Achieved with Excellence

Shakespeare’s tragedies generally conclude with the downfall and death of the noble protagonist. Discuss with detailed supporting evidence, whether or not Othello can be considered a‘noble protagonist’, given his murderous actions at the end of the play.

Othello
William Shakespeare’s Othello will forever be a character surrounded by
controversy. There will always be critics and not a few readers who cannot
forgive Othello for his violence and misplaced anger toward his wife Desdemona.
However, others argue he remains, despite this lapse a character of great dignityand one worthy of respect. Indeed, though certainly the unhappy victim of manipulation, Othello is I believe arguably one of the most noble and romantic of Shakespeare’s protagonists.

Othello is a man shrouded in mystery. Though lacking in the airs and etiquette of fine Venetian society, he is widely respected and awed by all those who know him for his military prowess and temperate nature. He appears, as A C Bradley writes “almost from wonderland”, from a far off place, bearing stories of mythical creatures and magic handerchieves. It is this mysterious dignity that attracts Desdemona to him, as well as his controlled and noble manner. He exhibits this several times early on in the play, refusing to become angry or act rashly: “keep up your bright swords or the dew will rust them”. He is also perhaps the most poetic of Shakespeare’s heroes, a characteristic evident in many of his speeches, “these nine moons wasted”. He has an eloquence beyond the airs
and graces of Venetian court, as well as a thoughtful and mild disposition.
Certainly, then, at the outset of the play Othello is every inch the “noble
protagonist” necessary in a Shakespearian tragedy.

It would be foolish to say, however, that later events leave Othello’s character untarnished. It is undeniable that eventually Othello is consumed with jealously and acts in a way far removed from his calm and reasoned normal self. However I would argue that this is not so much indicative of a flaw in Othello’s character as representative of the weakness of all men, the susceptability of everyone to suspicion and jealously and the influence of unfortunate circumstance. Othello is, in fact, the victim in the play, the unlucky plaything of a villain who admits “I hate the Moor”, a calculating and conniving man who will do anything to bring about Othello’s demise. The blame lies not with Othello, but with Iago.

As J I M Stewart writes, “Othello is everything that the human soul strives to be, Iago is that which corrupts and perverts it from within. Othello is guilty of nothing except perhaps being too passionate, too emotional. After all, Othello is a man who “loved not wisely but too well”. He is a man, according to Bradley, of “one nature” when he trusts he trusts fully. When he fights, he fights with all the strength he can muster, when he loves he loves wholeheartedly. And when Iago plants the “seeds of distrust” in his mind, suspicion consumes him.”
This is not a criticism, merely perhaps an explanation. It is Othello’s emotional nature that eventually clouds his normally flawless judgement. However, despite this, it is impossible to say that Othello was any more jealous or more suspicious than any other man would have been under the same circumstances. Despite Iago’s constant insinuation, Othello does not immediately nor unquestioningly take Iago’s word for Desdemona’s infidelity. He demands proof when a less level-minded man would have blindly assumed the worst. Indeed, that Othello does even this much is a tribute to his noble and controlled nature, for what man would not believe the word of another whom he considered an honest and trustworthy friend?

Also, it cannot be forgotten that Iago had not chosen as his victim a long-married man who as Bradley put it “knew his wife like his sister”. Othello and Desdemona were newly weds and there was much Othello would not have known about his bride. Perhaps it is understandable then, that as a foreigner and an older man without as firmer grasp of Venetian customs as the company his wife usually kept, that Othello might be particularly peceptive to Iago’s cunning and lies. It is natural, under the circumstances, that Othello may have been lacking some of the confidence he would otherwise possess. If Othello and Desdemona had been long-married, it is very unlikely that Iago’s conniving could have had such great and dire effect. Bradley writes “the Othello of Act Four is not Othello” and it is easy to see what he means. This is Othello in his fall (a fall which is never quite completed) and it is here that his noble nature is most in question. It is here we see a strong, proud man reduced to a quivering, confused shadow of his former self. He is violent and angry, but then this is no more than could be seen in any other man and reveals only Othello’s humanity. He loses his eloquence and his calm nature, but the loss is temporary. When he kills Desdemona, it is not so much a murder as a sacrifice, and the remorse he feels is painfully genuine.

In the final act of the play, we see Othello return to the man we met at the
production’s outset. He is a man of dignity, a man fond of beauty and poetry, a man quiet and controlled. Here, again, is Othello the hero. In his death is the same pride with which he lived his life. Despite the fateful turn of events and Othello’s unsavoury actions, he is not a bad person. He suffered the inherant weaknesses that all humanity suffers, and was tricked into becoming something he was not, because of it. But he is not to blame for Iago’s dangerous understanding of human nature, Iago who played our hero cruely, decieving him at every turn. Iago who said “though I hate him as a do hell’s pains yet for neccessity of present life I must show out a flag and sign of love which is indeed but sign.” Ironically it is because of his human imperfection that Othello died much as he began, the perfect tragic hero, the perfect “noble protagonisist.”