Shakespeare - Is Othellos Tragedy inevitable?

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Robert Birch candidate no. 8013

Shakespeare coursework

Is Othellos Tragedy inevitable?

Othello: “Ay, let her rot and perish and be damned/ tonight, for she shall not live.  No, my heart is turned to stone.  I strike it, and it hurts my hand.  O, /the world hath not a sweeter creature!  She might lie by an emperor’s side and command him tasks.”

(IV, i, 22-204)

Throughout the play ‘Othello’, four characters are murdered. The character Iago, who manipulated certain characters into wanting to kill the four characters, Desdemona, Emilia, Othello, and Roderigo, caused these deaths.  Iago originally did this out of jealousy of Othello and Roderigo.  The deaths of these four characters were inevitable.  There was justice in this play for all of the characters who were involved in the killing of the four characters.  The passage written above is an example of how Iago manipulated one of the characters into killing another.

In the passage written above, Othello is talking to Iago about his feelings for Desdemona after Iago has lied to him by telling him that she has slept with Cassio.  Othello says that she must die tonight, and that she cannot live another day because of what she has done.  He then continues by saying that his heart has turned to stone, which means he has lost his feelings for Desdemona and that he no longer feels guilty about killing her.  When he says, “I strike it, and it hurts my hand.” he means that it will be difficult to kill her because she was the love of his life and has the reputation of being his beautiful and loyal wife.  He knows that she is a person who does not intend to hurt people, but has been convinced that she must suffer for her perceived sins.  In the last line, he is explaining that she is a woman who can control other people by seducing them and making them do whatever she wants so she must die soon.  Iago has convinced Othello that Desdemona needs to be put away for what she has supposedly done to him.

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According to this passage, Shakespeare’s idea of justice is very severe.  When the characters talk about their plans for revenge, they are mostly talking in a negative tone and usually mention death or hate.  Othello admits that it would be hard to kill such a sweet, innocent creature, but then says that he no longer cares about her and that he is convinced that justice must be served.  In Shakespeare’s mind, justice is served when a person is punished for what they have done to another person, and they can no longer do harm to anyone else.  Shakespeare believes that ...

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