Othello

The term tragedy is used to describe many different calamities and disasters in one’s life, but it is Aristotle’s book of literary theory titled Poetics that gives the definition that literary tragedies are measured against. This is also true of his definition of the tragic hero. He described the hero as someone of high stature or noble birth, of high character but not perfect, with a tragic flaw which causes his downfall, and has a self-revelation because of the fall. William Shakespeare’s use of these definitions is apparent in his tragedy, Othello, the Moor of Venice. Othello is a general in the Venetian army and becomes the governor of Cyprus. He appears to be a good man but because of his fatal flaw of allowing himself to be manipulated by the evil Iago, he murders his wife, Desdemona. It is in the final scenes that Othello has his self-realization of his mistakes and the magnitude of his fall. Thus, Othello can be described as the epitome of the tragic hero from Aristotle’s characterization.

It was through Aristotle’s guidance under Plato that his philosophy was developed. It carried over to his writings on the Arts. His definition of a tragedy (as cited in Shields 2014) is:

“Tragedy, then, is an imitation of an action that is serious and complete, and which has some greatness about it. It imitates in words with pleasant accompaniments, each type belonging separately to the different parts of the work. It imitates people performing actions and does not rely on narration. It achieves, through pity and fear, the catharsis of these sorts of feelings.”

This definition came from Aristotle’s observations of the plays of his time and was not meant to be the standard which all subsequent writers follow (Kennedy, 945). Nevertheless, his characterization of the tragic hero has also become the standard that gives the criteria for writers since that time. Per Aristotle, the protagonist or hero must be of noble stature with outstanding quality and greatness about him...