| According to Aristotle, what tragedy depicts | The downfall of a noble hero or heroine |
| What makes a tragedy | A combination of some fatal flaw in the hero’s character, and the gods/fate conspiring against them |
| Where the dramatic form of classical tragedy referred to by Aristotle derives from | The tragic plays of ancient Athens |
| What happens to a hero in a classical tragedy | They would struggle against overwhelming fate |
| What happens to a defeated hero in classical tragedy | His defeat would be so noble that he would win moral victory over the forces that destroy him |
| What a classical tragedy would do to an audience | Evoke pity and terror in the audience |
| How a catharsis in a classical tragedy affected the audience | It was a washing clean of the soul, which left the spectator trembling but purified |
| Aristotle’s classical unities | The tragic unities of place, time and action |
| What the classical unities are | This is where the whole tragedy would take place in a single location, e.g. a house or a city |
| How a classical unity took place | It would happen during the course of one day, and would be a single story, without sub-plots |
| How Shakespearean tragedy compares to classical tragedy | Compared to the strict rules of classical tragedy, Shakespearean tragedy is a more relaxed genre |
| How Othello compares to other tragedies | Othello observes the spirit of Aristotle much more than Hamlet |
| How Othello observes the classical unity of place | Apart from Act I in Venice, it is located entirely within the fortress at Cyprus |
| How Othello doesn’t observe the classical unity of time | Logically, the play covers an unspecified time lapse of, presumably 2-3 weeks |
| How Othello does observe the classical unity of time | However, it proceeds, more or less, by major scenes through the hours of the day |
| Examples of Othello’s observation of the classical unity of time | Venice – the elopement after midnight, the Senate meeting at dawn. Cyprus – the morning storm |
| Other examples of Othello’s observation of the classical unity of time | Cyprus – afternoon landings and developments, drinking party in the evening, murder at nighttime |
| How Shakespeare’s use of time can show some observation of the classical unities | While not everything happens on the same day, the impression given is of an abstract day unfolding |
| How the plot observes the classical unities | The plot is fairly unified, focusing on Othello and his fate |
| How the play refers to other characters/events | It deals with other people and events only in so far as they are relevant to this focus |
| How Othello compares in Shakespeare’s references to classical tragedy | Othello is about as near as Shakespeare gets to classical tragedy |
| How Shakespeare wrote his tragedies of love | Romeo & Juliet/Anthony & Cleopatra were written from an imaginative standpoint, before their time |
| The heartbreaking conflict in Shakespeare’s tragedies of love | What humans need to/deserve to/could be and what the time/place they live in condemn them to be |
| How Shakespeare presents his characters caught in the conflict | He makes it clear that there’s nothing to stop humans putting an end to such tragedies |
| How the characters/the audience can get out of this conflict | By changing the world that produced them and changing themselves in the process |
| Shakespeare’s characters in his tragedies of love | Characters who can’t come to terms with their world |
| How Shakespeare’s characters in his tragedies of love represent humanity | They reveal the capacity of humans to be radically different from the way their world expects |
| How these particular characters are defeated | They end up defeated by the intolerable predicament in which they are trapped |
| What this predicament represents | The product of a society whose authority can be resisted/contested |
| What the characters in his tragedies of love prove | That the way things had to be for them is not the way they should be, not how they have to go on |
| The differences in Shakespeare’s tragedies | His tragic protagonists, their fictional universes, and their tragic fates are amazingly diverse |
| How Shakespeare’s tragic protagonists are similar | Every one is doomed by having been cast in the wrong role, in the wrong place, in the wrong time |
| Another similarity between the protagonists | Every one of them becomes a stranger in the world where they had once felt at home |
| How the protagonists’ identities are similar | They become a stranger to the person that they used to be, or thought they were |
| How the tragedies change each protagonist | Throughout, they reveal their potential to be another kind of person in another kind of world |
| How the tragedies catch up with each protagonist | They will tragically never live to see this potential to change realised |
| Othello’s main plot point | A black man from Africa, and an upper-class, white woman from Venice fall in love and elope |
| How Othello and Desdemona go about their marriage | Undaunted by the hostility their interracial marriage inevitably incurs |
| How Othello and Desdemona act | With a sublime utopian naivety the play invites us to admire |
| How Othello and Desdemona act about their marriage | They act as if they already dwelt in a world of which we in the 21st century can still only dream |
| The world in which Othello and Desdemona act as if they live in | This is a world in which such marriages have the unquestioned right to be left in peace to flourish |
| How this world is ruined | They attract, in the shape of Iago, the lethal hatred of a racially prejudiced, patriarchal society |
| How Othello and Desdemona affect society | Their love threatens to undermine the foundations of this society |
| A.C. Bradley’s description of Othello | A “faultless hero” |
| The first rule of Shakespearean tragedy | Must have 5 acts |
| The second rule of Shakespearean tragedy | Must end in the death of the protagonist and tragic hero |
| The third rule of Shakespearean tragedy | Must contain the paradox of disappointment – a hope that’s thwarted/an ambition that’s frustrated |
| How A.C. Bradley saw Shakespearean tragedy characterised | By the “tragic flaw” |
| What the “tragic flaw” is | The internal imperfection in the hero that brings him down |
| How the hero is brought down by his “tragic flaw” | His downfall becomes his own doing |
Othello and tragedy
July 23, 2019