Jeannie Tanner

Explain how Shakespeare presents Othello as a tragic hero

It is of no doubt that Othello is a prime example of a tragic hero - the typical high-status
nobleman with a wealth of military experience and a crippling fatal flaw that leads to
destruction of both himself and others. It is worth nothing that Othello’s status as a military
leader contributes greatly to his state of mind; he depends on his position for self-worth
nearer the beginning of the play, however his debateable abilities as a leader could be said
to reveal his hamartia. By observing Othello’s trajectory as a character, it is evident that his
heroic façade begins to unravel concurrently with the commencing of Iago and Cassio’s race
for lieutenant and we are forced to watch, for the rest of the play, the tragic downfall of
both a leader and a man being eaten alive by his own insecurity. Within my exploration of
how Shakespeare presents Othello as a tragic hero, in this essay I will also be discussing
whether Othello is an easily persuaded character or not and evaluating which quality it was
that led to his hamartia. The bulk of the two sides of the argument consists of asking ‘to
what extent was Othello’s downfall self-inflicted’ as a result of him being too trusting and
too reliant on what others’ opinions are about him, leading to large bouts of
counterproductive insecurity but, alternatively, we might consider ‘to what extent was
Iago’s inherent evil and malice responsible for the downfall of Othello’ due to the subtle and
skilled manipulation displayed in Iago’s character.

We understand that Othello is a trustworthy man and an excellent military leader through
the military discussion that takes place during Act 1 Scene 3; we discover that Cyprus is of
extreme value to the Venetians and it is vital that it remains under Venetian control for the
protection of sea trade. Therefore, when command is conferred onto Othello, the Duke is
essentially marking him out as someone that Venice can rely on completely. This scene is
effective in creating an urgency of the wider political situation and the indispensability of
“valiant” Othello is foregrounded. It is within this same scene that the mock trial of Othello
takes place, and his nobility and high status is revealed through his articulate and controlled
speech filled with rhetorical devices, poetic imagery and strong rhythms as he pleads his
case well, as he informs Brabantio of how he rightfully “won his daughter”. This indignant
point, I feel, sums up Othello’s primary aims at this point in the play – his love for
Desdemona (he objectifies her as a prize, a trophy, something precious and his own
possession) and his war-like mindset that he clearly applies to all aspects of his life, be it on
the battlefield or in the bedroom. This amplifies his military prowess and tells us that he has
temporarily seized the power. These early scenes of the play are crucial in the sense that
they are a striking example of how in command Othello is of himself and doesn’t seem to be
easily manipulated – his self-possession is based upon the state’s reliance upon his military
leadership. When the storm destroys the Turks, it is arguably one of the most pivotal
moments of the play, as it means Othello’s military leadership is no longer necessary and
the external Turkish threat has been replaced by the internal threat, Iago.

It is too simplistic to say that Othello is solely an admirable leader – it is evident that he
possesses many admirable qualities as a leader because we hear praises for him from other
characters even when he is not onstage. However, we must understand that he is an
extremely inefficient leader, as a result of him being subject to severe bouts both of pride
and insecurity due to him being a poor rationalist and a little too reliant on other people’s
opinions of him. For me, it is a mixture of both of these qualities that lead to Othello’s
downfall; if it is pride, then it would make sense that, as stated above, his self-possession
Jeannie Tanner

comes from the state’s reliance on him as a leader - so when that is diminished, so is his
sense of pride. However, if we imagine that it is insecurity, we could consider a
Machiavellian reading of the text and evaluate how well Othello fits this ideal of a leader. It
is important to take Machiavelli’s views into consideration because ‘The Prince’ and
‘Othello’ share an attempted unearthing of what a good leader is through efforts at
describing leadership skills, whilst also acknowledging more emotional, living issues, such as
love, friendship, jealousy and loss. Perhaps the most notable example of this is the major
point concerning Machiavelli; his desire to turn traditional morality into an obsolete one.
Othello acts as one of the clearest alignments to this concept because towards the middle of
the play, it is clear that he has lost all control over his emotions and rapidly loses faith within
his intuition, allowing him to be easily manipulated by others – something that Machiavelli
condemns in a leader. It could be argued, therefore, that Iago fits the criteria for a leader a
little better than Othello due to the fact that he could be seen as a very driven character
who never lets his emotions affect his actions. Within the text this is highlighted in Act 4
Scene 1, where Iago orchestrates a misleading conversation between him and Cassio and is
able to convince Othello that Cassio and Desdemona are having an affair by telling him that
Cassio did “lie” with her. In disbelief, Othello cries “Lie with her? Lie on her? We say lie on
her when we belie her! Lie with her, zounds, that’s fulsome! This is a clear example of
Othello “self-dramatizing”1 , as the repetition of the verb “lie” alongside the frequent use of
rhetorical questions makes us aware of Othello’s obsession with the affair. Thinking back to
the dilemma between whether Othello is too easily manipulated by Iago or whether his
ability to be manipulated is justified due to Iago’s strong forces of inherent evil, it seems
reasonable to contemplate upon Fintan O’ Toole’s thesis that Iago and Othello start to “melt
into each other”2. This is evident when Othello starts to speak in prose, signifying a lack of
control (as oppose to speaking in verse, which symbolises a sense of control and nobility).
This mirrors Iago’s use of prose earlier on in the play and could it be that Othello is already
succumbing to Iago’s persuasion, as Iago’s prose becomes “triumphant verse.”

When discussing how Othello is presented as a tragic hero, one might consider that his
hamartia is due to his ability to be easily persuaded and I find this interpretation of his
character to be more convincing, as shown through the “fusing together of the minds of
Othello and Iago”, where Iago’s words give shape to Othello’s thoughts and Othello starts to
sound more and more like Iago. Moreover, his hamartia is triggered by a man of inherent
evil with phenomenal persuasive powers and a ruthless leader – Othello has no chance of
survival in this tragic tale.

1
F.R Leavis Diabolical Intellect and the Noble Hero ‘Othello: the character of Othello’ 1937
2
Fintan O’ Toole Shakespeare is Hard, but so is Life