Aristotle
described a tragedy as “an imitation of an action of high importance, complete
and of some amplitude: in language enhanced by distinct and varying beauties…by
means of pity and fear effecting its purgation of these emotions”. William Shakespeare’s famous play Othello is
concerns the downfall of a Moorish general having the elements of jealousy,
suspense, intrigue, murder, and suicide to create a magnificent tragedy of the
highest Aristotelian order. Aristotle prescribed three main ingredients for a
tragic drama recipe: hamartia, or a tragic flaw in the tragic
hero’s character that brings about his downfall; catharsis, or a purgation
of the audience’s emotions so that they feel that they have learned something
from the play; and anagnorisis, or the character’s revelation of some fact not
previously realized.
Shakespeare’s
protagonist Othello fulfills all of Aristotle’s requirements for a tragic
hero, as Othello is a character of noble status who falls from that
position of power to one of shame because of his hamartia. Moreover the plot
of Othello contains a powerful catharsis through its climax and
conclusion, and an anagnorisis when Othello realizes that Iago and Desdemona
are not who they seemed to be.
First of all, the
Moorish general Othello, fits Aristotle’s definition of a tragic hero. Aristotle
states that a tragic hero must have three dominant qualities: he must be a person
of high estate, he must fall from that position into unhappiness,
and his downfall must be brought about by his hamartia, or his tragic
flaw . Othello is not only a successful
general in the Venetian army but is also well respected, admired, and well
liked. Since Othello enjoys a position
of power and happiness at the beginning of the play, this status makes his downfall
from beloved general to despised murderer infinitely more tragic and moving.
According to
Aristotle, however, the tragic hero’s collapse cannot be a simple deterioration
from success to misery. The most distinctive feature of the Aristotelian tragic
hero is hamartia; his downfall must be brought about by a character flaw
or flaw in judgment that leads to his destruction. Hamartia is more than a moral weakness; it is
a crucial mistake on the part of the tragic hero that causes him to plunge from
greatness to grief. Othello’s mistake as
a tragic hero is that he believes Iago’s treacherous lies about Desdemona’s
unfaithfulness. Instead of
investigating the matter further, he rashly jumps to the worst conclusions
about his wife and believes every lie that Iago whispers into his ear.
Iago recognizes
that he can use these weaknesses of Othello’s to hasten his downfall. Therefore
Othello fits Aristotle’s description of a tragic hero who has descended from
high estate to destruction because of his hamartia.
A true
Aristotelian tragedy also contains what the Greeks called a catharsis,
or a purgation that leaves the audience feeling justified and uplifted.
In a tragedy like Othello, where almost all of the characters wind up dead, the
audience is certainly not expected to feel happy or cheerful about the play’s
conclusion, but they do feel a sort of justification at the lessons learned by
the play’s characters and satisfaction in the villain’s punishment. Aristotle said, “The tragic pleasure is that
of pity and fear, and the poet has to produce it by a work of imitation”. The drama must arouse feelings of pity and
fear in the audience and then expunge those feelings through a satisfactory
conclusion. In Othello, Shakespeare certainly moves the audience to feel pity
for Othello, for Desdemona, for Cassio, and even for Iago. They also fear for
the fate of the happy couple, and realize their worst fears when Othello
smothers his innocent wife in a jealous rage. Once more the audience pities
Othello when he recognizes afterwards that Desdemona is innocent and stabs
himself in remorse. Even though the play does not end “happily ever after,” the
deaths of the unhappy couple and the punishment of the villain Iago bring a
sort of closure to the drama.
The ultimate
purpose of catharsis in a tragedy is to purify our feelings, refining them
into something more ennobling. The
audience certainly feels as though they have learned something important and
witnessed an epic drama that has affected them morally and spiritually. This is the purpose of tragedy – to dramatize
the weaknesses, despair, and failings of the human spirit and to demonstrate
how to better ourselves through this experience. Through this emotionally
charged plot filled with intrigue and conflict, Shakespeare has certainly met
all of Aristotle’s requirements for catharsis.
The last element
of Aristotelian tragedy found in Shakespeare’s Othello is anagnorisis,
a fact that was previously unknown to the tragic hero. Aristotle’s literal Greek definition of anagnorisis
consists of two parts; “The first part of the definition characterizes recognition
as a change from ignorance into knowledge, leading either to friendship or
enmity”. Shakespeare brings out this particular feature of anagnorisis
towards the end of the play when Othello realizes that his trusted friend
Iago has trapped him in a web of lies and has deceived him into thinking
Desdemona is unfaithful. Iago’s wife
Emilia cries out before she dies,
“Moor, she was
chaste. She loved thee, cruel Moor.
So come my soul to
bliss as I speak true” (5.2.258-259)
and suddenly
Othello understands that it is Iago who has misled him, not Desdemona. This anagnorisis causes Othello to cry,
“Wash me in
steep-down gulfs of liquid fire!
O Desdemona! Dead,
Desdemona! Dead! O! O!” (5.2.289-290),
to stab and wound
the villain Iago, and then to kill himself in remorse.
The second aspect
of the Greek word anagnorisis is its more superficial, general connotation.
Anagnorisis usually involves revelation of the true identity of persons
previously unknown, as when a father recognizes a stranger as his son, or vice
versa”. It is the simple epiphany experienced by the tragic hero as he realizes
something significant, like the fact that he has killed the woman he loves for
no reason.
This moment of
revelation for Othello is the climax of Shakespeare’s play as
everything comes together before the tragic hero’s eyes and the full extent of
Iago’s treachery and deceit is made clear to him. For the audience, the moment
is especially climactic, because we have known the truth all along. In the tragedy of Othello, we witness an
imitation of an action. The audience knows that Desdemona is innocent; thus, Othello’s
baseless accusations and crime against her arouse special pity and
loathing. This makes the Othello’s
anagnorisis at the end of the play exceptionally touching.
Shakespeare’s
great play depicting the downfall of a Moorish general through jealousy and
deceit is such a tragic drama. Aristotle’s influence upon the sixteenth-century
English playwright is evident in Othello. Through the character of Othello as a
tragic hero with a fatal flaw, the purgation of emotion through the couple’s
deaths and the punishment of Iago, and the epiphany Othello experiences at the
end of the play, Shakespeare demonstrates with eloquence each and every one of
Aristotle’s qualifications for tragedy. Othello is a tragic drama of epic
proportions that has stood the test of time and continues to move audiences
with its powerful themes of jealousy, intrigue, betrayal, faithfulness, death,
and remorse.
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