Othello Tragic Hero

Within the world of storytelling, one character that has stood out since the beginning is identified as the tragic hero. Philosopher Aristotle created the tragic hero in his book Poetics; Aristotle characterized a tragic hero as a tragic flaw, excessive pride, a reversal of fate, punishment that cannot be avoided, and the pity and fear felt from the audience (Aristotle 39). Shakespeare used the tragic hero guideline in many of his plays; not all those tragic heroes are true tragic heroes as outlined. One such character is Othello, the title character of The Tragedy of Othello: The Moor of Venice. The play Othello is not truly about Othello, but rather the struggle of the true tragic hero, Iago. While Othello is talked about in the …show more content…
Othello is not a tragic hero because he does not die with honor. At the end of their life, tragic heroes are supposed to die in some form of honorable death to end the story and the reign of the tragic hero. Othello, while he does die, does not do so in an honorable way. Othello decides to kill himself with a sword he had hidden away in case of an event like at the end of the play (Shakespeare The Tragedy of Othello 829). Because of this action, Othello does not die via an honorable death, meaning that an essential element of the tragic hero has been forgone. In this time period, suicide was not held as an honorable way to describe because it was listed as a sin in the Holy Bible; therefore, Othello killing himself by stabbing his neck with his sword was not seen as an honorable way to die. With this element, no longer a part of the story, Othello cannot be classified as a tragic hero. In Macbeth, Macbeth dies with honor because of his sword fight with Macduff, his adversary (Shakespeare Macbeth …show more content…
The audience must feel emotion, namely pity, from the tragic hero. This element is called catharsis and is necessary in order for a character to be considered a tragic hero. Due to Othello committing suicide, Othello cannot properly connect to the audience as many members would not consider killing themselves as that is not a favorable response, to any situation. Othello breaks many traditions that one would consider necessary to be a tragic hero. When the character does not follow these specific traits as defined by the philosopher Aristotle, then they are not able to be considered a tragic hero, meaning that the tragedy of Othello has no tragic hero, no hero to claim. But Othello does have a tragic hero. Shakespeare has hidden the tragic hero of this tragedy right in front of the reader from the opening line of the