jealous nature and anger and he ends up committing murder thinking he was fighting for justice. His lethal action of killing Brabantio makes him realize the fatal mistake and how he lacked in wisdom and ended up killing himself by stabbing his chest with a knife. The events unfold to an end of a great warrior and hero dying tragically.
Works cited
Crawford, Alexander W. Hamlet, an ideal prince, and other essays in Shakespearean interpretation: Hamlet; Merchant of Venice; Othello; King Lear. Boston R.G. Badger, 1916. Shakespeare Online. 20 Aug. 2009. Retrieved on 29th November 2011from http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/othello/othelloessay2.html
Hyde, Isabel. "The Tragic Flaw: is it a Tragic Error?" The Modern Language Review St. Louis University Library, St. Louis. 29 Apr. 2008.
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