In What Ways Does The Character Of Othello Conform to Literary Tradition Of The Tragic Hero?

Othello is one of Shakespeare's most famous tragedies entwined with death, hate and deceit. It tells the story of a well respected and admired war hero, who gradually through the play falls from grace. We are told how jealousy overcomes him so greatly that he murders his innocent lover, and how the resentful Iago seeks revenge on other characters in the play as he envies their positions of power and authority and uses lies, stealing and even murder to get revenge. Another theme explored in the play is racism. We know Othello has worked hard to overcome racial prejudices in society to reach such a point of great authority and respect, and this makes his story even more tragic because it wasn't as if all that power and status was just given to him. It was his life's work, it meant everything to him and then he lost it all. In literary tradition a tragic hero is a courageous person who has authority and power yet loses it all. The steps a tragic hero makes during his decline are entirely his own. Although influenced by another, the tragic hero always displays free will, and the decisions that lead to his demise are his own, which means that had he of been more careful his death could have been avoided. It was Othello's fault because of his lack of trust in Desdemona, which resulted in the destruction of them both. Tragic heroes do not necessarily need to die; however they do in all the plays written by Shakespeare. If they do live, then they are destined to suffer moral destruction and lose sense of what is right and wrong, blinded by their feelings and the suffering that they have experienced. It is crucial that a tragic hero possesses many good personality traits, even if he is a bad person and has evil intentions such as Macbeth, but they must all have one fatal flaw. Othello had both greatness and weakness. However Othello possessed too much greatness, and was too successful, noble and too proud and couldn't believe that he had ever been wrong. Once he lost his pride and dignity it was all over for him because he had nothing else. Othello is a successful soldier because he has overcome many dangers and is full of awe-inspiring stories of his courage, will- power, bravery and physical strength. He sounds completely dedicated to his work, and nothing seems to distract him from it as he is always completely focused on it. Every conversation he has he refers to it and we don't know that he has any other interests. Even his relationship is dominated by his work. Desdemona is captivated by his heroic stories and is full of admiration towards him; in a sense it is his status and the excitement of his amazing adventures that she has fallen in love with, not Othello himself: ‘She'd come again, and with a greedy ear Devour up my discourse.' Here Othello tells the nobles who have met to discuss battle plans, interrupted by Brabantio accusing Othello of using witchcraft to make Desdemona fall in love with him, that she started to fall in love with him when he told her the stories of the journeys he had made and the battles he had fought in. He describes her fascination with them. The word ‘greedy' suggests she was suffering from a desire to hear more and ‘devour' suggests that she was desperate to take as much of it in as possible. It could be said that the couple were always destined for sadness because they were not truly in love, just with each others' image: ‘She loved me for the dangers I and passed, And I loved her, that she did pity them' Othello is describing how he knew that she loved him for his experiences in life and courageous character, and that he loved her because she admired him so much. This is an example of how Othello is far too proud, as he loved her only because she was so full of praise for him. This makes me think that he won't be a very good husband as he is too self absorbed, and it sounds as if he is far more concerned about himself than with his wife. Maybe winning her heart was just another achievement to him. Iago is overcome with envy when Othello is sent on an urgent military mission in Cyprus and he does not receive the promotion that he was intently waiting for. Instead the position of Lieutenant is given to a young Florentine soldier Cassio. In anger Iago seeks revenge on them both for professional and personal reasons. His revenge on Othello is targeted through his relationship with his wife: he wants to make Othello feel pain and emotional upset, by convincing him that his wife is seeing Cassio behind his back and likes him above Othello, and he believes will achieve this. He knows that Othello is always used to being the one who everyone admires and looks up too and that he always gets what he wants, and always seems to win, whether in work or love. Iago wants him to feel as if there is someone better than him and that he isn't as good as he thinks he is. He plans to poison Othello against his innocent wife and frame Cassio by planting a handkerchief belonging to Desdemona in Cassio's bedchamber. Iago is fraught with jealousy as he feels that he has worked hard to achieve what he wants, putting in time and effort, yet it has been Othello who has been rewarded, through what seems like little effort and pure luck. Iago is an evil force because he is ruthlessly interfering with their relationship, something which has nothing to do with him and it isn't as if that will even make his situation any better or solve anything. It is pure revenge without any regard for their feelings. What is even worse is that during this he is acting as a friend to Othello, and it is far more painful to be struck by a friend than an enemy. Othello believes Iago is someone that he can trust and this is certainly not true. When Othello is told of Desdemona's adultery, he seems instantly convinced that it is true, which shows that he doesn't have much faith in her, or know her very well: ‘This fellows of exceeding honesty,' He seems completely decided about her immediately and believes Iago without question. We know that he does not believe Iago because of insecurity or low self-esteem, so Othello and Desdemona's relationship can never have been very good if he instantly believes Iago's word over her. He suddenly seems completely against her and starts to focus on how maybe people had tried to warn him against her, and the reasons that it wouldn't work out. He talks about both his race and age. Othello copes with this seemingly fatal blow by convincing himself that he hates Desdemona and she is a whore: ‘She's gone: I am abused, and my relief Must be to loathe her.' This puts a great deal of pressure on his pride, but to keep feeling good about himself Othello curses her, in a bid to convince himself that he is better off without her and deal with the situation. This actually shows him to have a very weak character despite his heroic image as he has to convince himself she is so terrible just to make himself feel good. In a way even at this point we could say that he is a tragic hero, as he does have some very apparent faults and we can foresee his demise. He has shown strength in body, but not in mind. Once he has been convinced of Desdemona's guilt, Othello believes that everyone is mocking him and laughing at him behind his back: ‘A fixed figure for the time of scorn'. He thinks that he has been made a fool, by Desdemona who he now sees as calculating and deceptive: ‘Patience, though young and rose lipped cherubin, Ay, there look grim as hell!' Here he is reflecting on the transformation that he feels Desdemona has made, from a pure, innocent heavenly creature of beauty to a fierce, evil, cunning whore. This is a contrast between good and evil, with the images of heaven and hell, which we could compare to the themes of good and evil in the play represented by Desdemona and Iago. The language at this time of the play moves very swiftly from positive to negative, as if we can feel the evil Iago has created gradually spreading everywhere. We can also see in the quote language which is very poetic, and a great use of metaphors such as how he refers to Desdemona as a ‘cherubin' as she seemed so good and innocent. This is unusual for Othello as earlier in the play he scorns his own use of poetic language: ‘I prattle out of fashion†¦' (act2scene1) Here he is referring to his speech to Desdemona after their arrival in Cyprus, and is admitting to himself that he is usually a far more plain speaker without fancy language or poetic phrases. This would suggest that either Desdemona brings out a different more romantic side in him, or that he is playing a role in front of her to convince them both that he is a perfect lover as well as soldier. Now by using this poetic style language, which he scorned before, to convey his anger the audience are struck by the feeling that he has been encompassed by some kind of change, and it signifies the success of Iago's plan. The final scene of Othello is constructed in such a way that speeches of dramatic eloquence are entwined with straightforward dialogue. Othello is now completely convinced that he must kill Desdemona, and he tries to justify himself by saying he is doing it for the good of other men. I think another flaw in Othello's character is that his work, fighting as a hero for his people and killing enemies, is so much a part of even his everyday life, that he has become blinded by jealousy and in a kind of madness is suggesting that killing Desdemona has to be done as part of his duty. What really makes him a tragic hero is that he had led himself to believe that what he is about to do is correct, yet he still loves her and so he is confused. Othello talks about what he is going to do as if it is something that has to be done, as if he is putting an animal out of its misery: ‘It is the cause, it is the cause, my soul:' He thinks that he is sacrificing her to an ideal rather than murdering her in vengeful hatred. A lot of emphasis is now placed on her beauty, especially the whiteness of her skin. Othello tells himself that he has to kill Desdemona, yet he does not want to ruin this beauty: ‘Yet I'll not shed her blood, Nor scar that whiter skin of hers than snow.' The whiteness of her skin described makes us think about her purity and innocence, and it is another contrast with colour, light things personifying goodness. This makes us think of the good and evil in the play again. He is trying to avoid marking her body as she is so pretty. Maybe he also does not want to damage her body because he is convinced that he is doing a good thing and helping her, and he doesn't think that it needs to be a violent slaughter just a quiet sacrifice. He no longer thinks about his anger, but just wants to do what he considers has to be done. By believing what he is about to do is the right thing Othello is following the typical ‘fall' of a tragic hero, acting on what he believes to be true and thinking that his actions are correct. Again we think of her purity and goodness when he talks about ‘putting out the light' which personifies her as a light in reference to her life. He also refers to her as a rose, which shows that he is keen to compare her to things that appear to be nice, maybe because we know that he stills appreciates her beauty, or maybe because he see's it as a disguise: ‘When I have plucked the rose, I cannot give it vital growth again.' This is a euphemism for death. From the second line we know that Othello realises what he is about to do is irreversible: the words ‘vital growth' mean that once he has plucked the rose (Desdemona) and taken her life, he cannot give it back again. This may show that he has given the murder some thought, but he certainly has not considered it rationally or thought about the consequences of his actions. It think that the way Othello is now using metaphors to describe everything it proves that he is not thinking clearly and that he is caught up in some kind of obsession, quite apart from reality. By never referring to it directly, it makes us think he is not looking at the whole situation in a sensible or wise way. By kissing Desdemona one last time, Othello shows that he is still drawn to her and loves her, yet he doesn't want to believe it. It builds up a lot of tension for the audience because right until the last moment we are still wondering if he will reconsider and change his mind, as it is obvious there is still love there. He wants to remember her the way she was when he was in love with her, charming and beautiful and not betraying or cheating on him. It is obvious that he values perfection, and he would rather her be dead and beautiful than alive and hurting him and causing trouble. During this part of the play Othello has been so taken over by evil that, as an audience, we start to hate him and feel anger at his violence, jealousy and severe misjudgement of his wife. I think also we can recognise a certain naivety within his character, for trusting someone's word enough to kill the person he cares for most in the world. In the final few minutes of the play when Othello is confronted with the reality of what he has done by the other men, he is full of remorse and can see that he has made a terrible mistake. He tries to remind them of the man of greatness that he once was: ‘I have done the state some service and they know't' Here he is remembering how noble he used to be and he is reminding them of what he has done for them all in his heroic past. Maybe he is also trying to reassure himself that he has been a good person in his life before now, and of the good things that he has achieved. He asks the men there to speak of him how he really is, and to talk about his behaviour the way it was: ‘Speak of me as I am: nothing extenuate, nor set down aught in malice.' He is asking them not to excuse his actions, but not to talk of him brutally either. He wants them to tell the truth as they see or believe it, and to think about his reasons. This shows that he is trying to keep some dignity and that he values honesty in people, which suggests that still he is a good person. He describes himself as a person that does not usually get jealous, but was ‘wrought' with it, and ‘perplexed in the extreme'. Again he uses poetic language to express how he feels: ‘Like the base Indian threw a pearl away'. Here he is using another metaphor, this time to describe how he just threw Desdemona's life away and destroyed her, and how he was unaware of her true value and ignorant about the special person that she was. In the end all tragic heroes come to terms with what they have done, and realise that they have made terrible mistakes and have been acting without reason but on their emotions. Othello then takes the decision to end his own life, as he feels that he has been reduced to nothing and has lost everything he ever worked for. He has completely fallen from grace and meets the stereotyped image of a tragic hero perfectly as he goes from courageous hero to the disgraceful position of a murderer. He talks about himself as two people: ‘Where a malignant and a turbaned Turk, Beat a Venetian and traduced the state' He sees himself as both an honourable soldier and a murderous lover, but he doesn't want to live as what he has been reduced to. He can't live with himself after realising what he has done and the full extent of his actions. He may kill himself because he feels that he deserves it for doing such a think, but I also think that his dignity plays a big part as he wants to retain some of that and his pride. He refers to himself as a ‘Turk' in this passage, which of course his is, but he has always been recognised as part of the Venetian society, and never referred to as that. He is trying to make the point that he is their servant and enemy and will never truly be one of them because of his colour. By this we can tell that he truly has lost all his pride and self assurance, as he never made any statements about this before and always believed in himself and that he could succeed. It has all been the simple emotion of jealousy inside him that has caused the deaths of an innocent woman, a brave and noble man and a passionate love affair. I think that Othello is a true tragic hero because he goes from such a height of greatness to such shame and disgrace. He loses everything. He clearly makes his own decisions, even though he is greatly influenced by Iago. Then at the end of the play he recognises his mistakes and sees his fatal flaw: that he was too trusting of Iago and that jealousy blinded his love, and led him to become what he has. His character has changed – from the beginning of the play, where he is confident, proud and well-respected – to the end when he is remorseful, full of shame and looked down on in disgrace. However he has remained determined all the time to do what he believes, and has always been honest even though people haven't been with him. The play evokes feelings of frustration and sadness: frustration at the ignorance of Othello about the characters around him, and sadness at the cost of his actions, and loss of an innocent life. Othello is completely in the tradition of a literary tragic hero and dies a victim of his own making.