This paper analyzes William Shakespeare's play Othello as a tragedy using Aristotelian elements. It discusses how Othello is a tragic hero who possesses a fatal flaw of jealousy that is exploited by the villain Iago. Through deception and manipulation, Iago sows seeds of doubt in Othello's mind about his wife Desdemona's fidelity, ultimately destroying Othello. The paper also examines themes of race, trust, and human weakness that contribute to the tragedy. It argues Othello is a successful tragedy that highlights issues still relevant today through its exploration of themes like betrayal, ethnicity, and love.

1. Running head: TRAGEDY IN SHAKESPEARE’S OTHELLO
1
TRAGEDY IN SHAKESPEARE’S OTHELLO
8
Tragedy in Shakespeare’s Othello
Liberty University
Tragedy in Shakespeare’s Othello
Introduction
Recognized as the greatest playwrights, William Shakespeare
had written dozens of dazzling plays, most of which have been
turned into movies. Othello, the Moor of Venice is considered
as Shakespeare’s ultimate tragedies regarding a black general
within an Italian army known as Othello including what
transpired between him and Desdemona, his wife
(Golden, 2014). Typically, a tragedy is a play that ends

2. unhappily because the author lays most focus on unfortunate
events throughout the plot (Oort, 2016). Othello, the Moor of
Venice best illustrates this aspect because Shakespeare hinges
the plot on disguises and deception while still dealing with love
and marriage. This paper will seek to discuss William
Shakespeare’s Othello as a tragedy and support Aristotelian
view that Othello is a tragic hero.
Analysis
Othello’s setting is that of outside the notion of civilization
coupled with a number of supernatural events demonstrated
through various characters who contradict the normal or
standard rules of society (Golden, 2014). Shakespeare’s
Othello, the Moor of Venice consists of various elements of
comedy nonetheless, multiple deaths are witnessed towards the
ending not withstanding Othello, who is the tragic hero.
Shakespeare illustrates Othello as a well-respected individual
by the Senate besides being a military hero who is also
treasured by his new wife (Shakespeare, 1623). Although he is
demonstrated as a controlled, calm and eloquent man, towards
the end of the play, Othello surrenders over to the violent
jealousy. In fact, towards the ending, Othello was too weak to
speak as a result of epileptic fit that he suffered thereby,
demonstrating Shakespeare’s success in exemplifying Othello’s
advancement to a tragic hero from a military hero
(Golden, 2014).
As an Aristotelian tragedy, Shakespeare brings out Othello as a
gracious, open hearted and simple soldier who is also doomed
(Oort, 2016). Othello was an easy victim because despite having
been regarded as a hero by the Senate his simple nature allowed
him to fully trust people who he thought were his friends but
who, ultimately betrayed him. One friend betrayed Othello
because he was self-seeking and weak while the other, through
angry malice (Oort, 2016). The audience is able to see that
Othello is indeed a dramatic puppet who exhibits or lacks any
psychological uniformity from showing love to jealousy because
in the end, everyone trusts Lago, the villain, who is the cause

3. for his downfall.
The most conspicuous theme in Othello is ethnicity highlighted
through the character of Othello who managed to get to the rank
of a general (McCoy, 2013). During the period when the play
was written, blacks were considered to be murderous heathens
and barbarians. In this case, it was a rare occurrence to have
black men to achieve the rank of generally within the army,
which was predominantly of Caucasian origin. Othello’s
achievement caused a lot of friction with other officers who
became extremely jealous, thereby, fueling Lago’s drive to lie
as a result of his hatred against Othello (Shakespeare, 1623).
Also, Shakespeare successfully illustrates this hatred and
jealousy after Desdemona got married to Othello, which was
predominantly uncommon and unaccepted during the period
when the play was written (McCoy, 2013). In fact, their
marriage sparked anger to other people including Desmona’s
father who got extremely furious following his daughter’s
decision to marry a moor. To demonstrate his opposition against
his daughter’s marriage to the moor, Desmona’s father resulted
to present the matter to an Italian court (Shakespeare, 1623).
During that period, an individual found to be guilty such as
Othello, would have been executed but was permitted to stay
married to his wife since he was needed by the army
(McCoy, 2013). In this case, the court’s decision successfully
emphasized yet another element that led to Lago’s betrayal
because Rodrigo obtained a motive of paying Lago for
spreading deception and lies against Othello.
Shakespeare has created the theme of trust between Lago and
Othello, even though Lago’s duty as a servant invariably annoys
him since he hates acting as Othello’s subordinate
(McCoy, 2013). However, the audience is shocked when he
gladly accepts assignments allocated to him by the general. In
fact, the audience grows more suspicious after Iago advices
Othello to be careful and not to be jealous so as to
surreptitiously allow the flow of calamities planned against him.
As a result, Othello tragedy becomes evident through his

4. behavior that seem to have changed following Iago’s negative
impact (Shakespeare, 1623). For instance, Othello is no longer a
loving and trusting husband because he begun to doubt
everything around him and further goes ahead to intentionally
create a situation where he could lay blame against his wife for
betrayal.
Nonetheless, it is worth to note that despite the fact that Othello
is the main tragic figure, Shakespeare has underscored Lago as
a predominant and main character throughout the play (Bradley,
2015). Lago’s jealousy against Othello stemmed out after
failing to obtain promotion thereby, explaining the revenge plot.
As the play progresses, readers are able to see that Lago is in
fact a bad man because of his manipulative ways against other
characters within the play. In fact, Lago was responsible for the
deaths of a number of characters within the play, most of whom
were innocent (Bradley, 2015). In order to demonstrate his
hatred and hunger for revenge, Shakespeare illustrates Lago
killing his own wife after stabbing her and still made plans to
revenge against other characters apart from Othello.
Most events within Othello, occur on the Island of Cyprus as
opposed to the region of Venice, which is ruled by the Senate
(Shakespeare, 1623). While Othello is demonstrated as an
individual who is well-spoken and calm within Venice, strong
emotions, deception as well as lack of control is predominant in
Cyprus. Othello consists of extremely troubling murder scenes
compared to various literature written during that period such as
during the wedding night between Othello and his new wife,
Desdemona (Shakespeare, 1623). In this particular scene,
Shakespeare successfully demonstrates how jealousy and
unchecked emotions can lead to horrendous consequences.
Characters in Othello are common with many works written by
Shakespeare who are unusual to him as evidenced by high
intellectual activity coupled with total demand of moral
principles (Bradley, 2015). This is particularly evident with the
character of Lago who reveals himself as a highly morally
individual at the expense of other individuals. In addition,

5. Shakespeare exposes the quest of such individuals who tend to
seek to bring about confusion in regards to practical distinction
between what is wrong or right. Shakespeare is able to achieve
this by referring the character of Lago as an overreached
standard of hypothetical or speculative enhancement (Bradley,
2015). Therefore, the aspect of tragedy is revealed through such
individuals such as Lago, a poet whose character is revealed as
being nicer as opposed to being wise.
Also, Othello has efficaciously painted the eurocentive
perspectives regarding African men who are mostly illiterate,
barbaric and promiscuous (Adamson, 2017). As such, African
men were only good enough because they served the interests of
the white man whilst regarded as white men’s property. This
notion has been perpetuated through space and time as
evidenced by racial discrimination against minor ethnic
communities in the modern society. Nonetheless, Shakespeare’s
Othello shocks the audience when he presents an African man
who is able to contradict extreme stereotypical perspectives and
successfully diverges from the norm (Adamson, 2017). Indeed,
the African has been demonstrated as literate, civil and more
importantly, faithful husbands. In effect, the tragedy
highlighted in Othello effectively transcends racial bias and is
mainly founded by natural human weakness such as Othello’s
lack of self-esteem that makes Lago to effortlessly prey on him.
Shakespeare illustrates the character of Lago as being two-folds
through his actions and revenge plans (Adamson, 2017). For
instance, after recounting the elopement of Desdemona with
Othello to her father, he went ahead to caution Othello against
the outrage of Brabantio. The audience is able to see how Lago
shrewdly plotted one plan after the other and ended up
succeeding therefore, illustrating that people may not be what
they appear to be (Adamson, 2017). In this case, the character
of Lago plays a significant role in causing tragedy throughout
the play. In fact, Lago takes advantage of various events within
the play to revenge against Othello such as when the whole
army arrived at Cyprus.

6. Shakespeare demonstrates that Lago is not only shrewd but
highly intelligent individual because he is able to recognize the
fact that the whole organization regarded Othello as a
respectable and worthy man (Adamson, 2017). As such, Lago
was careful when uncovering his plot by telling lies about how
abhorrently Othello’s character is on the ground because he had
to fulfill his plan of crushing Othello’s reputation and life
despite his trustworthiness. More importantly, Lago was able to
exploit the trust offered to him by Othello, which was a
significant flaw in Othello’s character since he is principally a
sensible and consistent individual (Adamson, 2017).
Conclusion
Under Othello’s command, Lago who is a soldier is depicted as
the main villain in the play. Lago is known to tell plenty of lies
regarding Othello’s friend and Desdemona including Cassio, a
former right-hand man. Othello, the Moor of Venice is
considered a successful play because it is able to highlight
several issues that the modern society faces through a number
of themes such as betrayal, ethnicity and love. Othello is a
tragic hero as demonstrated throughout the play’s plot because
he always allowed himself to be controlled by his heart but not
his brain whenever he was sincerely or furiously moved by
events in his life.
References
Adamson, J. (2017). Othello As Tragedy: Some Problems of
Judgement and Feeling. Cambridge, England: Cambridge

7. University Press.
Bradley, A. C. (2015). Shakespearean Tragedy: Lectures on
Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth. New Delhi, India:
Atlantic Publishers & Dist.
Golden, L. (2014). Othello, Hamlet, and Aristotelian Tragedy.
Shakespeare Quarterly, 35(2), 142. doi:10.2307/2869923
McCoy, R. C. (2013). Othello and the Stakes of Tragedy. Faith
in Shakespeare, 82-112.
doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199945764.003.0004
Oort, R. V. (2016). Shakespeare's Big Men: Tragedy and the
Problem of Resentment. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Shakespeare, W. (2014). The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of
Venice. The Oxford Shakespeare: Othello, the Moor of Venice,
191-192. doi:10.1093/oseo/instance.00000011
06230
Number of Pages: 1 (Double Spaced)
Number of sources: 6
Writing Style: APA
Type of document: Research Paper
Academic Level:Undergraduate
Category: English

8. Language Style: English (U.S.)
Order Instructions: Attached
I have the paper already done, but I need a properly formatted
APA Outline, Draft, and Bibliography