Tragic Flaws Of Othello Essay -- essays research papers

Jealousy and Gullibility: The Devastating Flaws of Othello â€Å"The tragic flaw is the most important part of the hero and the events that occur in the work is a reflection of that flaw.† – Aristotle The plot of William Shakespeare's Othello is a tale of love, jealousy, and betrayal; however, the characters, themes, and attitudes of the works are different, with Shakespeare's play being a more involved study of human nature and psychology. Othello is considered to be a prime example of Aristotelian drama. It focuses upon a very small cast of characters, one of the smallest used in Shakespeare. Also, it has few distractions from the main plot, and concentrates on just a few themes, like jealousy. In Shakespeare's Othello, Othello is an excellent example of an Aristotelian tragic hero. His gullibility and jealousy are the main reason of his downfall. Othello deals with love lost because of gullibility and jealousy. The main character, Othello, is a classical example of a tragic hero, and he has the basic elements that match him up to be a true hero defined by Aristotle. His stature, that of a tall, dark, African Moor, combined with his personal magnetism, assist him in gaining the respect and allegiance of the Venetian people and senators. Othello, being a soldier all his life, is seen as a very honorable man. His title alone, governor-general, presents an air of nobility, confidence, and strength. The title defines someone who is held in tremendously high esteem by the people of Venice. An example would be when the Duke and a few Senators are discussing issues around a table when Othello enters the room. It's clear that Othello is held in high esteem when, as he enters, one of the senators states â€Å"Here comes Brabantio and the valiant Moor†(3:1:33: 55). Othello's confidence in himself, another of his positive attributes, is clearly portrayed as he defends himself and his recent marr iage to Desdemona, the daughter of the Venetian Senator Brabantio. In his defense, he associates himself with one of the â€Å"great ones† of the world. He also demonstrates confidence in himself and his actions when Brabantio, Desdemona's outraged father, accuses the Moor of witchcraft. Dignity, courage, a strong belief in religion, self-control and sound judgment is a few of Othello's other positive attributes portrayed in the play. His confidence in himself and his courage are... ...baseness as jealous ones are, it were enough to put them to ill thinking."(3:4:153:26-29) She judged Othello opposite to what he really was. She did not suspect that Othello would suspect her for an affair. In reality, Othello is a gullible person who is drawn into jealousy and falseness by Iago. Othello accomplished his plan of killing his wife and destroying a marriage that had no reason to be torn apart. In conclusion, because of Othello’s gullibility and jealousy, and Iago’s skills and intelligence, lives are ruined, and bad mistakes are made, which leads to Othello’s downfall, and death. Even though Othello was well respected, and very confident, because of his tragic flaw he was unstable, and led him to believe lies by Iago. His trusting nature, overwhelmed him, because he decided to trust and believe Iago over Desdemona, which eventually led him to kill her in the end. In Shakespeare’s Othello, jealousy and gullibility, are flaws of the main character, Othello. His flaws completely put him in a different frame of mind, and cause him to make poor decisions. So, be careful of jealousy and gullibility. It is mysterious and can do harmful things to people it takes over. Tragic Flaws Of Othello Essay -- essays research papers Jealousy and Gullibility: The Devastating Flaws of Othello â€Å"The tragic flaw is the most important part of the hero and the events that occur in the work is a reflection of that flaw.† – Aristotle The plot of William Shakespeare's Othello is a tale of love, jealousy, and betrayal; however, the characters, themes, and attitudes of the works are different, with Shakespeare's play being a more involved study of human nature and psychology. Othello is considered to be a prime example of Aristotelian drama. It focuses upon a very small cast of characters, one of the smallest used in Shakespeare. Also, it has few distractions from the main plot, and concentrates on just a few themes, like jealousy. In Shakespeare's Othello, Othello is an excellent example of an Aristotelian tragic hero. His gullibility and jealousy are the main reason of his downfall. Othello deals with love lost because of gullibility and jealousy. The main character, Othello, is a classical example of a tragic hero, and he has the basic elements that match him up to be a true hero defined by Aristotle. His stature, that of a tall, dark, African Moor, combined with his personal magnetism, assist him in gaining the respect and allegiance of the Venetian people and senators. Othello, being a soldier all his life, is seen as a very honorable man. His title alone, governor-general, presents an air of nobility, confidence, and strength. The title defines someone who is held in tremendously high esteem by the people of Venice. An example would be when the Duke and a few Senators are discussing issues around a table when Othello enters the room. It's clear that Othello is held in high esteem when, as he enters, one of the senators states â€Å"Here comes Brabantio and the valiant Moor†(3:1:33: 55). Othello's confidence in himself, another of his positive attributes, is clearly portrayed as he defends himself and his recent marr iage to Desdemona, the daughter of the Venetian Senator Brabantio. In his defense, he associates himself with one of the â€Å"great ones† of the world. He also demonstrates confidence in himself and his actions when Brabantio, Desdemona's outraged father, accuses the Moor of witchcraft. Dignity, courage, a strong belief in religion, self-control and sound judgment is a few of Othello's other positive attributes portrayed in the play. His confidence in himself and his courage are... ...baseness as jealous ones are, it were enough to put them to ill thinking."(3:4:153:26-29) She judged Othello opposite to what he really was. She did not suspect that Othello would suspect her for an affair. In reality, Othello is a gullible person who is drawn into jealousy and falseness by Iago. Othello accomplished his plan of killing his wife and destroying a marriage that had no reason to be torn apart. In conclusion, because of Othello’s gullibility and jealousy, and Iago’s skills and intelligence, lives are ruined, and bad mistakes are made, which leads to Othello’s downfall, and death. Even though Othello was well respected, and very confident, because of his tragic flaw he was unstable, and led him to believe lies by Iago. His trusting nature, overwhelmed him, because he decided to trust and believe Iago over Desdemona, which eventually led him to kill her in the end. In Shakespeare’s Othello, jealousy and gullibility, are flaws of the main character, Othello. His flaws completely put him in a different frame of mind, and cause him to make poor decisions. So, be careful of jealousy and gullibility. It is mysterious and can do harmful things to people it takes over.

A Farewell to Arms: a Classic Display of Literature Essay

Ernest Hemmingway’s † A Farewell To Arms† is a classic display of literature. The way he develops his characters is ingenious. In the beginning of the story I did not like the way it was going. As I read deeper into the book, â€Å"A Farewell To Arms† I discovered the complexity of the characters themselves. I discovered that Frederic Henry was a rather complex character as well. When you are finally given the full picture of Frederic Henry, you realize that he can be described in several different ways. First, Frederic Henry is a round and very dynamic character. You also realize that because Mr. Henry’s mannerisms are so easily recognizable, he is a stock character as well. The point of view in the story is written in first person. The first person point of view is that of Frederic Henry. The stories underlying theme is identity. Throughout the whole story Frederic Henry is revealing himself to the audience and discovering himself at the same time. A secondary theme in the story is that Catherine, Frederic’s love interest, is slightly crazy. Throughout the story, I was intrigued by the things that Frederic Henry revealed to the audience. While reading the story it was as if you were right there with Frederic, going through the same things he did, and knowing every intimate detail. The aspects that Frederic Henry display are the aspects of a well developed character and a true war hero. The first aspect I would like to touch on is that Frederic Henry is a well-rounded character. As the story progresses we learn more and more about the character Frederic Henry. Though it may seem like a small point, a good example of how we learn more about Frederic as the story progresses is the fact that he is nameless in the first four chapters. Throughout the first four chapters, Frederic Henry is referred to as â€Å"lieutenant† by his peers and â€Å"baby† by his girlfriend. Its not until chapter five that he is referred to as â€Å"Mr. Henry†. Then we learn his full name, Frederic Henry, in chapter thirteen. Another example of Frederic Henry being a round character is that he is closely involved in just about every part of the story. Of course he would have to be involved in the majority of the story because it’s basically the confession of his life. The entire story we learn about Mr. Henry, and we watch him grow to become a good man. Even when Frederic is not involved in the seen, he is still involved in many aspects of the scene. As other characters converse we still learn more about Frederic Henry and his relationship with each character. The second aspect of Frederic Henry as a character that I would like to display is the fact that he is a very dynamic character. Throughout the entire story Frederic Henry grows and changes. In the beginning Frederic is part of a group of soldiers. But as the story progresses and he and Catherine fall more into love Frederic begins to isolate he and Catherine from the group. Instead of saying â€Å"we† in accordance to his group of friends he uses â€Å"we† to represent him and Catherine. Aside from isolating himself from his group of friends Frederic Henry changes from a rather self-centered person to a caring person. Instead of planning for his future and living to fulfill his needs he begins involving Catherine in the picture as well. Not only does he change in respect to Catherine but he changes in respect to other characters as well. Mr. Henry begins to look out for others needs, particularly in the battles he is involved with. A great example of this is when Frederic gets injured badly he insists that the other soldiers be treated first. (Lewis, 46) There are countless other times when Frederic tries to help other soldiers, showing complete selflessness, but unfortunately fails. Though he failed to save Catherine, he showed major change from the way he was at the beginning of the story when he did all he could to save her. As the story progresses Frederic grows more and more familiar to the audience and his personality becomes more audience friendly. The third aspect of Frederic Henry’s character is that he is a stock character. A stock character is a character that is easily identifiable by the way they behave. Frederic Henry is very easy to identify. First off he almost always speaks in the plural form. For example, when he buys himself a gun he turns to Catherine and says, † now we are fully armed†, as if she too is armed. (Monteiro, 71) Another characteristic that Frederic Henry has, is that he is always trying to help other people. Throughout the entire story there are examples of he and his men out on the battlefield, and Frederic coming to someone’s aid. Since this behavior takes place so many times you automatically know that it is Frederic Henry who is coming to the rescue. The event that is most memorable is when Frederic and his men are captured and Frederic manages to help all his men escape. Upon the escape Frederic rows he and his crew for over twenty miles to safety, in Switzerland. (Gellens, 45) The point of view in â€Å"A Farewell To Arms†, is a first person point of view. The interesting thing is that even though it’s a first person point of view, it’s a first person point of view that is expressed in a plural sense. All threw the story Frederic Henry uses the phrase â€Å"we† to refer to himself and his group of friends. Another interesting thing is that later into the story Frederic’s usage of the word â€Å"we† changes from referring to his group of friends to his relationship with Catherine. The story is also a confession in a way. It’s a confession because as he tells the story he admits to his shortcomings early on. Not only does he admit his shortcomings but it’s as if he needed to expresses his regret for the people he was not able save. (Lewis, 46) The entire story is told from Frederic Henry’s perspective. You see things as they happen through his eyes only. While telling the story Frederic Henry sounds almost apologetic, and when he retells his adventures, he uses a negative tone. The theme in the story is identity. The whole point of the story is Frederic Henry revealing himself to the audience and essentially explaining who he is. Time after time Frederic lets the audience in on intimate details. By explaining himself and his actions it is easier for the audience to identify with Frederic and put themselves in his place. By putting the audience member in his place, he forces you to participate in every adventure he goes through. A secondary theme is presented as well. The secondary theme is one that portrays Catherine. Some skeptics think that Catherine’s central theme is craziness. (Lewis, 46) throughout the storyt she is called crazy and is referred to as the crazy one. Catherine even refers to herself as being crazy. An example of when Catherine refers to herself as crazy is when she says, â€Å"I haven’t been happy for a long time, and when I met you perhaps I was a nearly crazy. † She questions her sanity again when Frederic says † I don’t want you to get Scotch and crazy tonight† and the Catherine replies â€Å"I am Scotch and crazy†. (Lewis, 102) Some interesting points about Frederic Henry’s character is that he is actually the antagonist as opposed to the protagonist. (Lewis, 46) The evidence for such an argument is all throughout the story. Time after time Frederic tries to save people, but fails almost every time. Such a quality brings hope into the eyes of the audience but then lets them down time and time again. Though there were several successful escapes and rescues the failures still outweighed the successes. In the beginning of the story Frederic’s self-centeredness is rather annoying and makes you dislike him. Self-centeredness is the quality of an antagonist. Ernest Hemmingway’s â€Å"A Farewell To Arms† was all in all a good story. It displayed the trials and tribulations of an American soldier during wartime. The character Frederic Henry is a well-rounded and dynamic character. The fact that Frederic Henry was a stock character made him easy to recognize and therefore made the story easier to follow. Though the story was told through a first person point of view Ernest Hemmingway kept the story interesting by telling it through a plural first person. The underlying theme of the story was identity. Frederic spent the whole story explaining who he was to the audience. The way Frederic told the story, he made it easy for the audience member to identify with him, therefore making it easier for the audience member to put themselves in his place. An interesting secondary theme is the theme that implies Catherine is crazy. Because of things Catherine says and does the crazy theme seems to fit her personality. Throughout the story there is plenty of evidence of all these things and these aspects made the story even better and much more fun to read. Gellens, Jay. Twentieth Century Interpretations of A Farewell To Arms. Englewood Cliffs, N. J. 1970. Lewis, Robert. A Farewell To Arms (A War With Words). New York, 1992. Monteiro, George. Critical Essays On: Ernest Hemmingway’s A Farewell To Arms. New York, 1994.

Gilmans Short Story Characterization - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 7 Words: 2129 Downloads: 7 Date added: 2019/05/08 Category Literature Essay Level High school Tags: The Yellow Wallpaper Essay Did you like this example? Gilmans short story characterization and plot development, explores her diagnosis and treatment to express a womans perspective and frustration with eras prevailing definition of gender roles in a biased society where stereotypes equated femininity to weakness. The difference in intellect between men and women is accepted across the society hence women are denied the power and opportunity to exercise their choices in the community. Compared to their male counterparts, female members in Gilmans community are classified as the ?other gender. In this power relationship, women are excluded from education, philosophy, politics and any other activities that required an expression of intellect (Carey, 2011). The place of women in ?The Yellow Wallpaper is besides their husbands who demand total obedience reducing their wives to mere spectators forced to confirm to every whim of their husbands at the expense of their happiness and well-being. The Yellow Wallpaper is a womans way of challenging these cultural settings of in patriarchal community. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Gilmans Short Story Characterization" essay for you Create order While she is genuinely suffering in hands of the medical professions and her husband who accuse her of engaging her ?obsessive fantasies, Charlotte Perkins Gilman uses her story to expose the rigidity of the masculine dominated society where women are no different to infants. In a culture dictated by gender roles and identities, the author champions a far gender equality by shedding a light to the unhealthy extremities of cruel power imbalances between the men and women. Based solely on gender, males wield all the authority and intellectual capacity while the females have to trust in their judgments without question. The cultural context of The Yellow Wallpaper denies women power and control over their lives in a masculine dominated society where patriarchy enforces the notion that any expression of female self-interest is unreasonable, childish and disloyal. In response why she wrote The Yellow Wallpaper, Gilmans story behind the story begins with the criticism and negative publicity her narration of events presents. The men in the society opposed to women empowerment feel threatened hence choose to take a defensive stand and label to the poor woman mad. According to a Boston Physician, such a story ought not to be written, he said; it was enough to drive anyone mad to read it (Gilman, 1914). In the same of reasoning, another physician labels Gilmans work as the best description of incipient insanity he had ever seen (Gilman, 1913) which is an attempt to invalidate her opinions. Incipient is the direct translation of the Latin word incipere which refers to a beginning or start. The physician deliberately chooses to use this word to insinuate that the authors mental problems were triggered by her decision to engage in a task reserved for men. The views and ideas of Gilman are rejected by the medical profession but this is a profession comprised of men. Just like her husband, all men agree that the authors health problems are directly related to her mental involvement which is unaccepted in women. This extreme level of criticism and ridicule coming from the medical profession has nothing to do with the quality of her story but the gender of the author. Due to the fact that they incapable of understanding the female psyche, the professionals already feeling threatened by a woman disregard the underlying issues and blame her writing for the ongoing mental problems. The experiences of the author represent the cultural context of a society where women are forced to play second fiddle to clueless men based solely on the anatomical differences (Treichler, 1984). This community relies on gender roles to subject women to oppression and enforce the notions of a weaker gender requiring women to subscribe to the concept of ?womanliness which reduces them to willing subjects. The authors descent to madness in the short story explores the feminine perspective of the womens powerless, gender inequality and an attempt at challenging the social structure through personal experiences. Gilman attacks these oppressive cultures and uses her unfortunate experience with mental illness to achieve the desired effect. In the masculine dominated society, men have the need to remain in control which invalidates women. To maintain this power structure, stereotypes and gender biases become the order of the day complicating the life of women at every turn. In her marriage, Gilman is reminded of her inferiority through belittling names like blessed little goose or little girl (Gilman, 1892) by her husband because he believes she is no different from a helpless child . While Gilman already knows that women are capable of more than their male counterparts are willing to accept, she is powerless and incapable of expressing her wishes without becoming an outcast in the society. The desire to retain and exercise this authority determines the fate of women in the society. In marriage and other social institutions, men disregard women and refuse to accept their input because they believe they are incapable of making any decisions. Gilman and other women in the Elizabethan Era are forced to accept and confirm to this oppressive power structure because they have no platform or voice. When her mental illness presents, Gilman seeks the help of a wise man who concludes that she is sick because she is free to engage her obsessive tendencies. Rather than accept the fact that he does not understand the complexity of her mental illness, Silas Weir Mitchell, prescribes ?rest treatment which has no medical value to the patient. This is similar to the misguided notion discussed by John Harvey Kellogg in The Ladies Guide in Health and Disease where a patriarchal male figure in the masculine dominated community equates womanhood to motherhood (Kellogg, 1883) and directs women on acceptable mannerisms to perfect the baby production process. Just like Mitchel, Kellogg explores a mixture of medicine and gender assigned roles when approaching women mental issues. The only value these perspectives attach on members of the female gender is tied to their ability to produce healthy babies. These two professionals agree that behold childbearing, women are unreliable hence they have no business engaging in physically or mentally demanding activity because their weak bodies and minds are incapable of dealing with these pressures. Gilman is, therefore, sent home with a prescription of living a domestic life. Domestic living in the prescription sums up the cultural context of The Yellow Wallpaper. The physician implies that Gilman health complications are as a result of her failure to confirm to the defined gender roles. The educated doctor thinks that doing things behold her domestic life is exposing her to the mental problems because women are incapable of nothing behold motherhood. To return to her docile state and operate at her mental level, Gilman should have less than two hours of intellectual life and refrain from touching a pen, pencil or brush again (Gilman, 1982). The doctors views imply that a woman is feeble minded and incapable of intelligent activities like reading or writing because such activities are strenuous and only reserved for the male members of the community. Kelloggs work focuses on the mind calmness of women in society which is important for their fickle minds. Explored as simple and mentally weak, women should be allowed only pleasant and harmless diversions to overcome Puerperal Mania which is a form of mental disease. In the treatment of Puerperal Mania, Kellogg advices complete seclusion from family and visitors which is the exact form of treatment prescribed to Gilman after her diagnosis. The seclusion according to these assumptions prevent women from experiencing great excitements which are assumed to hinder rationality. Women mental issues in this culture are completely ignored by the men who only require them to produce babies thus women are blamed for inviting the mental illness by taking on more than their feeble minds are capable of handling. Mitchel in his speech extraction From the Evolution of the Rest Treatment, argues that the domestic life prescription was based on his understanding of nervous excitability related to extreme weakness when women over exert themselves. Mitchel, therefore, diagnosis the patient and prescribes rest because of what he thinks she has been through physically and mentally. In his speech, he describes another female case as follows; she was a lady of ample means, with no special troubles or annoyances, but completely exhausted from having had children in rapid succession and having undertaken to do charitable and other work to an extent far behold her strength (Mitchel, 1904). Basing his argument on charity work and other work, the physician is absolutely sure the patient suffered from handling responsibilities that were not appropriate for women. Similar to the case of Gilman, the doctor simply assumes that mental and physical exertion was responsible for the mental complications implicating women because this was not a part of their gender assigned roles. By woman of ample means and devoid of any annoyances, the physician uses culture as a guide to describe women as the property of men. They have no business venturing outside the comfortable cocoon of marriage where husbands assume all the responsibilities of providing the psychological, mental and material needs. Those presenting with any mental problems in this category are prescribed rest cure because the physicians believes engaging in more activities only resulted in a mental strain to the women because they lacked the level of intelligence that made men capable of handling such activities. Gender roles and cultural norms, values and traditions in a community where womanhood is confused to motherhood enslaved women in marriage using biased gender assigned roles. Women in this community are considered incapable of making any intelligent decision which has impacted her relationship with her husband and the rest of the community. While men are required to be the rational thinkers in the community, women are forced to confirm to these cultural views by playing the role of obedient and dutiful ideal woman who confirm to their husbands every whim. The narrator becomes a victim of the oppressive cultures and suffers silently because she cannot engage in anything forbidden by her husband. While she loves reading and writing, Gilman is forced to remain imprisoned in her lifeless home because her husband and his doctor agreed that she was in need of rest to overcome her mental problems. Even when she is actually sure that the treatment approach if failing, Gilman cannot challenge the authority of her husband who is a doctor and the intelligent one in their marriage. Kept in a state of ignorance by a culture that prevents females from attaining their full development, Gilman has to confirm to his husbands assumption of superior wisdom that the patriarchal society has employed to dominate and patronize women. The cultural context of The Yellow Wallpaper denies women power and control over their lives in a masculine dominated society where patriarchy enforces the notion that any expression of female self-interest is unreasonable, childish and disloyal. Gilman is forced to preserve the image of a loyal and dutiful wife at the expense of her health and wellbeing. To confirm to the oppressive cultural demands, Gilman has to endure the seclusion of the silent and idle cure because his husbands commands it. Women in this community are completely passive because culture demands it hence the author is unable to expresses her imaginative power which leads to insanity. When locked in her room that has been decorated like a childs nursery or play room the author longs for intellectual and emotional outlet but the powerless woman has no power to disagree with or question the wishes of her husband. The cruelty and inefficiency of resting cure is, therefore, enforced by the oppressive gender roles defined relationship that infantilizes wives. Through gender roles, husbands in the society abuse this form authority and demands subordination even when dealing with female things that they do not understand forcing women to accept and uphold their position as victims in the society. Through culture, Gilmans physician and husband drive her to mental agony because they equate her to a child with no mind of her own. Just like all women of her time, Gilman is forced to behave like an infant and stick to domestic duties while leaving all the important decision making process to the intelligent and mentally capable masculine members of the society because no one trusts her opinions and views. References Carey, E. (2011). Controlling the Female Psyche: Assigned Gender Roles in The Yellow Wallpaper. Magnificat. Gilman, C. P. (1892). The Yellow Wallpaper. The New England Magazine. Gilman, C. P. (1913, Octobar). Why I Wote The Yellow Wallpaper. The Forerunner. Kellogg, J. H. (1883). Ladies guide in health and disease: Girlhood, maidenhood, wifehood, motherhood. New York: WD Condit Company. Mitchel, S. W. (1904). From the Evolution of the Rest Treatment. Treichler, P. A. (1984). Escaping the Sentence: Diagnosis and Discourse in The Yellow Wallpaper. Tulsa Studies in Womens Literature, Vol. 3, No. 1/2, Feminist Issues in Literary Scholarship, 61-77.