The Protagonist in Willima Shakespeare´s Othello - 810 Words

The central character, or protagonist, in William Shakespeare’s tragedy Othello, The Moor of Venice is Othello. Aristotle defined the concept of a tragic hero as the destruction of a noble person, usually with a personal flaw, and this flaw determines their fate. Othello is a tragic hero with a tragic flaw in one of Shakespeare’s most known tragedies. Shakespeare so prominently exhibits the tragic flaw Othello obtains, allowing implications and thoughts, to overrun reality and show how just the insecurity one possesses can allow a person to become powerless. Othello’s actions essentially destroy him, with the intentional help of characters such as the infamous Iago. Othello’s tragic flaw centers on his insecurity of being an African Moor†¦show more content†¦Furthermore, Brabantio also joins in on the racial comments and cannot believe that Othello and Desdemona have eloped. â€Å"That thou has practis’d on her with foul charms, / Abusâ₠¬â„¢d her delicate youth with drugs or minerals† (593). Brabantio states that Othello participates in witchcraft and that witchcraft would be the only way Othello would have gotten his white daughter to take his hand in marriage. When Iago suggests to Othello that Desdemona has been unfaithful, Othello starts having epileptic fits and the thoughts of his wife’s faithlessness consume his mind. â€Å"May fall to match you with her country forms / And happily repent† (629). Iago is purposely trying to turn Othello against Desdemona by implying she compares him to the handsome men in Venice, and she will change her mind about her marriage to a black Moor. Othello believes Desdemona will eventually feel sincere regret about her wrongdoing and leave him for a Venetian man. Arthur L. Little, Jr. an Associate Professor of English, who also obtained his PhD in English through Harvard University stated â€Å"Like Othello’s search for Desdemona’s honor, the play probes into his blackness, always scrutinizing and presumably moving towards the origin and essence of his black presence† (304). As Othello begins thinking that his wife is involved in an affair, his reality becomes distorted. Othello now believes Desdemona could never love or be faithful to a black, foreign moor, such as him. â€Å"Haply, for I