Custom Written Term Papers: Othello Is a Tragedy of Fortune

Othello Is a Tragedy of Fortune In William Shakespeares tragedy Othello we find a tragedy of fortune, in which the Moor falls from a great height 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 play and the heros attitude But if a man is betrayed into destroying what he have it offs 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 nothing inevitably tragic about the misfortune itself, hard though it is. Terrible misfortunes happen to people every day. We read about them in the newspaper, and turn over the page. The tragic quality lies not in the happening alone, but chiefly in the human attitude to it. (60) In her book, Everybodys Shakespeare R eflections Chiefly on the Tragedies, Maynard Mack comments on the heroines final song, a song of fortune The most moving retrospectives come later. Desdemona, preparing for bed on the night 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 render 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. Reprint 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. Reprint from The Noble Moor. British Acade my 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.