Custom Written Term Papers: Othello Is a Tragedy of Fortune

Othello Is a Tragedy of Fortune In get outiam Shakespeares tragedy Othello we find a tragedy of fortune, in which the Moor falls from a great altitude into dishonor and disgrace. Let us dwell upon this theme in this essay. H. S. Wilson in his book of literary criticism, On the Design of Shakespearean Tragedy, discusses the misfortunes in the tactics and the heros attitude But if a man is betrayed into destroying what he loves most, if he ruins himself through his own folly without understanding what he is doing or being able to help himself, and then is forced to look at just what he has done and acknowledge his fault, his misfortune is harder than most. There is vigor necessarily tragic about the misfortune itself, hard though it is. horrific misfortunes happen to people every day. We read about them in the newspaper, and chip over the page. The tragic quality lies not in the happening alone, nevertheless chiefly in the human attitude to it. (60) In her book, Everybodys Shakespeare Reflections chiefly on the Tragedies, Maynard Mack comments on the heroines final telephone call, a song of fortune The most moving retrospectives come later. Desdemona, preparing for bed on the wickedness that will be her last, remembers her mothers maid called Barbary She was in love, and he she loved proved mad And did forsake her. She had a song of willow An old thing twas but it expressed her fortune, And she died singing it. That song to-night Will not go from my mind. (4.3.25) Here time present, in which Desdemona speaks and sings, and time future, in which we know she (like Barbary) is to die from an absolute fidelity to her intuition of what love is and means, recede... ... Tragedies. Ed. Clarice Swisher. San Diego Greenhaven Press, 1996. offprint from Shakespeare The Pattern in His Carpet. N.p. n.p., 1970. Gardner, Helen. Othello A Tragedy of Beauty and Fortune. Readings on The Tragedies. Ed. Clarice Swisher. San Diego Greenhaven Press, 1996. reproduce from The Noble Moor. British Academy Lectures, no. 9, 1955. Jorgensen, Paul A. William Shakespeare The Tragedies. Boston Twayne Publishers, 1985. Mack, Maynard. Everybodys Shakespeare Reflections Chiefly on the Tragedies. Lincoln, NB University of Nebraska Press, 1993. Shakespeare, William. Othello. In The Electric Shakespeare. Princeton University. 1996. http//www.eiu.edu/multilit/studyabroad/othello/othello_all.html No line nos. Wilson, H. S. On the Design of Shakespearean Tragedy. Canada University of Toronto Press, 1957.