Othello as Shakespeare Tragedy | Summary

 

“Othello” is a great tragedy written story of a powerful general of the Venetian army, Othello, whose life and marriage are ruined by a convincing, deceitful and envious soldier Iago.

                When we talk of great drama, we believe that a comedy or tragedy in concerned with an ethical impulse. A conflict, either external or internal or both, lies at the core of the tragedy. We speak of the battle of life; we are concerned with it on the stage too. The dramatists believe in recognized principle or standard of resolving the conflict which he puts on the stage . The great Greek dramatists believed in Destiny or rather wavered between such belief and hope or trust in beneficent Providence in Shakespeare, the scale turns in favour of Providence and external forces written the individual or substituted for destiny. In a Shakespeare tragedy man does not seem to be the master of his fate.

                         A.C. Bradeley saw Shakespeare tragedy characterized by the “tragic flow ”, the internal imperfection in the hero that brings him down. His downfall becomes his own doing , and he is no longer, as in classical tragedy the helpless religious of hate.

       The main aspect of a tragedy show a change from prosperity to advertise which may be due to misfortune or crime . Aristotle`s dictum that the tragedy hero must be great , not necessarily virtuous, goes to the root of the conception of tragic character.

Othello is the tragedy of a noble hero brought down by fatal flaw jealousy in his character. Othello tragic flaw was jealously which flared at suspicious and rushed into action unchecked by calm common sense . A more modern interpretation would say that Othello tragic flaw was that in his heart he had came to believe that a black man is an unattractive creature , not quite human , unworthy of love. He could not believe that Desdemona could truly love him.

  A Shakespearean tragedy is in fact essentially a tale of suffering and calamity leading to the death of a man in high estate. The suffering is not simply ‘planted’ on the tragic hero ,it is largely brought about by his own action. But to some extent destiny also play vital role in a Shakespeare also gives the due weight to other factor also. Such as insanity , super natural element and chance and accident also play important part in bringing about the tragic end.

The Shakespearean tragedies are very much close to Greek tragedies which depict the downfall of a hero or famous character. The hero would struggle against overwhelming fate and defeat would be so noble that he win the noble over the forces that destroy him. In Greek tragedies unities of time ,place and action are maintained. That is the whole tragedies would take place in a single location – for example a house or a city square ; it would happen during the course of one day or it would be a single story without any sub plot . Compared to these rules Shakespeare tragedy is a more relaxed genre, but

“Othello” observe the sprit of Greek tragedies. The plot is fairly unified ,focusing on Othello and his fate and dealing with other people and went only in so far as they are relevant to this focus. Othello is about to near as Shakespeare gets to classical tragedies.

   Shakespearean tragedy usually works on a five part structure , corresponding  to five acts. Parts 1 ,is the exposition ,which outline the situation , introduces the main character and begin the action. Part 2 , the development , which continues which action and introduces complication. Part 3 , describes the crisis or climax and bring everything to a head. In this past a change of direction occurs or understanding. Part 4 includes further development leading inevitably to part 5. Here this final crises of action or revelation and resolution are explained.

To sum up we can safely say that Othello is a typical Shakespearean play which strictly follows all the characteristics of a Shakespearean tragedy.