![]() I argue that had the prohibition on theft been heeded by Emilia, several people would still be alive, including Desdemona and Othello. It also tries to show the wisdom behind what might otherwise appear as cruel punishment for theft in Islamic law. The USIM version briefly relates themes in Othello to broader cultural issues and philosophy, both Socratic and that of Nietzsche. The second version was prepared in 2015, at IAIS Malaysia, the International Institute of Advanced Islamic Studies. The paper essentially relates the insights taken up in class. The first version was written while I taught Literature in English at the Islamic Science University of Malaysia in 2004 and again in 2005. He is grief-stricken to know that Desdemona had cheated on him.This book presents two papers I prepared on Shakespeare’s Othello from the perspective of Islam. He is unable to bear the taint on the purity and trust of the love between him and Desdemona. Othello’s blind faith in Iago makes him trust his heinous ideas. Suspicion and jealousy envelope Othello and he starts disintegrating. Meanwhile, Iago continues his games and taints Othello’s mind very successfully. His jealousy paves the way for his tragic flaws to culminate in his downfall. Othello’s character takes on feisty jealousy as the character develops. Othello’s perilous virtue takes shape of his immense trust in Iago-the same trust that brought his tragic fall. This shows how a tragic hero’s flaw is not a defect in his character but it is the over-presence of virtue in his nature. The reader on the other hand immediately comes to know of Iago’s villain after reading through the Roderigo episode. ![]() It reflects Othello’s misconception of Iago, the person. To this conveyance, I assign my wife” (Shakespeare). “.my ancient a man he is of honesty and trust. Shakespeare’s fine demonstration of Othello’s tragic flaw is depicted right at the beginning of the play when he exercises full faith in the dishonest, Iago. It is only when the character of Iago comes to the fore that the reader gets to know of his tragic flaw-his naiveté and his tendency to over-trust. There is complete purity and innocence in his intentions and emotion. Othello is introduced at the beginning of the play as a very virtuous character by Shakespeare He is benevolent, and noble and is madly in love with his wife, Desdemona. The tragedy of his character and the resulting death can only be blamed on the tragic flaws in the persona of Othello thus certifying him as a tragic hero (Doris). However, despite the mistakes he kept making, the reader cannot help but sympathize with Othello and his bad luck. During the play, Othello’s character keeps disintegrating due to his growing jealousy. In another-wise noble character, the dominant forces of naiveté and over-trust became the premise of the tragic flaws that Aristotle points out. Thus in light of Othello, the Moor of Venice can regard as the classic tragic hero of all times. His inner soul is pure but there are errors in judgment made by his subconscious nature that lead to his tragic downfall. According to him, the tragic hero must fall due to an error in judgment in every type of tragedy. Aristotle explained the concept of a “tragic hero” in Poetics. It has been shown and portrayed in various plays from Oedipus Rex to Hamlet to Romeo and Juliet. Tragedy has been a conspicuous part of classical literature throughout history. The concept was first defined by Aristotle in 250 B.C in the following words: “Tragedy is the imitation of an action and an action implies personal agents, who necessarily possess certain distinctive qualities both of character and thought for it is by these that we qualify actions themselves, and these- thought and character- are the two natural causes from which actions spring, and on actions, again all success or failure depends.” (Janko). The survey throws light on Othello’s development and disintegration as a tragic hero in this great play by William Shakespeare.Ī tragedy always results in the death of the protagonist. In Othello’s case, his tragic flaws were his blind faith and trust in Iago. By all accounts, this gratifies him as a tragic hero with tragic flaws. His vulnerabilities pave way for him to react ferociously leading him to kill his beloved only to realize towards the end that “he loved too much but not too well”. ![]() He is shaken to know that he has been betrayed and has been wronged. Othello is shown to be madly in love with Desdemona in the love. Iago exploited his trust and maneuvered circumstances that ultimately paved his downfall. To his irony, he ended up overtrusting Iago, his confidante. His character had flaws of vulnerability and over-trusting. He never had any ill motives towards anyone. What makes Othello a tragic hero are his intentions which were always righteous.
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