To what extent is Othello presented as a tragic hero in Act 1 of Othello. Refer to context, concepts of the tragic hero, other tragedies and critical interpretations

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To what extent is Othello presented as a tragic hero in Act 1 of ‘Othello’. Refer to context, concepts of the tragic hero, other tragedies and critical interpretations

The famous Philosopher, Aristotle, explored what exactly is a tragic hero; he said, in his own words, "A man doesn't become a hero until he can see the root of his own downfall." (1). Also, a man should have nobility from birth, as Aristotle says, yet Othello slowly  climbed the ladder of hierarchy enabling him to stable that status as the Moor (Venetian Moor) yet he sets himself as a tragic hero because he isn’t going to accepted into society due to his colour. Was his colour a conceit in a way, showing an anticlimax, foreshadowing the downfall of his status, making it less tragic? This is a mere criticism. Aristotle’s theories are intriguing, and I will be discussing these in detail later on in the essay.

Another characteristic of a tragic hero is that the hero’s story must appeal to emotions. Clearly we are shown this in the first scene in act 1 where Shakespeare uses sibilance to characterise the main characters, Iago and Othello, in the play. The use of the word “his” automatically spits the word out in distaste. The word ‘his’ is degrading for the moor, but the sibilance and the iambic pentameter in the sentence “wears out his time, much like his master’s ass” emphatically forces the ‘his’ out scornfully.

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The use of the article ‘the’ in ‘the moor’ also shows distaste as they can’t even say the name. The fact that Iago’s first words were “S’blood” gives us a vain, vivid spitting image and the vulgar language used such as “the moor” debase him  This is an effective use of pathos as it appeals to our emotions towards Othello; this distaste helps us with not looking at the perspective, or the distorted view, of how Iago sees things.  Aristotle’s point about appealing to emotions was correct and this is a sign of Othello being presented as a tragic ...

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