Comparison of Othello and Oedipus the King

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*INTRO*The character Oedipus in the play Oedipus the King by Sophocles, and the character Othello in the play Othello the Moor of Venice by Shakespeare are both tragic characters. Oedipus ends up killing his father, and marrying and having children with his mother, whereas Othello ends up mistrusting and killing his wife. These two individuals have similarities and differences in several aspects such as the roundness of their characters, the retribution that they incur upon themselves and upon their respective wives whether directly or indirectly, and their horrors.

*BODY 1* Both Oedipus and Othello are developed into round characters. Round characters are those that are well developed three dimensionally with multiple meaning to their characters. Oedipus is a character whose fate cannot be avoided, and which ever path he seems to take leads him to more trouble than what he had to deal with before. Even though his character is well-rounded, he is not believable. It would be highly unlikely that Oedipus would marry a woman who looked as if she could be his mother without asking a f...

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