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Love and Othello

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Love and Othello
Love and Othello Human identity is one of the complex sides of human beings. Because there is no single identity, it is an unsoluble issue. People are different in terms of their natures. This has been one of the important elements that writers use in their works for years. William Shakespeare was one of them. He analyzed human identity very well and shaped his characters according to his researches. His analysis of humankinds are well-presented in his tragedies. Even though they have bad deeds, tragic characters in Shakespearean plays are not evil in their natures. Most scholars agree that being tragic does not mean being cruel and evil. R. N. Hallstead and John Arthos mention innocent and pure soul of Othello in their articles. This theory can be analyzed with the help of one of the important characters in one of the important plays by William Shakespeare: Othello, The Moor of Venice. According to Aristotelian perspective, a tragedy has some qualities to be a perfect one. First of all, there has to be a noble character that is in the top and after an important decision-making process, the situation of this noble character changes. It is called ‘reversal of the situation’ which means the tragic hero experiences the fall down. S/he is no longer that person that s/he used to before. The character loses everything that belongs to her/his and suffers because of the miserable condition. However; men must suffer to be wise. The noble hero is now aware of everything and the mistake s/he did but it means nothing. There is no coming back, no returning or healing from that situation. Othello is brave and successful soldier. His tragic fault is being excessive jealous of his wife, Desdemona. At the end of the play, Othello kills Desdemona by thinking she cheats on him, which is not true. However; he does not kill his wife due to the dark side of his personality. Actually, it can be understood from the conversations that Othello loves Desdemona. He cannot bear to


Cited: Arthos, John. “The Fall of Othello”. Shakespeare Quarterly 9.2 (1958): 93- 104. Hallstead, R. N. “Idolatrous love: A new Approach to Othello”. Shakespeare Quarterly 19.2 (1968): 107- 124.
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