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Othello (Characterization (A complex hero? (More normal (but with the…
Othello
Characterization
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A complex hero?
Stock character: revenger, noble leader (only in the military sphere)
General but non-European-an outsider with no status (which he may hope to gain with his marriage to Desdemona) but power
More normal (but with the stature of a hero) that traditional tragic heroes but non-typical so more vulnerable
Could be seen as noble and admirable in many ways but this ultimately leads to a greater fall, similar to traditional tragic heroes
But in the end, he does bring about quite a few deaths, despite taking responsibility
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The play as a tragedy
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Tragedy of what?
Marriage? The audience is given an insight of Othello's fortune reversal via the indicator of marriage
Passionate love? often seen as a threat to the social norm, so doomed to fail before social convention
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Critical readings
A.C Bradely:'He trusts, where he trusts is absolute' and is 'by fa the most romantic figure among Shakespeare's heroes...He does not belong to our world',. 'If such a passion as jealousy seizes him, it will swell into a well-nigh incontrollable flood'
Sean Envoy 'Othello's tragedy is that he lives according to a set of stories through which he interprets the world-an ideology-but it is a world that has superseded'
These topics weren't always featured in classical tragedies, so is also unconventional in that sense