Othello
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Othello is one of Shakespeare's most compelling plays - whether it is read or seen on stage - because of the nature of the main characters. This work boasts not only one tragically drawn character but two. Moreover, not only are Othello and Iago both characters complexly limned tragic figures in and of themselves, but the interaction between the two of them (as well as the contrast between their motivations and their actions) dictates the action of the play. The result of having a pair of characters rather than a single tragic figure at the heart of this play makes Othello into a very different sort of tragedy than we find in any of Shakespeare's other works. While fate plays a hand in this play (as arguably it must in any classical or neoclassical tragedy), simply human evil is much more important in Othello than in Shakepeare's tragedies such as Romeo and Juliet or Julius Caesar. The two characters create an environment in which the weaknesses and shortcomings of each one are exacerbated by those of the other like oxygen feeding a fire, as Vaughan (1997) argues.Because the two characters are so closely joined together in the action of the play, it is impossible to understand the nature of Othello's character without examining that of Iago as well. Iago seems to be the more evil of the two: Indeed, of all of the characters that Shakespeare created in his plays as a whole, Iago must be the one that most of us to hate. He is almost purely evil, an active force for malignancy
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o die by his own hand, he completes the picture of himself as the classical tragic hero. Such heroes must in the end experience an epiphany that allow them to understand without any room for self-pity that there is simply no action that he can take to compensate for what he has already done. There is no possibility of atonement, and no path that he can take back to find a way to forgive himself. In the end, most tragedies turn on the concept of revenge, and that is certainly true here. If Othello redeems himself in the end - and it is questionable whether he does or not - it is because he has taken revenge upon himself (Nardo 124).
Othello's tragic nature is thus relatively simple to understand: He wishes to be accepted as a hero and a loving husband, both of which roles he has a legitimate claim to. But his race, and later his actions, prevent this acceptance and bring about tragedy through the intervention of Iago. But Iago's character, that necessary spur to the action of the play, is far more complex. In the end we never truly understand him. We never know the answers to the questions why Iago is so evil - or why he is so jealous of Cassio. Nor do we ever understand why Othello trusts Iago and not the woman he loves or why
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Approximate Word count = 2061
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)
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