William Shakespeare's Othello
Every artist needs a subject to draw inspiration from—an idea to develop into a masterpiece. Leonardo da Vinci had Madame Lisa to portray in paint. The Beach Boys had Rhonda to render in rhyme. And William Shakespeare had one of one hundred stories written by Giraldi Cinthio to help him create his masterpiece, Othello. Each artist creates his own interpretation from his source. Shakespeare transformed the core of Cinthio’s story into a tragedy. A tragedy is drama which depicts “a public struggle between larger-than-life protagonists and universal forces” (Glossary 175). A tragedy also involves a “hero’s suffering and his consequent moments of tragic insight or knowledge” (McJannet 1). Each subtle change, which Shakespeare adapts from his source, serves to turn an ordinary tale into an extraordinary tragedy.
The changes Shakespeare makes create a “larger-than-life protagonist.” In Cinthio’s work, the Ensign falls in love with Disdemona. The Ensign tries every means available to woo her, yet he fails in every attempt. The Ensign “imagined that the cause of his ill success was that Disdemona loved the Captain of the troop” (Cinthio 137). As a result, “the love which [the Ensign] had borne the lady now changed into the bitterest hate, and…he devoted all his thought to plot the death of the Captain of the troop and to divert the affection of the Moor from Disdemona” (Cinthio 137). Cinthio’s plot does not center on Othello, it is powered by Disdemona. Shakespeare makes a key change when creating his play. Shakespeare makes Othello the clear protagonist. Iago’s plotting revolves around Othello. Not only does Othello pass Iago over for a rightly deserved position, but “it is thought a...
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...Michelangelo did with a chisel, so Shakespeare does with a pen. Shakespeare took Cinthio’s idea of a Moor. Shakespeare chipped away parts, and patched them back together, in a reconfiguration from his own mind’s eye. Shakespeare creates a tragic flaw, and from this a tragic error occurs. Shakespeare creates an impressive protagonist amid a fateful world. Within this tragic world, the fatal manipulation of Othello is brought to light. In short, Shakespeare turns a tale into a tragedy and a story into a masterpiece.
Works Cited:
Cinthio, Giraldi. Hecatommithi. Trans. J. E. Taylor. Ed. Alvin Kernan. New York: New American
Library, 1998. (134-146).
Glossary. (170-175).
McJannet, Dr. Linda. “Short Paper: Shakespeare and Cinthio.” Spring, 2006. (1-2).
Shakespeare, William. Othello. Ed. Alvin Kernan. New York: New American Library, 1998. (2-128).
In the play Othello by William Shakespeare, the character Othello is portrayed as a fairly good man. By some, he may be known as a bad person but he has become greatly beneficial to the growth of Venice and the state of Cyprus. Othello is a good man even if he committed murder to his wife because he is a great war general and contributed to Cyprus in time of need.
The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. The story is about Othello, who is a general in the Venetian army and is convinced by his trusted ensign, Iago that his wife is cheating on him. Eventually Othello kills his wife and when he finds out the truth he then kills himself. Most of the conflict in the play stems from Othello’s value assumption that women are not equal to men, which leads to dramatic and value irony. Othello’s relationship with Desdemona, his trust in Iago and Othello’s jealousy indicates Othello’s belief that women are not equal to men.
The play, Othello was written by William Shakespeare in the later years of his career. Giraldi Cinthios, Tale of a Moor, based Othello on a story that was a mellow Drama, about a moor and his doubts about his wife’s fidelity. In Shakespeare’s play the Moor (Othello) convinced by his jealous aid (Iago) that his wife (Desdemona) is not Being faithful. Iago’s jealousy is motivated by his anger when he learns that Cassio of Florentine has been appointed Governor of Cyprus. He felt that he deserved this promotion and vowed to seek revenge against Othello.
Othello has been described as one of William Shakespeare’s most popular plays because the play focuses on its themes of good and evil, military, politics, love and marriage, religion, racial prejudice, gender conflict, and sexuality; but the controversy and debate surrounding Othello is “Why is Othello a qualification for a tragedy?”
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.
“I asked her to wear something revealing, so she showed up in a prophet's toga.”(CITE) Jarod Kintz’s words are an example of miscommunication, or failure to comprehend meaning. In this case, it is implied that one person misunderstood the message of another, but incomprehension also applies to problems other than falsely interpreted requests. Incomprehension can occur when people misinterpret another’s words or intentions, or when a person misreads situations or events. The outcome described in Kintz’s quote is unexpected and unintended, but there are instances of incomprehension that have consequences of greater severity. Perhaps a classic tragedy with a high body count falls under these parameters.
The common aim of playwrights of any time or location is to capture and hold the attention of their audience. It is an irrefutable fact that in order for a play to be successful, the playwright must maintain the interest of the audience. The tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice, is one of Shakespeare's most renowned plays, and has been capturing the interest of its audiences for many hundreds of years. The success of Othello is largely due to Shakespeare's phenomenal ability to secure the unwavering attention of an audience. Various techniques were employed by Shakespeare in order to achieve this crucial feat. Through construction of intriguing characters, exploration of universal themes, use of comic relief and a well-written script featuring a compelling plot, Shakespeare ensured the tragedy of Othello would hold the interest of the audience.
It was originally created by Giraldi Cinthio and was titled: The Story of Disdemona of Venice and the Moorish Captain. Shakespeare created his play by taking the characters and location and then adapting it to his own style for effect. Iago manipulates the characters by revealing and exploiting their fatal flaws to bring about their downfall. Iago uses Othello's jealousy of Cassio to make Othello believe he is having an affair with Desdemona. Iago uses Desdemona's trust and love for Othello to bring about her downfall.
Desdemona is one of the protagonists of the play contributes to the play and also fleshes out certain aspects of characterisation mainly where Othello and Iago are concerned. Thus her relevance is highlighted consistently throughout Othello, since without her ppresence, Iago would not have succeeded in manipulating Othello, and Othello's drastic transformation would not have been made evident.
significant role in the end result of literary works. In Othello and The Tragical History of
The play Othello is Shakespeare's own version of a classic Greek tragedy. A classical dramatic tragedy derives its essence from the ancient Greek plays that were often popular in Athens. These plays would typically consist of the downfall of a famous Greek character in history/legend, or the breakdown of a hero. Typically the hero is forced to struggle against overwhelming odds, and fate only that this characters downfall would be so imposing that regardless of these forces of nature and fate that destroy him, that he would rise and regain glory due to his moral victory. These tragedies would invoke terror and pity on the audience, in a sense a tragedy could be considered a form of a catharsis, literally cleansing the soul as it is performed, even though the horror typically disturbed audiences, at the same time it cleansed their soul and purified the spirit.
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.
Shakespeare uses Iago and Othello as the main characters of the play, showing how Iago manipulates Othello into believing his wife is cheating on him. Iago, or “honest Iago”, the villain of the play, a perfectionist at manipulation, that manages to influence people into thinking his deceitfulness is an act of honesty. He spends all of his time plotting against Othello and Desdemona, eventually convincing Othello that his wife has been cheating, despite the fact that Desdemona has been completely faithful. Othello, Venice’s most competent general, and the protagonist of the play. He was a noble and respected war hero, and a loving husband, however he was the target of Iago’s atrocities, which lead him to become an irrational, violent, and insanely jealous husband who murders his own wife at the end of the play.
Of the 38 plays Shakespeare has produced over his lifetime, his tragedies are the most heart-wrenching, horrifying productions the theater has ever seen. In these tragedies, there are gruesome ideas such as lethal love, megalomania, and the absolute corruption of heroes that were originally considered to be wholesome. The latter theme can especially be seen in the play Othello. In this tragedy, there is an ongoing theme of corruption in a considerable amount of characters in the play, the most significant change being in Othello. Othello undergoes a shocking transformation, as he starts off as the storybook hero, a reputable soldier who illustrates great passion towards his wife, but transforms to become a twisted
In 350 B.C.E., a great philosopher wrote out what he thought was the definition of a tragedy. As translated by S.H. Butcher, Aristotle wrote; “Tragedy, then, is an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude; in language embellished with each kind of artistic ornament, the several kinds being found in separate parts of the play; in the form of action, not of narrative; with incidents arousing pity and fear, wherewith to accomplish its catharsis of such emotions. . . . Every Tragedy, therefore, must have six parts, which parts determine its quality—namely, Plot, Characters, Thought, Diction, Spectacle, Melody. (http://www.cnr.edu/home/bmcmanus/poetics.html)” Later in history, William Shakespeare wrote tragedies that epitomized Aristotle’s outline of a tragedy. Shakespeare’s Hamlet is one such tragedy.