William Shakespeare’s Othello, the Moor of Venice

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Gregory L. Baize, Sr. In Partial Completion of ENG 102-D04 LOU Professor Christopher Robinson Week 8 Research Paper August 18, 2011 Thesis Statement The intent of this paper is to exam William Shakespeare’s Othello, the Moor of Venice as a tragedy. As defined by Aristotle, is it correct to label Othello a “tragic hero” and to classify the play as an Aristotelian tragedy? One thing is for sure leaders have a tendency to victim to others in their attempts to gain control for themselves. Just like the old saying “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” In William Shakespeare’s “Othello, the Moor of Venice” contains several themes, one theme seams to support the ideology of the seeking of Power and its distraction of people through their pursuit of power. In “Othello, the Moor of Venice,” the theme of power is the one that leads me to the assumption of Othello’s standing as the tragic hero. In that the power once held by Othello is stolen or attempted to be stolen by Lago and, Lago’s ability to have control over Othello’s emotions which brings forth the chaos and the distraction of many lives. Bringing us to the end of the story where Lodovico takes control holding all the power leaving Lago to his torture and execution and Othello to be the tragic hero due to the loss of his beloved wife by his own hand and his own death by suicide (Dalberg, J. 1887). Outline In this play Othello is a noble Moor that has just eloped with the love of his life “the fair Desdemona” as this play opens they leave Venice so that Othello may command the Venetian armies against the Turks on the island of Cyprus. Along with him is his new wife and his faithful aid Cassio. Upon their arrival they find that due to a dangerous storm that the Turkish fleet has been destroyed. Lago a standard bearer continually tries to upset, and

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