Power is an element hinged on duality. In the right hands, achieving greatness is attainable, while for the inept it can slowly corrupt and poison an already fulfilling life. This sentiment is noticeably apparent in the tragic stories of Othello and Oedipus. Othello and Oedipus’s positions in society have to be attributed to their eventual suffering and demise. Othello, a military general, already has enemies when his story begins. Roderigo, a wealthy aristocrat is angry at Othello because of an arranged marriage between himself and Desdemona. Already we can see why the element of power plays a role in this feud. It is mostly due to Othello’s position that this marriage is taking place. What woman in that period would not want to marry a high-ranking general and acquire the power that comes with it? Moreover, even if Desdemona was uninterested, it may have been arranged anyway. Iago, a member of the army Othello commands, does not like Othello because he promoted Michael Cassio, another soldier to a rank superior to his own. Additionally, he thinks that Othello slept with his wife. Power plays a role here because the elevation of Cassio, whether he deserved it or not, should result in Othello explaining to Iago why it happened and attempting to assuage his anger and pain. The idea of Othello sleeping with Iago’s wife is circumstantial, but believable because Othello has that power. Oedipus was not granted power initially. He was cast away due to a myth believed by his father. As he grew older and eventually attained power by answering a sphinx’s riddle and unknowingly killing his father, his ego was completely inflated. He has trouble believing the truth that he has done these horrible deeds and it is not until the end of the play that it destroys him. Power played the role of creating a quality of overconfidence.
I feel that we would not have these classic tragedies if Othello and Oedipus had been normal men. Oedipus, whose father was a king, would not have cast his baby away, mostly as a result of a myth that his son would murder him. Most fathers would have disregarded this type of nonsense, but due to Laius’s fear of losing power, he left his baby to die on a mountain. In Othello, I felt that the majority of his feuds were due to ignorance. Othello did not do a good job cultivating his relationships with others and in a leadership position, this can be detrimental. The disagreements for the most part were unknown to him and mostly based on hearsay revolving around his position. He would not have faced the same problems if he had a normal occupation.
The audience can learn a few distinct lessons from these tragedies. The first is that the attainment of power concurrently breeds enemies. There is a constant struggle between those that have power and those who do not. Additionally, I think that these stories illustrate the polarity of two different negative situations that can arise from having power. One character was disengaged and the other was so engaged that he felt himself to be an infallible god. Even recent global leaders have been changed by power. One individual that comes to mind is the late Fidel Castro. He was a large part of the Cuban Revolution, which was against the fascist rulers that were in control then. However, as he became the leader of the country, he ended up being quite similar to a dictator, and ultimately became what he was initially fighting against.