Chauvinism In Othello

Tragedy appears throughout the human history. Some drama or literary work utilizes the tragedy to express author’s opinion to the society or reveal the darkness of the world. As a result, the tragedy in literature will make the readers not only feel sad but also consider the issues and values. Othello is one of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies. He utilized the downfall of Othello to reveal the social issues of racism, women roles as well as different values that distinctive characters possessed. Jean Racine once commented about the tragedy: “Life is a comedy to those who think, a tragedy to those who feel. ” Othello’s male chauvinism makes he cannot think and dooms his death. Moreover, Aristotle shared his view of tragedy in his Poetics, which …show more content…
Different characters in Othello give us distinct edification. First of all, Desdemona tells us that we should not only love someone, but also love them in a smart way. Just like Emilia, she loves Iago, but she still reveals the vice of Iago even her life will be taken away. “EMILIA: She give it Cassio? No, alas, I found it/And I did give ’t my husband./IAGO: Filth, thou liest!/EMILIA: By heaven, I do not, I do not, gentlemen.—/(to OTHELLO)/O murderous coxcomb! What should such a fool/Do with so good a wife?” Compared to Desdemona mentioned in the last paragraph that she is trying to protect Othello even she is dying. Emilia does the total opposite way, instead of protecting Iago, she accuses Iago of every evil thing he has done. If Emilia chooses to protect her husband, like what Desdemona does, nobody will never know the truth. Moreover, she teaches us to be brave and smart when you love someone or something. Never gets consumed by love too deeply because you may do things that disobey the justice. Secondly, Othello teaches us a lesson that what we think is right could be wrong, what we think is guilty could be innocent. We need to calm down and think instead of letting our mind possessed by anger and do whatever we want. Othello kills Desdemona, trusts Iago and he is doing everything he thinks is justified to do. He believes what he thinks, but actually, he just judges things based on what he feels. In daily life, we have to calm down and think instead of feeling the emotion because that will cause the misjudgment that you may follow Othello’s tragic path. In addition, do not think that what you believe right is actually right. You have to find out the reality before you make any decisions. Last but not least, Iago is the evil character in this play, but this kind of people appears in real life too. They manipulate people to get what they want. We need to have