Othello Character Analysis

So much of the critical discourse regarding Othello and Iago is defined by the impression of the self - the critics' selves, that is. In a mess of questions of good and evil, right and wrong, critical supporters of Iago (T.S. Eliot, Samuel Taylor) characterize themselves as realists, pragmatic, practical, eschewing the supporters of the so-called weaker Othello, who conversely tend to describe themselves as somehow morally elevated, more empathetic. While the study of literature has never been an objective science, these self-serving perspectives effectively remove any objectivity from the criticisms at all. Of course, by writing two characters that both represent a level of cravenness and evil (Othello did, after all, cold bloodedly murder …show more content…
So tragic is he, in fact, that he is referenced repeatedly in Northrop Frye’s “Archetypal Criticism: Theory of Myths” essay, all in the context, of course, of his tragic undoing. Othello is, without question, the human in the Great Chain of Being, a character “half way between human society on the ground and the something greater in the sky” [Frye]. Like so many tragic autumnal heroes, Othello is flush with status, war heroism - and, in the Greek tradition, he places an inordinately large amount of faith into a male best friend/confidant. Most importantly, though, and regardless of his heroic flair, Othello is a simple character, a flawed character, likeable until he is unlikeable, a pawn for the complexities of Iago’s more elusive character to develop against. In “The Last Great Speech of Othello,” T.S. Eliot scathingly dismantles romantic notions of Othello, calling his pre-murder soliloquy “a… terrible exposure of human weakness,” introducing a valid (if emotionally wrought) argument that seems to accidentally follow well in the teaching of Frye. Although Eliot was, by his own admission, writing from a perspective “that may appear subject and fantastic in the extreme,” he was able to articulate a crucial characteristic of the tragic hero in the myth of autumn: “the freedom of the protagonist” [Nighan]. Regardless of where his facilities are logically or emotionally, the hero in the myth of autumn maintains a complete control of his actions …show more content…
Although the story of Othello falls somewhere in the romantic space between realism and myth, as a high mimetic tragedy it is concerned with the imitation of life. There are no spirits or otherwise mythic figures to represent the divine; it must be found elsewhere. In accordance with the qualities of the high mimetic tragedy (and the myth of autumn), the divine figures must be humans with some sort of elevated and respected status in a story whose central conflict is rooted in ethical transgressions. (Divinity also not necessarily have to represent those with divine personalities; rather, it represents those with almost unprecedented power, whether pure or purely evil.) In sweeps Iago, the most well-spoken of the characters in the play, universally respected despite his lack of political status (the exception to this respect would be Emilia’s general disdain for him, which could call to mind tumultuous marriages amongst divine figures - Zeus and Hera, for example). Although he is no lieutenant, his influence is without question, immediately available to the audience from Act I, Scene i, when he exercises easy control of Roderigo’s heart and purse strings. Iago’s game of manipulation involves no force; it is well-crafted, aware of itself and aware of others. It is steeped with a power so profound that every character is