A General(’s) Misconception It is a widely accepted concept among Shakespeare scholars, critics, and enthusiasts that the character of Othello is a tragic hero with his flaw being his lack of self knowledge. While there is truth to that construct, Othello’s flaw goes deeper than his self understanding because he also does not realize his inability to recognize lies from truth, love from hidden hate, manipulation, or poor characterization skills. Othello’s tragic flaw is not simply that he does not know himself, but much more generic in that Othello has difficulty knowing people and analyzing situations. Othello as a person, likewise does not know or analyze himself. Even though knowledge of self and the knowledge of others are vastly different,
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He is right in thinking of what would save him from “the raisèd father and his friends,” however, there are countless other factors that Othello is not taking into account and he truly believes that this is all there is to himself (1.2.29). If Othello knew Brabantio as his address in Scene 3 suggests, if, “Her father loved me, oft invited me,” it would seem more than likely that Othello would also know that an elopement would be an ineffective way of marrying Brabantio’s daughter without controversy (1.3.128). It would also make sense that Othello would be aware of Brabantio’s slightly racist tendencies seeing as such things are fairly difficult to hide without any suspicion. With all the time that Othello and Brabantio spent pleasantly in each other’s companies discussing the entire narrative of Othello’s life, Othello should have been able to pick up on how Brabantio would react to his actions leading up to the beginning of the play. Othello may have guessed as much would happen, but then somewhere in between knowing he was was to upset Brabantio and marrying Desdemona he figured that his ‘parts, title, and perfect soul’ would make the marriage uncontroversial. In the end, Brabantio was a hard sell on the marriage and he only begrudgingly accepted it ergo, Othello’s …show more content…
Throughout the play Iago parades around in public as one of the most honest, dependable, and righteous men you will ever meet yet there is not a single other character-- save his wife-- that sees him as he truly is. Given this, it is not really Othello’s fault that he cannot see through Iago at first, Iago is simply that skilled of an actor. However, a part of Othello’s reversal is a growing distaste of Casio and the replacement of his trust almost exclusively into Iago instead. In Act III, Scene 4, Emilia says to Desdemona that, “‘Tis not a year or two shows us a man,” implying that Emilia knows her husband, because only time will tell and time has told her what a dishonest, hypocritical man Iago is (3.4.102). So it takes a certain proximity, a closeness or intimacy to recognize Iago and while it might also take a year or two of that intimacy, Othello should have seen several red flags. The way in which Iago convinces Othello of an affair between Desdemona and Cassio is through lying to and manipulating Cassio. This is also an instance in which Othello (thinks he) knows how Iago is feeling and Iago is presenting himself to Casio in a way that does not imitate that. Othello knows that Iago is being dishonest and manipulating Casio surprisingly successfully for such an honest man because Casio doesn’t doubt Iago for a moment. Othello
He is right in thinking of what would save him from “the raisèd father and his friends,” however, there are countless other factors that Othello is not taking into account and he truly believes that this is all there is to himself (1.2.29). If Othello knew Brabantio as his address in Scene 3 suggests, if, “Her father loved me, oft invited me,” it would seem more than likely that Othello would also know that an elopement would be an ineffective way of marrying Brabantio’s daughter without controversy (1.3.128). It would also make sense that Othello would be aware of Brabantio’s slightly racist tendencies seeing as such things are fairly difficult to hide without any suspicion. With all the time that Othello and Brabantio spent pleasantly in each other’s companies discussing the entire narrative of Othello’s life, Othello should have been able to pick up on how Brabantio would react to his actions leading up to the beginning of the play. Othello may have guessed as much would happen, but then somewhere in between knowing he was was to upset Brabantio and marrying Desdemona he figured that his ‘parts, title, and perfect soul’ would make the marriage uncontroversial. In the end, Brabantio was a hard sell on the marriage and he only begrudgingly accepted it ergo, Othello’s …show more content…
Throughout the play Iago parades around in public as one of the most honest, dependable, and righteous men you will ever meet yet there is not a single other character-- save his wife-- that sees him as he truly is. Given this, it is not really Othello’s fault that he cannot see through Iago at first, Iago is simply that skilled of an actor. However, a part of Othello’s reversal is a growing distaste of Casio and the replacement of his trust almost exclusively into Iago instead. In Act III, Scene 4, Emilia says to Desdemona that, “‘Tis not a year or two shows us a man,” implying that Emilia knows her husband, because only time will tell and time has told her what a dishonest, hypocritical man Iago is (3.4.102). So it takes a certain proximity, a closeness or intimacy to recognize Iago and while it might also take a year or two of that intimacy, Othello should have seen several red flags. The way in which Iago convinces Othello of an affair between Desdemona and Cassio is through lying to and manipulating Cassio. This is also an instance in which Othello (thinks he) knows how Iago is feeling and Iago is presenting himself to Casio in a way that does not imitate that. Othello knows that Iago is being dishonest and manipulating Casio surprisingly successfully for such an honest man because Casio doesn’t doubt Iago for a moment. Othello