Tragic Heroes in Euripides Medea, Shakespeare's Othello and Boccaccio's Decameron

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Recommended: a short history of ethics

The Tragic Heroes in Euripides Medea, Shakespeare's Othello and Boccaccio's Decameron, Tenth Day, Tenth Story

Throughout many great works of literature there are numerous characters whose acts are either moral or immoral. In the works Euripides "Medea", Shakespeare's "Othello" and Boccaccio's Decameron, "Tenth Day, Tenth Story", the main characters all carry out actions which in today's day and age would be immoral and inexcusable. Medea takes on the most immoral act, in Euripides great tragic work.

The morale of today varies greatly with that of the time periods in which these works were written. Gualtieri from Boccaccio's work, Othello from Shakespeare's work and Medea from Euripides' work were all, for the most part, just in their actions because of the view of the citizens during their time period. These people played an immense part in what was viewed as right and wrong, just as in today's day.

In Boccaccio's Decameron, "Tenth Day, Tenth Story", the main character, Gualtieri wants to test his new wife to see how loyal she is to him. In the beginning of the play, it is portrayed to the readers that Gualtieri is a very well respected, moral man. After being told that it is nessecary to find a wife, Gualtieri states, "I will do as you request and so shall I have only myself to blame if things turn out badly, I want to be the one who chooses her, and I tell you now that if she is not honored by you as your lady...you will learn to your displeasure how serious a matter it was to compel me with your requests..." (Boccaccio 135).

From this statement Gualtieri is portrayed as a compassionate man. He says he will blame no one but himself if things do not work out and once his wife is chosen he orders his people to respe...

... middle of paper ...

...he commits these three immoral acts.

The Decameron, "Tenth Day, Tenth Story", "Othello" and "Medea" are all tragic works, with seemingly tragic heroes. All three "heroes", Gualtieri, Othello, and Medea, hurt someone close to them in order to still retain their pride or end their jealousy towards another. Although many of the trivial standards of the present world are different than that of when the authors were writing, there are many substantial similarities, therefore judging a character based on only the morals of today would be unjust.

Works Cited

Boccaccio, Giovanni. The Decameron. New York: Penguin, 1982.

Euripides. "Medea." The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces. Ed. Sarah Lawall. New York and London: W. W. Norton & Company, 1999.

Shakespeare, William. Othello (c. 1602) E. A. J Honigmann (Ed.) Surrey: Thomas Nelson & Sons Ltd. 1997.

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