The Ideal Character In Shakespeare's Othello

1485 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The moral tragey of othello

In Aristotle’s literature, the four characteristics that define an ideal character are displayed throughout his plays. The characteristics of goodness, propriety, and consistency and true to life demonstrate Aristotle remarks of ideal characters. The goodness is defined as characters having good moral purpose. In contrast to propriety the character must demonstrate fitment to his or her role the behavior must conventionally considered being correct. In the sequence of these characteristics falls the importance of being true to life the character is bestowed to act out of probability but not out of necessary. Meaning because of such traits the character was assigned he or she should let the plot unravel itself by actions of the plot. Consistencies …show more content…

“Othello” the play was written by one of English most influential writer William Shakespeare (Quinn). This play surrounded by one of main characters named Othello. The characteristics of a character can often portray his and her behavior towards others. In this case, of Othello in relation to Aristotle character trait of goodness there seems to be a misfit. Aristotle embarks upon goodness to be the aim of all action. Good comes from within and characters are suppose to act on the virtue of having good bestowed within them. In the case of Othello, readers seem to express a sense of gaze. Throughout the play we see relationships between Othello and other characters. Othello ponders on his act of goodness as a soldier but lies in neither the dilemma of nor good nor evil attributes. According to Aristotle, “If something is highest good, then it is good in itself, and not merely because it leads to something else” (Aristotle). Aristotle points out that good is inflicted within itself. Therefore, characters that express good traits are confined in good that comes from within. Othello is easily manipulated because of his flaws. Othello is unable to see truth while blinded by his pride. This is closely related to Aristotle characteristics of

Show More
Related

  • The Dual Nature of Characters in Shakespeare's Othello

    566 Words  | 2 Pages

    Dual Nature of Characters in Othello Many of the characters in Shakespeare's tragedy, Othello, are duplicitous to the extent that how. they are perceived in public is not how they behave in private. The perception of the public plays.

    Read More

  • Othello in Shakespeare's Tragedy Othello

    652 Words  | 2 Pages

    Othello is a character of which he believes he has high standards and is a strong character, but yet his love for Desdemona becomes a great weakness which causes conflict later in the play.

    Read More

  • The Inecurities Of The Character In Shakespeare's Othello

    908 Words  | 2 Pages

    Debra Winger had stated once that “Most bad behaviour comes from insecurity”, this could not hold anymore truth in Shakespeare’s “Othello” as the story progresses only due to the insecurities of the characters. For starters, Othello is the protagonist so we get to see his internal conflicts about societal standards and judgement on display. Meanwhile, Iago’s vulnerabilities as a villain are only showed during his monologues as he is hinted to having a superiority complex against Othello, and a complete reverse of Iago, Cassio’s issues are visible from the readers perspective and the characters as his reputation is slandered and used against him. These are all prime examples of how insecurity was used as a primary plot device to advance the

    Read More

  • Othello

    786 Words  | 2 Pages

    This paper will focus on what Shakespeare actually intended regarding “Othello” and its Aristotelian influences. Aristotle’s concept of the tragic hero is that a hero must meet the following definition, (1) must be a noble man, prince, or person of high estate, (2) have a tragic flaw or weakness in judgment and (3) fall from high to low estate. When Shakespeare wrote about Othello, he envisioned an exotic figure, a North African man, well-educated and although raised in the Muslim faith he converted to Christianity as an adult. Reference to Othello as a “Valiant Hero” (I.iii.49) by the majority of other characters makes his nobility indisputable regardless of his nobility, seniority, wealth, and accomplishments; Othello was an outsider in Venice. Before the reader is introduced to Othello, he is obscurely referred to as he or him and is also called “the Moor” (I.i.57), “the thick-lips” (I.i.66); which are all names implying that Othello is dark skinned.

    Read More

  • The Jealous and Selfish Characters of Shakespeare's Othello

    1035 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the play Othello, there are many jealous and selfish characters. Each of the characters at one point or another let their jealousy take over. It seems like they all have these plots and plans on how to hurt another character in the play either physically or emotionally, as an act of selfishness, so that they can feel better about themselves. One main character who seems extremely jealous in this play is Iago. Infact, probably the most jealous. Many bad things happen because of Iago. The first bad thing that Iago did, was tell Barbantio (Desdamona's father) that Desdemona has married Othello, the Moore. Iago was mad at Othello, because Cassio had made Othello a higher position and not Iago. Iago thought that he was the one who qualified for the position as general, not Othello. Iago was jealous because of this, so he decided to tell Barbantio about Desdemona and Othello. This was bad, because Barbantio did not know yet, and something like that should have been said by his own daughter, not someone who was not part of the family. The way Iago went about telling him was also bad. He called to his house in the middle of the night. He yelled it to Barbantio from downstairs into his window in a rude manner. " quote from Othello here." He wanted Barbantio to be upset about what had happened, and most of all, he wanted Barbantio to be mad at Othello and do something bad to him.

    Read More

  • Othello is Not a Tragic Hero

    1483 Words  | 3 Pages

    Aristotle continued to express a tragedy arouses both pity and fear, pity for the doomed hero and fear for all humans who are subject to the same forces and weakness. It would not be difficult to discover that Othello demonstrate weakness and fear in the play, and Shak...

    Read More

  • Othello's Honor

    972 Words  | 2 Pages

    In The Tragedy of Othello, William Shakespeare tells the tale of the “noble Moor” whose honor and innocence bring about his downfall. Shakespeare writes of the power of jealousy, and the art of masterful deception and trickery. The story primarily takes place in Cyprus, during a war between the people of Venice and the invading Turks. In this play Shakespeare shows the feelings of Othello’s embittered right-hand man of, Iago, who feels he is passed over for a promotion and swears his revenge. He proceeds to manipulate his friends, enemies, and family into doing his bidding without any of them ever realizing his ultimate goal. He makes Othello believe that his new wife, the innocent Desdemona, is committing adultery with his newly promoted officer Michael Cassio. After this seed of jealousy has been planted, Othello’s mind takes its course in determining the true outcome, with a little more nudging from Iago. The course of action he proceeds to follow is one that not only ends his own life, but also the life of his wife and others. In Shakespeare’s Tragedy of Othello, Othello is a man who is still truly honorable, despite the course of action he takes to resolve his perceived problem.

    Read More

  • Othello, The Moor of Venice

    1326 Words  | 3 Pages

    The first rule that is met in Shakespeare’s play is that Othello is considered a tragic hero, which every tragedy must contain. According to Aristotle, the tragic hero must be a man in a position of power who is a good person and makes a mistake during the timeline of the play due to a tragic flaw. Othello’s major flaw can be seen as jealousy: “Othello has often been described as a tragedy of character, as the play’s protagonist swiftly descends into a rage of jealousy. that completely destroys his life”("Othello"). Othello is shown to be a good man within the first few scenes of the play: “She wished she had not heard it; yet she wished that heaven had made her such a man” (1.3.162-163).

    Read More

  • Shakespeare's Othello

    1248 Words  | 3 Pages

    Nick Potter states: “Othello is a tragedy of incomprehension, not at the level of intrigue but at the deepest level of human dealings. No one in Othello comes to understand himself or anyone else.” Within Shakespeare’s Othello, no character fully understands themselves of one another. This is especially true in human dealings, where the intentions of characters and how others interpret them are often misaligned. Conflict, and eventually, tragedy arises in Othello due to the incomprehension between characters, as well as within the characters themselves. From the reader’s perspective, it is tragic to understand the reality behind all the incomprehension, since the characters are oblivious to what the readers are aware of.

    Read More

  • Othello’s Dramatic Flaw in Shakespeare's Othello

    1362 Words  | 3 Pages

    The play “Othello” by William Shakespeare was written in 1604 during the Elizabeth era. Othello is one of the most extraordinary characters in all of Shakespeare’s dramas. He enjoyed unheralded success in the combat zone, which gave him the reputation as one of Venice’s most competent generals. Even though he has great success in the battlefield, he has a dramatic flaw that causes a downfall in his life. The dramatic flaw that causes his downfall is jealousy. This was brought on by a simple persuasion of Iago, the evil character in the play. Even though Iago used extreme manipulation to get Othello to be jealous, Iago did not really have to try very hard to get Othello in a jealous state of mind. Othello was blinded by his jealousy which led him down a path of constant questioning of his wife and his friend Cassio. Throughout the play we see his dramatic flaw sink him deeper and deeper into a cloud of doubt which eventually leads him to kill not only his love of his life but also himself.

    Read More

  • Finding the Truth in the Situation

    1045 Words  | 3 Pages

    William Shakespeare has yet again created a world of good and evil. In his work Othello, the ideals and principles of this world are just like any other with a twist brought upon by two characters, Othello and Iago. These two characters along with many others employ the central idea of what good and evil entails. However, neither Othello nor Iago possess just one of these traits. Othello is not just the pure perfect guy he is perceived to be and Iago is not just the evil vindictive character he is believed to be but rather both of these men are far more interesting than that. They both have the necessary qualities that get them through life and potentially threaten their lives. Through their actions and interactions with the other characters that they really are is shown.

    Read More

  • Othello's Tragic Flaw

    863 Words  | 2 Pages

    From the beginning, Othello is noble, quick to act, judicious, trusting, and gives much weight to the importance of duty. These are all traits that serve to make him great at the beginning of the play, and later, ironically, become key elements in his downfall. These aspects can be considered the internal causes of Othello’s tragic flaw. “Othello's nature is all one piece. His trust, where he trusts, is absolute.

    Read More

  • Othello's Flaws

    790 Words  | 2 Pages

    The character Othello, from the tragedy Othello, is portrayed as faultless in many ways in the beginning. However, as the story goes on, many unattractive qualities are revealed through Othello’s actions. One flaw of his is that he is too trusting. Othello believes Iago’s lies and so unable to trust from then on. Such as, when he believes Iago when Iago tells him that Desdemona gave Cassio her handkerchief, although this is quite untrue. Later on, he does not believe Desdemona when she continually tells him that she is not cheating on him, as his trust has been destroyed. Another equally important flaw of his is jealousy. Othello is jealous of the suspicious relationship between his lieutenant Cassio and his wife Desdemona. This is ironic because there really is no such affair between the two. Othello has many flaws which allow him to seem more humanlike and connect to society.These many flaws of Othello allow for more genuineness to be seen within him, and as a result he appeals more to the public. Authenticity is imperative for the public to connect with the character Othello and really enjoy the Shakespearean tragedy. Othello is...

    Read More

  • Othello Analysis

    1139 Words  | 3 Pages

    The tragedy of Othello, written by William Shakespeare, presents the main character Othello, as a respectable, honorable, and dignified man, but because of his insecurities and good nature, he is easily taken advantage of and manipulated by his peers and alleged friends. The dynamic of Othello’s character significantly changes throughout the play. The contrast is most pronounced from the beginning of the play to its conclusion, switching from being calm and peaceful to acts of uncontrolled venomous rage. Othello’s motivation in the play appears to be his love and concern for his wife Desdemona, which ironically, ends up being his downfall in the end.

    Read More

  • Shakespeare's Presentation of Othello as Responsible for his Own Downfall

    1503 Words  | 4 Pages

    Shakespeare’s Othello consists of the themes betrayal, love and dishonesty. At the centre of this play is the tragic downfall of Othello at the hands of his so called friend Iago. In this essay I will be discussing the reasons for and against Othello being responsible for his downfall through looking at critical interpretations of his character and actions.

    Read More

More about The Ideal Character In Shakespeare's Othello

Open Document