Othello Tragic Hero Essay

Othello is not the hero in the play Othello

Shakespeare's Othello gives the resounding idea that Othello is the protagonist. Critics such as A.C Bradley and F.R Leavis are divided on considering Othello a “tragic hero” , whereas my opinion is that he is not.

F.R Leavis makes the argument that, “Othello is overly aware of his nobility, and thus lacking in the requirements of a true tragic hero” reasoning that Othello isn’t the hero or the protagonist in the play. He goes on to say that “Othello’s noble lack of self knowledge is shown as humiliating and disastrous” interpreting that, Othello feels no real remorse for his actions, and even when he does attempt to show it, it comes off strikingly like self dramatisation. Leavis says that Othello makes no effort to address his “gullibility and stupidity” , but instead focuses more on how the actions of others lead to her death. Othello’s refusal to accept the circumstances that arose due to
His argument is that Othello is a character riddled with flaws, as opposed to Bradley who considered Othello a “faultless hero”, arguing that Othello’s absolute trust is used against him by Iago. Leavis says that Othello is “egotistical…with a habit of self-approving dramatising” which is reinforced through the quote “My parts, my title and my perfect soul”. Bradley’s argument in this case that the only reason Othello acted how he did was because of his fatal flaw, trust, and that despite that, he is a “faultless hero” is wrong in my opinion. Being manipulated by Iago did cause him to murder Desdemona, but his lack of remorse and comments about how this will affect his power, rule him out as a hero. Leavis’s claim that Othello is much more human-like, with flaws that are expressed throughout the play, seems much more reasonable to me, as I believe that Othello doesn’t have a defining character flaw that could give him the status of