In what ways does

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Joe Leach                4/5/04

In what ways does “Othello” follow the rules of tragedy?

Tragedy is not just simply one sad event, in ancient Greek plays and in Shakespeare's tragedies it usually follows a number of common ingredients or rules. Firstly it involves a conspicuous or exceptional personality. For example in the occurrence of Princess Diana’s death she was the exceptional character. She was a woman who had done an astonishing amount of work for charities and a Princess.

  The second rule of tragedy is that it must be unexpected and constructed with previous happiness or glory. This also relate strongly to Diana’s death. As I mentioned earlier she was a Princess, so obviously came from a privileged background. She had a distinguished family whom she loved with all her heart, and had close to everything she could have wanted in the world. It was also extremely unexpected because it was such a sudden death; she did not have a long-term disease or illness but died instantly in a car crash. The fact that she was so young when she died contributes to making it such a devastating event. If she had been in her seventies it wouldn’t have been such a tragedy because she would have already lead a long and more fulfilled life.

  The third rule in tragedy is that it affects a large number of people. Clearly in the situation of Princess Diana it affected a tremendous number of people. Not only her family and her friends but the whole nation to whom she had become an icon..

  The forth rule in tragedy is that it is partly brought about by the victims own actions. For Diana it was the fact that she had been taking a slight risk in asking her driver to try and escape from the paparazzi, and she didn’t have her seatbelt on (the only survivor of the crash did have his seatbelt on), and that her driver had been drinking.  Her vulnerability contributes to the  rule that the tragic hero has to have a fatal flaw.

  The fifth rule in tragedy is that the hero is elevated by his or her own experience. In the case of Diana this was not such an issue because she died immediately after the crash. If however she had been able to see her family and say goodbye then it would be sticking to this particular rule exactly.

  The sixth rule in tragedy is that it often involves an element of chance, fate or coincidence. There was a strong element of both chance and fate in Diana's death. It relates back to the fourth rule due to all the unfortunate coincidences of her happening not to be wearing her seatbelt on that particular occasion when she was being followed by the paparazzi and her driver having had too much to drink. It involves chance because the crash was unfortunately so fatal .It involves fate because as an icon it was as though her destiny was to have a tragic ending  They are the six rules of tragedy and the death of Princess Diana has elements of them all.

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In the case of Othello all the rules listed above are followed in  the play and consequently it brings the story to a famously tragic ending. The first ingredient links to Othello in Act One Scene One, Iago and Roderigo are below the Duke’s balcony when Iago says;

  ‘For, I do know the state, however this may gall him with some check, cannot with safety cast him, for he is embarked with such loud reason to the Cyprus wars’

  In other words Iago is saying that the Duke cannot afford to fire Othello because he is too ...

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