Reaserch Paper on Othello the Moor of Venice, as a tragedy Research

Reaserch on Othello the Moor of Venice, as a tragedy - Research Paper Example Aristotle’s concept of tragedy is based on a sum total of a few essential fundamentals that are a complex plot with a suitable beginning middle and the end, organic unity, appropriate length, the unities of time and place, apt relationship between the character and plot, goodness, consistency of characterization, hamartia, peripity, anagnorisis or discovery, feelings of pity and fear and catharsis.1 Based on the parameters as established by Aristotle for a worthy tragedy, William Shakespeare’s Othello, the Moor of Venice is an ideal Aristotelian tragedy. Othello is a specific tragedy of passion and to label it as an Aristotelian tragedy is certainly appropriate. Of all Shakespeare’s tragedies, Othello is the most painfully exciting and the most terrible. As one goes through it, one experiences the extremes of the feelings of pity, fear, sympathy, disgust, sickening hope and dreadful expectation. Outline I. Introduction A. Cursory analysis of Othello B. Aristotle parameters for a tragedy and a â€Å"tragic hero† II. Body A. Tragedy and plot B. Attributes of a â€Å"tragic hero† as per Aristotle B. Catharsis and tragedy III. Conclusion A. Othello, the Moor of Venice satisfies all attributes of a tragedy enunciated by Aristotle Essay Introduction Othello, the Moor of Venice, could and should essentially be classified as a typical Aristotelian tragedy and Othello is the most worthy tragic hero of Shakespeare who satisfies almost all the credentials of a tragic hero as evinced by Aristotle. As one goes through the play Othello, one experiences the extremes of the feelings of pity, fear, sympathy, disgust, sickening hope and a dreadful expectation.2 Evil is displaced before the reader in such a way that one simply watches its progress in an awed and fascinated manner. A lot of factors contribute to the exciting and painful impact of this play as the conflict in Othello’s mind, the ensuing sexual jealousy, Desdemona’s h umiliation and murder, the accompanying intrigue and so much.3 Besides, the role played by ‘accident’ in Othello produces not only a strong sense of the working of fate, but makes the play more terrible. In Othello, so many things happen by chance to aid Iago’s plot that one feels that his victims are also the victims of fate. Then there is the little comic relief in the guise of Iago’s humor, which is most of the times grim rather than amusing. In the context of the tragedy and a tragic hero, Aristotle in his work Poetics elucidated on some specific requirements as to the nature and form of plot and the qualities of a tragic hero. It will be really interesting to gauge Othello, the Moore of Venice, on the parameters set by Aristotle as to establish that it is a worthy tragedy with a suitable tragic hero. Plot In the context of a tragedy, Aristotle stresses the primacy of plot.4 He begins his ranking of the six parts of the tragedy with the assertion that â€Å"The most important of these parts is the arrangement of incidents, for tragedy is not an imitation of a man, per se, but of human action and life and happiness and misery.†5 Aristotle further reinforces the need for the right plot by declaring the human life to be a process. Aristotle holds that the human life is constantly changing and the changes that a man experiences tend towards happiness or unhappiness. Thus a tragedy is not possible