Othello as Aristotle's Tragic Hero: A Poetics Analysis

Introduction: Aristotle, Othello, and the Tragic Form

In Poetics, Aristotle gives four conditions for what constitutes a tragic hero. He also uses Sophocles' Oedipus from Oedipus Rex as an exemplar of the tragic hero, as that character embodies each of the four conditions. It may also be said, however, that another character embodies each of these four conditions — and that would be Shakespeare's Othello. Othello is indeed a tragic hero, and the play may be characterized as an Aristotelian tragedy. This paper will show that Othello can be correctly labeled a "tragic hero" and that the play fits the form and function of the Aristotelian tragedy according to the model as it is understood and interpreted by critical scholars.

Defining the Tragic Hero and Aristotelian Tragedy

It is first necessary to define the tragic hero in Aristotelian terms, after which a definition of the Aristotelian tragedy will be given. According to Aristotle, the tragic hero must be: 1) good — that is, better than the average person (and therefore great); 2) in possession of "manly valor," or someone from whom much good is expected; 3) true to life — that is, his actions are not unreasonable or unbelievable; and 4) consistent — which is to say that even if his character shows inconsistency as a weakness, he should be consistently inconsistent (Aristotle, 1970, p. 43).

As for Aristotle's definition of tragedy, he says that it should be "an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude; in language embellished with each kind of artistic ornament …; in the form of action, not of narrative; through pity and fear effecting the proper purgation of these emotions" (p. 43). Thus, there is a purpose to the Aristotelian tragedy: the work should purge the audience of emotions of fear and pity. If, as Barstow (1912) asserts, the aim of human life according to Aristotle "is happiness," then the tragedy is an imitation of an action that ends in unhappiness. At the same time, it may be argued that in this "fall," some self-knowledge is restored. Therefore, the tragedy both purges and restores some truth or reality — and this is what is called catharsis. In short, the Aristotelian tragedy should have a tragic hero and be cathartic. Othello has and does just this.

Othello as a Tragic Hero: The Four Conditions

Othello embodies the first condition of the tragic hero by being better than ordinary men: he is perceived as good by all around him (except Iago), loved by the senators (before they discover he has eloped with Desdemona), respected for his military might, loved for his honor, and admired for his steadfastness. When he speaks, people listen, and men follow. According to Bates (2007), Othello's words are "capable of mesmerizing the hardened heads of the Venetian Senate" (p. 190), and his tongue is as majestic as his arm. Thus, Othello is no ordinary soldier, leader, or man. He is above others in his goodness, and therefore more is expected of him.

To add to this, he is also an outsider — like Oedipus — which makes him an even closer parallel to the most perfect tragic hero according to Aristotle. Othello is not from Venice: he is a Moor. His union with Desdemona seriously upsets her father, and this union will be the first wrong step in his fall from grace. Instead of respecting the opinion of Desdemona's father, he and she married in secret. Thus, the good — or great — character makes a wrong move at the outset of the play and sets in motion a course of action that will bring him down. In Othello, that course of action is driven along by the villain Iago.

However, Othello is a moral man and possesses the manly valor that Aristotle calls essential as the second quality of the tragic hero. He is, for example, asked by the Venetian senate to save the city from invading forces — and he agrees to do so even though he has just been married. His valor, of course, is also what attracted Desdemona to him: as he notes in his speech to the senate, she often asked to hear his stories, showed her fright, and then asked to hear them again. He is also deeply loving and devoted toward Desdemona, speaking of her as though she were an angel who had dropped from heaven to be his. This will, of course, all change once Iago plants seeds of jealousy that grow "to tyrannous hate."

The third quality that Othello embodies is his trueness to life: there is nothing false or unbelievable about him. He acts as a man would act and thinks as a man would think in his situation. His elopement with Desdemona is entirely understandable — both he and she know her father would not have approved, and so they act behind his back to get what they want. This is a fair reproduction of human nature, but it carries consequences. Her father suggests that she has betrayed him and may betray Othello — and so he, too, plants seeds of suspicion and jealousy in Othello's mind, even before Iago does. Othello is also unused to being in love and dealing with its attendant emotions. He may be a seasoned veteran on the battlefield, but in matters of love he is as green and immature as any young lover — and it shows once his suspicions are aroused. He lacks the capacity to trust his wife or resist the intruding thoughts, and as a result he surrenders to the foulest villainy ever conceived.

This change in character might suggest that Othello is inconsistent and thus does not satisfy Aristotle's fourth and final condition of the tragic hero. But his inconsistency is actually consistent with his character. In other words, Othello is consistently inconsistent: he is insecure in his romance — which is why he weds Desdemona in the dark of night without her father's permission — yet he is bold in his actions with her, marrying her in spite of the consequences he knows will follow, and meeting those consequences head on by delivering a fine speech that calms all the senators save one. He is insecure within his marriage and does not know how to handle his suspicion, yet he is also bold enough to publicly rebuke Desdemona in front of everyone, causing a scandal among the visiting nobles. He is equally bold in his final punishment of her, when he snuffs "out the light" of her soul by killing her. His character moves from insecurity to boldness at alternate strokes, rushing from one extreme to the other, and therein contributing to his own downfall. Thus, his inconsistency is itself a consistent feature of who he is, satisfying Aristotle's fourth condition.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Othello is a tragic character and Othello is an Aristotelian tragedy. He is great, moral, valorous, true to life, and consistent in terms of character. The play is complete, imitates an action, and produces a cathartic effect in which reality is restored and the main character arrives at a form of self-knowledge — allowing the audience to participate in the same recognition. Thus, the play ends with the audience weeping for both the fall of the tragic hero and for themselves, for their own faults and failings.

References

Aristotle. (1970). Poetics (trans. by Gerald Else). University of Michigan Press.

Barstow, M. (1912). Oedipus Rex as the ideal tragic hero of Aristotle. The Classical Weekly, 6(1), 2–4.

Bates, C. (1997). Shakespeare's tragedies of love. In Cambridge companion to Shakespearean tragedy. Cambridge University Press.

Golden, L. (1984). Othello, Hamlet, and Aristotelian tragedy. Shakespeare Quarterly, 35(2), 142–156.