Shakespeare's Othello

Why is Othello considered as a tragedy? I need to write an essay about it by touch the points: his free will and hierarchical values. Please help me :frown:

Reply 1

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

21

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_tragedy

Reply 2

Good bloke

19

Original post by maytekin

Why is Othello considered as a tragedy? I need to write an essay about it by touch the points: his free will and hierarchical values. Please help me :frown:

A tragedy, by definition, tells a serious and sad story and often ends in the death of the main protagonist. Does that ring any bells?

Reply 3

maytekin

OP

2

I need to write it by mentioning his free will and hierarchical values. Do you have any essay about it? I am from Turkey and my mother language is Turkish. Please help me :frown:

Reply 4

wallflowerannie

12

Shakespeare arguably used his free will to create political and emotional change. You could say tragedy has the power to create catharsis, a form of emotional release. The society Shakespeare was in was quite traditional and didn’t favour anything non conventional, and the representation of tragedy can be considered to create political change through catharsis, as the audience will be led to think about the events that have occurred. You could say tragedy can be didactic, meaning it can teach moral lessons. Maybe Shakespeare used his free will to use tragedy as a tool for political change? In Othello, Iago plays on and shatters the hierarchalvalues, especially in his defiling of Othello and Cassio, high up members in society, highlighting ‘Othello’ even more as a tragedy. I hope this helped in any way!!

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 5

maytekin

OP

2

Original post by wallflowerannie

Shakespeare arguably used his free will to create political and emotional change. You could say tragedy has the power to create catharsis, a form of emotional release. The society Shakespeare was in was quite traditional and didn’t favour anything non conventional, and the representation of tragedy can be considered to create political change through catharsis, as the audience will be led to think about the events that have occurred. You could say tragedy can be didactic, meaning it can teach moral lessons. Maybe Shakespeare used his free will to use tragedy as a tool for political change? In Othello, Iago plays on and shatters the hierarchalvalues, especially in his defiling of Othello and Cassio, high up members in society, highlighting ‘Othello’ even more as a tragedy. I hope this helped in any way!!