...often associated with virtue, courage and valour. Within Othello, Shakespeare questions the meaning behind heroism and admirability in the context of a Venetian society, in which the play is set. Through the tragic descent of Othello’s composure and his actions, the audience is left to wonder whether or not his virtue and presentation as an admirable general and hero, actually exists. Act 1 of the play presents Othello's decisions and behaviour as the epitome of virtue and valour, showing him as a high statured character - the definition of a tragic hero in Aristotelian methods, as it demands a character of greatness to suffer the greatest downfall. Although not necessarily presented as high born, he is deemed to be virtuous through his military prowess and well articulated speech; this however may be argued by the drastic change of fate within act 3 where Othello’s so called ‘valiant’ image is challenged by Iago’s ‘pestilence’ whispered with his own mind which can be seen through his brash actions and broken language, additionally it can be argued that Othello can be deemed dishonourable in his own actions in the first act of the play by his unblessed marriage to Desdemona; therefore the overall presentation and view over Othello is left to debate. Through Shakespeare’s use of dramatic methods, we as the audience are thrown straight into the action of scene 1,in the form of in media res; it is Iago that announces Othello to the audience as a ‘black ram’ and a ‘devil’, casting...
Words: 1019 - Pages: 5
...January 2015 Aristotle’s concept of a tragic hero “William Shakespeare’s “Othello” the Moore of Venice Tragedies frequently focus on a tragic hero that has a flaw that ultimately leads to his downfall. According to Aristotle, the tragic flaw is the most important part of the hero and the events that occur in the work is a reflection of that flaw. A tragic flaw is essential in a true tragedy. In William Shakespeare’s Othello, Othello is a prime example of an Aristotelian tragic hero. His gullibility and jealousy are the main reason of his downfall. Othello deals with love lost because of gullibility and jealousy. According to Aristotle, the life and soul of tragedy is the plot; Incidents in the plot have the best effect if they occur unexpectedly, and in consequence of one another. A great tragedy grips the audience with the plot; Aristotle also states that the sense of the inevitable must be present in tragedy. The central character must be noble and have a higher stature than most men. The tragic hero must also have better qualities than secondary characters but must also exhibit flaws. Another part of the central character is that he is destroyed by himself, not by others, bad luck, or depravity. These are the criteria necessary to be classified as an ideal tragedy. The main character of Othello is an example of a tragic hero, his basic elements matches him up to a true hero as defined by Aristotle. Othello was a soldier all his life, due to his Moorish...
Words: 1490 - Pages: 6
...Othello - An Aristotelian Tragedy When distinguishing the characteristics of an Aristotelian tragedy, Aristotle writes that there are certain qualities that define Othello as a tragic hero. These qualities include; 1. Must come from nobility, the protagonist must fall from power and from happiness. 2. Hamartia which is the tragic hero is fallible, and his downfall is the result. Whatever the characters' fatal weakness is that brings him to a bad end. 3.Peropeteia which is a reversal of fortune, or a sudden change of circumstances that affect the protagonist. 4. Anagnorisis which is the point in the plot which the protagonist recognizes his or some others characters true identity or discovers the true nature of his own situation. 5. Catharsis which in literature means something different. Drama can evoke powerful emotions and people who watch it and are moved leave the theater clean and refreshed and refreshed in the emotional experience. (Kennedy, p 707-08) William Shakespeare's Othello meet all five of Aristotle's criteria for being a tragic hero. Nobility can be defined as having "nobleness of mind, character, or spirit exalted moral excellence." (dictionary.com) Othello demonstrates his nobility in a number of different ways. For one when the swords are drawn, Othello tells both sides "Keep up your bright swords, for the dew will rust them. Good signior, you shall command with years than with your weapons." (Othello Act 1 Scene 2 pg 4) Here Othello is avoiding any potential...
Words: 1060 - Pages: 5
...burden of present reality. Williams Shakespeare’s famous tragedy, Othello, the Moor of Venice is a tale of a man who eventually falls from society because of a tragic flaw that exists within the Moors’ innate nature. The main character Othello is often viewed as a tragic hero and is often compared to Aristotle’s concept of what a tragic...
Words: 1526 - Pages: 7
...outline, draft, and bibliography by the end of Module/Week 7. The research paper is due by the end of Module/Week 8, and should include a title page, thesis statement, and outline, followed by the research essay itself and your correctly documented sources page. Guidelines for Developing Your Paper Topic Chapters 40 and 41 provide helpful pointers for writing about plays and for developing research papers. Be sure to review both chapters thoroughly before you begin doing any further work for this assignment. Choose one of the prompts below to address in your paper: 1. Write an essay explaining how Sophocles’ Oedipus exemplifies or refutes Aristotle’s definition of a tragic hero. Review Chapter 33 in your textbook for the background and overview of Aristotle’s concept of tragedy/the tragic hero and drama. This chapter also contains critical information on Sophocles and the play Oedipus. You may use any of the critical material as a...
Words: 640 - Pages: 3
...Hamartia in Oedipus the King According to the Aristotelian characteristics of good tragedy, the tragic character should not fall due to either excessive virtue or excessive wickedness, but due to what Aristotle called hamartia. Hamartia may be interpreted as either a flaw in character or an error in judgement. Oedipus, the tragic character in Sophocles’ Oedipus the King, certainly makes several such mistakes; however, the pervasive pattern of his judgemental errors seems to indicate a basic character flaw that precipitates them. Oedipus’ character flaw is ego. This is made evident in the opening lines of the prologue when he states "Here I am myself--you all know me, the world knows my fame: I am Oedipus." (ll. 7-9) His conceit is the root cause of a number of related problems. Among these are recklessness, disrespect, and stubbornness. Oedipus displays an attitude of recklessness and disrespect throughout the play. When he makes his proclamation and no one confesses to the murder of Laius, Oedipus loses patience immediately and rushes into his curse. Later, he displays a short temper to Tiresias: "You, you scum of the earth . . . out with it, once and for all!," (ll. 381, 383) and "Enough! Such filth from him? Insufferable--what, still alive? Get out--faster, back where you came from--vanish!" (ll. 490-492) If an unwillingness to listen may be considered stubbornness, certainly Oedipus would take advice from no one who would tell him to drop the matter of his...
Words: 4487 - Pages: 18
...Othello Coursework Question 1: 'I took you for that cunning whore of Venice/ that married with Othello'. Looking again at Act 4 Scene 2 and Act 5 Scene 2 consider to what extent the presentation of Desdemona is that of a sufficiently convincing tragic heroine? William Shakespeare's ''Othello'' is a complex tragedy, with many conflicting desires, jealousy and memorable characters. As the audience, we are able to see the changes the characters face throughout the play. These differences can turn the entire play from romantic to a disastrous ending. The main female protagonist Desdemona lives through these changes in Shakespeare's ''Othello'', we as the audience are able to acknowledge her feelings and how she goes from a confident, brave young woman who doesn't think twice on what other's think about her and has the audacity to go against her father's wishes and marries the husband of her choice, Othello, to a broken betrayed and murdered girl. Throughout the play we are able to notice that Desdemona's character slowly breaks, her confidence begins to shatter as her husband begins to lose his trust towards her and slowly the audience is able to see their relationship disintegrate. Furthermore, the confidence she had from the beginning of the play is gone and replaced by the feelings of betrayal and lose of trust. Throughout the play she has been targeted by jealousy and tragic forces. I think Desdemona in some sense is a tragic heroine, looking at Shakespeare’s and Aristotle's...
Words: 1023 - Pages: 5
...Aristotle's Ideal Tragic Hero. Oedipus follows all of the rules, with a hamartia, an anagnorisis, and a peripeteia. The audience is introduced to the hamartia, or tragic flaw, of Oedipus early in the play. Oedipus believes he can dodge the oracle given to him at Delphi that he will kill his father and marry his mother. By leaving the city of Corinth and heading to Thebes, Oedipus thinks that he can outsmart the will that the gods have for him. However, the audience knows that one cannot run away from an oracle. The oracle will come true no matter what is done. Therefore, the hamartia of Oedipus is his belief that he can evade his oracle. Oedipus' anagnorisis, recognition, later comes when he is told that it was he who killed the former King Lauis and that he is, in fact, now married to his own mother. The city of Thebes had been searching for King Lauis' murderer in order to drive him out of Thebes to save the city from the plague. With this anagnorisis Oedipus is finally led to his peripeteia, or downfall. First of all, Oedipus is put to shame in front of his entire city because of his incestuous act of marrying his mother. But, more importantly, he realizes that he had not successfully avoided the oracle. In order to try to save himself he blinds himself. If he is not able to see the truth with his own eyes, he should not be able to enjoy the gift of sight. http://personal.monm.edu/ysample/aristotle.htm Oedipus follows ten of the points of Lord Raglan's Hero Pattern: Sophocles'...
Words: 3052 - Pages: 13
...the Shakespearean tragedy “Othello” written by William Shakespeare, the themes that’s being portrayed are honour and gender, through the play the audience if captivated by the characters choices and motives through the play. With the characters choices they help to make the play more understandable as the audience can recognise the tragic hero in both the plays. The relationships between men and women in Othello are remarked as lesser then men. Iago often refers to his wife as a prostitute - "A house wife that by selling her desires, Buys herself bread and clothes (iv.i.95)” showing what type of relationship women and men had during the late 16th century. Women were generally considered obedient, respectful, kind and warm. They were never outspoken nor were they meant to, for it could be seen as a lack of loyalty. When Othello accused Desdemona of cheating on him, he found himself in a position that he didn't want to face with. Othello was emasculated with the thought of a woman disobeying him. Men were easily manipulated into thinking the worst of woman because they were certain it would never happen. However, when the slightest things start to be pointed out the characters start to over analyse. Woman were not on the same level as men; men talked down to woman, they didn’t see them as equals nor think that they should be treated like one. This relates to Othello and Desdemona’s relationship – she “betrayed” their marriage by cheating so when Othello found out he reacted by saying...
Words: 3593 - Pages: 15
...notmyessay Wesleyan University WesScholar Division I Faculty Publications Arts and Humanities 1995 Anna Karenina: Tolstoy 's Polemic with Madame Bovary Priscilla Meyer Wesleyan University, pmeyer@wesleyan.edu Follow this and additional works at: http://wesscholar.wesleyan.edu/div1facpubs Part of the Arts and Humanities Commons This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Arts and Humanities at WesScholar. It has been accepted for inclusion in Division I Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of WesScholar. For more information, please contact dschnaidt@wesleyan.edu, ljohnson@wesleyan.edu. Recommended Citation Priscilla Meyer. "Anna Karenina: Tolstoy's Polemic with Madame Bovary" Russian Review 54.2 (1995): 243-259. Anna Karenina: Tolstoy's Polemic with Madame Bovary PRISCILLA MEYER D id Tolstoy intend a dialogue with Flaubert's Madame Bovary when he wrote Anna Karenina? Boris Eikhenbaum agrees with the French critics who found traces of Tolstoy's study of French literature in Anna Karenina, though he emphasizes the complexity of Tolstoy's struggle with the tradition of the "love" novel.' George Steiner long ago concluded that "all that can be said is that Anna Karenina was written in some awareness of its predecessor."2 But the evidence of that awareness is so abundant and suggestive that it is worth examining the possibility of a more detailed dialectic than Eikhenbaum and Steiner suppose.3 Tolstoy arrived in Paris on 21 February 1857. Less than...
Words: 9437 - Pages: 38
...Instructor’s Manual and Test Bank to accompany A First Look at Communication Theory Sixth Edition Em Griffin Wheaton College prepared by Glen McClish San Diego State University and Emily J. Langan Wheaton College Published by McGrawHill, an imprint of The McGrawHill Companies, Inc., 1221 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020. Copyright Ó 2006, 2003, 2000, 1997, 1994, 1991 by The McGrawHill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. The contents, or parts thereof, may be reproduced in print form solely for classroom use with A First Look At Communication Theory provided such reproductions bear copyright notice, but may not be reproduced in any other form or for any other purpose without the prior written consent of The McGrawHill Companies, Inc., including, but not limited to, in any network or other electronic storage or transmission, or broadcast for distance learning. PREFACE Rationale We agreed to produce the instructor’s manual for the sixth edition of A First Look at Communication Theory because it’s a first-rate book and because we enjoy talking and writing about pedagogy. Yet when we recall the discussions we’ve had with colleagues about instructor’s manuals over the years, two unnerving comments stick with us: “I don’t find them much help”; and (even worse) “I never look at them.” And, if the truth be told, we were often the people making such points! With these statements in mind, we have done some serious soul-searching about the texts that so many teachers—ourselves...
Words: 159106 - Pages: 637
...62118 0/nm 1/n1 2/nm 3/nm 4/nm 5/nm 6/nm 7/nm 8/nm 9/nm 1990s 0th/pt 1st/p 1th/tc 2nd/p 2th/tc 3rd/p 3th/tc 4th/pt 5th/pt 6th/pt 7th/pt 8th/pt 9th/pt 0s/pt a A AA AAA Aachen/M aardvark/SM Aaren/M Aarhus/M Aarika/M Aaron/M AB aback abacus/SM abaft Abagael/M Abagail/M abalone/SM abandoner/M abandon/LGDRS abandonment/SM abase/LGDSR abasement/S abaser/M abashed/UY abashment/MS abash/SDLG abate/DSRLG abated/U abatement/MS abater/M abattoir/SM Abba/M Abbe/M abbé/S abbess/SM Abbey/M abbey/MS Abbie/M Abbi/M Abbot/M abbot/MS Abbott/M abbr abbrev abbreviated/UA abbreviates/A abbreviate/XDSNG abbreviating/A abbreviation/M Abbye/M Abby/M ABC/M Abdel/M abdicate/NGDSX abdication/M abdomen/SM abdominal/YS abduct/DGS abduction/SM abductor/SM Abdul/M ab/DY abeam Abelard/M Abel/M Abelson/M Abe/M Aberdeen/M Abernathy/M aberrant/YS aberrational aberration/SM abet/S abetted abetting abettor/SM Abeu/M abeyance/MS abeyant Abey/M abhorred abhorrence/MS abhorrent/Y abhorrer/M abhorring abhor/S abidance/MS abide/JGSR abider/M abiding/Y Abidjan/M Abie/M Abigael/M Abigail/M Abigale/M Abilene/M ability/IMES abjection/MS abjectness/SM abject/SGPDY abjuration/SM abjuratory abjurer/M abjure/ZGSRD ablate/VGNSDX ablation/M ablative/SY ablaze abler/E ables/E ablest able/U abloom ablution/MS Ab/M ABM/S abnegate/NGSDX abnegation/M Abner/M abnormality/SM abnormal/SY aboard ...
Words: 113589 - Pages: 455
