Oedipus And Othello Research Paper

Compare and Contrast Essay: The Downfalls of Oedipus and Othello

Oedipus and Othello were both honorable and heroic men that became the victims of two tragic downfalls that can be compared and contrasted with each other. Sophocles, the writer of Oedipus the King, and Williams Shakespeare, the writer of Othello, were both enormously influential playwrights of their respective generations and their legacy continues today. The two playwrights made their masterpieces during different eras; Sophocles life coincided with the Golden Age of Greek tragedy and Shakespeare worked during the Elizabethian period. Despite being born about 2,000 years apart, their works are similar in that they could both describe and make the tragic downfalls of two
Iago has no problem fitting Othello into his plot, the cause of Othello's downfall, because Othello is easily persuaded and has an unsuspecting nature. Iago was aware of this and expressed this knowledge in the quote, "The moor is of a free and open nature that thinks men that but seem to be so…" (Shakespeare line 442-443) Time and time again Othello believes Iago over anyone else and continuously gives into Iago's malicious traps. This quality is an encumbrance to Othello and is why he so easily believes Iago when he tells him of an untrue affair between Desdemona and Cassio. Using Othello's unsuspecting nature to his advantage, Iago compounds Othello's false beliefs by using beguiling evidence such as the handkerchief. Aso, he uses the description of Cassio's mingling with Bianca where Othello mistakenly thought he was talking about Desdemona to further Othello's beliefs. While Othello may have been too naïve, Oedipus was the antithesis. Oedipus was burdened with his perfidious prophecy, but if it was not for his analytical mind he may have never discovered that the prophecy had actually been fulfilled. This investigative nature of his led to another tragic flaw, benevolence. Oedipus cared about the people of Thebes so much he would not give up until he found the city's perpetrator that was responsible for the plague. Despite Oedipus's analytical mind, he was unable to see
Both were victims of different villians that would lead to their ill-fated demises. A horrible prophecy where Oedipus was to murder his father and then marry his mother was the villain in Oedipus's case. He was on a road to perdition since the day he was born, because the prophecy made his fate unavoidable. Oedipus and his family tried to take every action possible from avoiding the prophecy. Laius and Jocasta even tried to kill their cursed son at birth, but their plan was unknowingly foiled. The only way to prevent the tragic downfall was to keep Oedipus from knowing his calamitous destiny, which did not happen because Oedipus proved to be far too wise. Once Oedipus knew his fate, he thought he could avoid it by moving away from Corinth, but in the end that only made his fate more realistic. Contradictory to Oedipus's situation, Othello's fate was avoidable. If Othello would not have thought irrationally and have been more Oedipus-like, meaning he would have done more investigation, then possibly the truth would have been revealed before Othello killed Desdemona. Different arguments can be made as to when Othello had sealed his tragic fate. One could argue that Othello was doomed when he triggered Iago's hate to a greater extent than it already was by appointing Cassio as his Lieutenant. Another argument could be that Othello was not doomed until Iago came into