Tragedy | Shakespeare’s tragedies concentrate on the downfall of powerful men and the deterioration of a community. the protagonists of these are generally not good. In Othello the protagonist is noble but becomes cruel and vicious when jealous |
Hamartia | Greek, meaning error of judgement |
Hubris | Self indulgent confidence which causes a tragic hero to ignore decrees laws and warnings. this brings about the downfall of this character |
Catharsis | In tragedy , the effects of pent up emotion and repressed thoughts by bringing them to consciousness |
Pathos | The moment in works of arts which evoke strong feelings of pity and are said to have this quality |
Conflict | Envy, hatred, lust and personal ambition described as conflict in Shakespeare’s plays |
Protagonist | the main character in a play |
Jacobean | Plays wrote between 1603-25 the reign of James 1st |
Love and pity | Othello is a play using the tragedy and love which leads to disaster |
Power of the villain | The tragic hero becoming the villain because of the villains evil schemes. |
Poison | Associated with Iago mostly, it is used to emphasise how evil iagos mind really is ‘Burn like the mines of sulphur’ Act 3 scene 3 |
Hell and the devil | Also associated with Iago ‘Hell and night must bring this monstrous birth to the worlds light’ act 1 scene 3 |
Animals and insects | The imagery references to animals and insects which chart Othello’s downfall but is used generally by Iago to insult. |
Sea and military heroism | This imagery is associated with Othello and the power and bravery, this describes Othello’s career in the military Othello also describes Desdemona as a warrior in act 2 scene 1 ‘O my fair warrior!’. |
Imagery | The image is created by the words and the description, it also refers to the figurative language in literature. In Othello the imagery is used to show the devil and hell In the theme of evil |
Othello-Genre and Imagery
July 21, 2019