The features and specifications of a tragic hero are clarified by Aristotle who expresses that there are four things which need to happen in place for a character to be viewed as a tragic hero. The peripateia is the first one, this is a complete transgress to misery; the second is hamartia which is a deadly or tragic flaw in the hero; anagnorisis, which is the distinguishment of the hero’s mistakes and issues, lastly catharsis, which is the point at which tension is at long last discharged and the reader feels no negative emotions towards the hero. A.C. Bradley accepts that Othello is one of the best tragic heroes ever. (Bradley, 1922)
Secondly, F.R Leavis who accepts that Othello doesn’t fit the bill for genuine hero status. (Leavis, 1988) Then again, both Bradley and Leavis concur that Othello doesn’t achieve a condition of peripateia however for distinctive reasons. (Leavis, 1988) Bradley expresses that “The Othello of the fourth act is Othello amid his downfall. His fall is never complete however his grandeur stays undiminished.” (Bradley, 1922) Moreover, this demonstrates to us that Bradley accepts that Othello’s downfall is never positively complete, at the same time, he holds his honorability and honor.
We likewise realize that Othello was taken from Royal blood to become a slave. Doubtlessly that is a more noteworthy transgress. Leavis contends that Othello is essentially mindful of his honorability and hence fails to offer the genuine prerequisites of a respectable hero. “He has discovered his mistake yet there is no tragic disclosure toward oneself…” (Leavis, 1988) Bradley appears to have the better point in this example; Othello doesn’t experience the ill effects of grace toward the end of the play and his notoriety remains very nearly intact accordingly it doesn’t meet the criteria of a tragic hero, consequently, implying that Othello isn’t destined to endure on the grounds that he isn’t a tragic hero. (Bradley, 1922)
It is fantastically simple to recommend that Othello’s downfall is that of his own doing. As a matter of first importance; he is not a tragic hero and hence he controls his own particular destiny. Much like different protagonists in different tragedies, his own particular actions lead to his inevitable downfall. Much like the character of Dr Faustus, Faustus commits his own particular mistakes and it is his hamartia that prompts his fall and possible demise. Othello’s hamartia is his desire. Then again, notwithstanding having this hamartia all through the play we see various occurrences of characters in Othello, for example, Roderigo and Iago affecting Othello to commit the errors that he does.
We see various occasions of the two characters whispering in Othello’s ear with a specific end goal to mix crude envy within him as they are mindful that it is his shortcoming; by abusing it, this will prompt his demise. We learn all through the play that Iago is attempting to because Othello’s go wrong along these lines deceive him into accepting that Desdemona is having an unsanctioned romance. Despite the fact that at last yes, Othello does give into his hamartia, he cannot be blamed in light of the fact that were it not for the impact of Iago and Roderigo, he would have not killed his wife. Thusly, Othello’s downfall is an outcome of the actions of those around him.
Furthermore, Iago is a kind of character known as an issue”, “a character that takes the teachings of the thinker Machiavelli to the absolute limit. Iago can be viewed as an operators of destiny, sent to fate Othello. In the event that we take this stance, it is clear that Othello’s downfall was a result of the occasions out of his control. Iago’s whole plan starts when the “ignorant, ill-suited” Cassio is given the position that he covets. Iago feels as if it is he who merits that position and is thusly, overcome with envy. Iago shows genuine acts of amorality all through the play. As he deludes, takes and homicides to addition that position. Iago’s amorality is clear all through the whole play and is demonstrated more than once. One of the first cases of this is the place Iago himself states to Roderigo “I tail him to serve my turn upon him.”
This demonstrates to us that basically, Iago does not regard nor does he nurture Othello promptly demonstrating to us his villainy. In very nearly every scene in which Iago talks, we realize that trickery is available. In the opening scene for example, Iago shows characteristics that will demonstrate his essential part in the tragedy of Othello. Iago gladly gloats that “I am not what I am.” Although at time of talking, this was basically to persuade Roderigo that Iago essentially feigns union to Othello, the deeper implication of those words soon become clear to us as a crowd of people. Iago practices duplicity at whatever point it is needed. At the point when Othello comes to Iago associating the selling out with Desdemona, Iago does little however fuel jealousy and issues of distrust.
Iago’s essential thought is that the lucky man knows his wife his duping; the appalling man just suspects and is accordingly caught in the middle of love and trust. Here once more, Iago is apparently misusing Othello’s hamartia. Iago is immaculate and just amoral. He has no issue about misleading those near him and beguiling for his own particular individual increase. It is evident additionally that Iago is envious of Othello. He appears to accept that on the grounds that Othello is black, he doesn’t merit his spot in the Venetian armed force; in fact, he over and over alludes to Othello as “moor”. (Leavis, 1988)
This recommends an obsession with the fact that Othello is black. In view of this, Iago accepts he ought not to hold his high status inside the armed force. At first, Iago’s rehashed depictions of Othello lead us to structure an aversion towards him as an issue. In one case, Othello is depicted as “lascivious” heading us as readers to partner obscene and lecherous connotations with Othello. We accept that he has in a manner taken Desdemona by power. Othello is likewise depicted as an “old, black, rutting ram” again lead us as readers to structure sexual and territorial connotations of Othello. The utilization of rather rough words heads the reader to accept that Othello himself is fierce.
Then again, we soon understand that Iago isn’t in fact “honest Iago” as Othello trusts him to be. Iago is utilized by Shakespeare as an issue for the story, he is required to further the occasions and lead the play to the outcome it arrives at. Were it not for Iago, the uncertainty and envy would not have been placed in Othello’s psyche, he would have not given into his desire had Iago not over and over controlled and lied, the play would not have arrived at the same outcome. The fact that Iago is so noticeably and clearly misleading those around him demonstrates to the reader that Othello’s downfall was not an outcome of his own actions, yet a result of the occasions around him.
Conclusively, it is not Othello’s blame that he endures a downfall, it is the actions of the individuals and the occasions around him that cause the play to move ahead the way it does. Notwithstanding, I accept that Othello is the ideal example of man’s tragic vulnerability in light of the fact that through love of another as his wife Desdemona, he endured the destiny of needing to live with the blame that he killed his wife on account of a falsehood prompting Othello’s inevitable demise. Othello’s passing is the tragic consequence of one man’s love for his wife. It is Iago’s blame that the play closes in the way it does on account of his control of occasions and characters in this way he can be considered responsible for Othello’s fall out of favor. Othello is the ideal example of man’s tragic vulnerability and it is the occasions around him that cause his downfall.
Hamartia, flaws of the tragic hero, are a fundamental piece of tragedies. Othello, tormented by hamartia, is bound from the earliest starting point of the play. His flaws of misleading toward oneself, blind love, desire, and believing others too effortlessly are what inevitably kill him and his wife. Despite the fact that these flaws were brought to existence with the associate of Iago, it genuinely is Othello who is at deficiency for losing all that he had even his life.
References
Shakespeare, William. The tragedy of Othello. Methuen, 1903.
Bradley, Andrew Cecil. Shakespearean Tragedy; Lectures on Hamlet, Othello. Macmillan and Company, limited, 1922.
Leavis, F. R. (1988). Diabolic Intellect and the Noble Moor: Or the Sentimentalist’s Othello’. The Common Pursuit (1952, 140-41.
Red, R. N. “Aristotle’s Concept of Hamartia and Sri Aurobindo’s Rodogune.”Immortal Paradigms: Sri Aurbindo Home-Coming Centenary Volume (2002): 75.
Mincoff, Marco. “Shakespeare and Hamartia.” English Studies 45.2 (1964): 130-136.
