The Military Commander in Othello Essay -- Othello essays

The forces Commander in Othello The character of the general in William Shakespeares sadal drama Othello is quite noble, although plagued by the shortcoming or weakness of gullibility. anyow us in this essay look at all the features, both good and bad. of this ill-fated hero. David Bevington in William Shakespeare Four Tragedies describes many fine virtues which abide within the general Othellos blackness, like that of the natives dwelling in ethnical lands, could betoken to Elizabethan audiences an innocent proneness to accept saviourianity, and Othello is one who has already embraced the Christian faith. His first appearance onstage, when he confronts a contributiony of torch-bearing work force coming to arrest him and bids his followers sheathe their swords, is sufficiently reminiscent of Christs arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane to convey a hurry comparison between Othello and the Christian God whose charity and forbearance he seeks to emulate. Othellos blackness may be used in part as an emblem of fallen man, but so are we all fallen. His age similarly strengthens our impression of his wisdom, restraint, leadership. (220) Is it his gullibility which leads to his downfall? Morton W. Bloomfield and Robert C. Elliott in dandy Plays Sophocles to Brecht posit the lack of insight of the hero as the cause of his sad fall Othellos lack of insight, cunningly played upon by Iago, leads to his downfall. And as the full enormity of his deed dawns upon him in the great scene of tragic self-revelation at the rest, the audience may perhaps experience catharsis, that purgation of the soul brought about by an almost unbearable pity for him and his victims, and by dread at what human... ...han all his tribe . . . . He dies a noble death, honorable as he has lived a noble life. Michael Cassios evaluation of his end is our evaluation This did I fear, but thought he had no limb / For he was great of heart. WORKS CITED Bevington, David, ed. William Shakespeare Four Tragedies. New York Bantam Books, 1980. Bloomfield, Morton W. and Robert C. Elliott, ed. huge Plays Sophocles to Brecht. New York Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc., 1965. Coles, Blanche. Shakespeares Four Giants. Rindge, New Hampshire Richard Smith Publisher, 1957. Jorgensen, Paul A. William Shakespeare The Tragedies. capital of Massachusetts Twayne Publishers, 1985. Shakespeare, William. Othello. In The Electric Shakespeare. Princeton University. 1996. http//www.eiu.edu/multilit/studyabroad/othello/othello_all.html No line nos.