Othello’s Tragedy Essay

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Updated: Nov 28th, 2023

In life, there are different causes of tragedies. Bad things occur to people because of a number of reasons. These causes range from natural occurrences and vulnerability to weaknesses and circumstances beyond human control. This paper seeks to investigate whether the tragedy that befell Othello was because of his weaknesses or due to the circumstances that were beyond his control.

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The paper aims at achieving this through providing the reader with information about Othello and the manner in which Shakespeare has used him in the tragedy to communicate his message. In the tragedy, it is clear to note that Othello’s downfall is because of his own mistakes.

To understand Othello’s downfall, it is important to have a little background information on what his role was in the play. Othello is one of the characters who have features in William Shakespeare’s tragedy titled The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice.

The tragedy is believed to have been created by Shakespeare between 1600 and 1604. The story has it focus set in current day Italy. It looks at downfall of Othello through involving three other major characters. These characters are Moorish, Desdemona, and Cassio. Cassio is one of the confidants of Othello.

Moorish was a general in the army of Vietnam. Desdemona was Moorish’s wife and a lieutenant in the army as well. Apart from tragedy, there are other themes attached to the play that have made it popular to this date. The play is performed throughout the world as it relevant in relation to other themes as well. Some of the themes that are portrayed in the course of the play include love, betrayal, racism, and jealousy.

One of the characters –Iago, has been used by Shakespeare to enhance the theme of tragedy. Shakespeare has used Iago as a villain and throughout the course of the play, it is clear to note that he posses the largest share of the dialogue. These are important in supporting the tragedy and adding to the fact that Othello’s downfall was because of his own personal mistakes as opposed to factors beyond his control.

In the play, Othello’s tragedy can be attributed to his own failure because he trusted Iago so much. He used to refer to Iago as being honest while all Iago was doing was meant for ill. At the beginning of the play, Othello is portrayed as being a wise general. Through his actions, he achieves good and bad results. As an administrator Othello was a good leader and Shakespeare has portrayed him as being one of the greatest leaders through the relations he established with other leaders as well as the manner in which he associated with those below him.

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He was also portrayed as being one of the bravest soldiers in the Vietnamese army. Shakespeare was doing this to ensure that the readers had a good image of Othello. His fall was to come as a great blow for him. The tragedy that befell Othello can be attributed to the quality of the decisions that he made.

Othello encounters the tragedy that befell him mainly because of the choices he made. The choices can be analyzed in relation to the people he decided to get involved with, the nature and amount of trust that he laid upon those close to him, and the nature of decisions he made when he was faced with a touch decision.

One of the decisions that he made which later haunts him is his elopement. In the tragedy, Othello chose to elope with Desdemona. Desdemona was the daughter of one of the respected senators in Venice. This is made even worse with the involvement of Iago in the plot.

After Othello and Desdemona had eloped, Iago begins a scheme that is aimed at ensuring the two do not stay together happily. Whereas Othello had trusted Iago, Iago had plans that would separate Desdemona from Othello. Iago goes on to make Othello believe that Desdemona is adulterous. Iago’s main aim was to manipulate Othello into thinking that he was a friend while his intentions were not friendly at all.

This is even made worse by the level of trust that Othello had attached to Iago. This manipulation causes Othello to take a drastic decision. Othello believes what he has been told by Iago and goes on to kill Desdemona before he ends his own life. It is clear to note that the tragedy that befell Othello was because of his uncontrolled and irresponsible decisions.

In conclusion, it is clear to note that Shakespeare has used Othello to portray the people in the society who get themselves in trouble because of their own actions. Whereas Othello had all the things he wanted, he still had a problem concerning the decisions he made. The people he chose to associate with were ill-hearted but he continued to increase his trust in them. Instead of following the right procedure of undertaking the different activities, he chose to do things in his own way, something that led to his fall and tragedy.

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IvyPanda. (2023) 'Othello’s Tragedy'. 28 November.

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IvyPanda. 2023. "Othello’s Tragedy." November 28, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/othellos-tragedy/.

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