William Shakespeare and Tragic Hero Essay

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Othello’s Soliloquy Analysis

In Othello’s soliloquy Shakespeare uses repetition to portray his pain and anguish:” Put out the light, put out the light... put out thy light”. Othello uses a metaphor to represent Desdemona’s life. Othello was going to put out the flame on the candle and then actually take Desdemona’s life. Secondly, Othello uses a metaphor to represent Desdemona’s life again:” when i have plucked the rose, I cannot give it vital growth again”. Shakespeare uses enjambment here to symbolise Othello’s ongoing love for Desdemona. This is also symbolic of Romeo’s ongoing love and that he was blinded by love. Although, Othello is going to take away Desdemona’s life, which shows that Romeo’s love is more powerful than Othello because he has a more powerful love for his people which is ever-growing throughout the play.

Ergo, Shakespeare uses Othello’s hamartia to link with Romeo’s downfall as a tragic hero:” it strikes where it doth love”. Shakespeare uses love at the end of each soliloquy to make both Othello and Romeo’s downfall very similar because in Romeo’s soliloquy he refers to Juliet’s death as an imprisonment and that she is kept by a “lean abhorred monster”. Similarly, Othello refers to a flame (which is also a metaphor for Desdemona’s life) as a:” flaming minister”. This highlights the contemporary audience’s superstition and they believed the stars made their fate. This links with the quote:”star cross’d lovers” in Romeo’s soliloquy. This is also evident when Othello says:”you chaste stars!” This represents Desdemona’s infidelity and her innocence. This is dramatic irony because the audience know that Desdemona has not committed any crime such as the horrific crime of adultery. Othello has relied on Iago’s lies because of Iago’s jealousy of Othello because Iago desires to have Desdemona. An Elizabethan audience would have been shocked watching Othello kill his wife. In the Elizabethan era this would have been made out to be a huge crime as it is in a modern day.

Furthermore, Shakespeare uses repetition to represent Othello’s pain and confusion he is being put through by Iago:”It is the cause, it is the cause”. Othello repeats his words here to show that he is stuck for words and that he is disgusted with what Desdemona has supposedly done to him. He thinks she has committed an act of betrayal of adultery and Othello is disgusted here to the extent he cannot say adultery or Desdemona so he refers to Desdemona’s act of infidelity as ‘it’. Shakespeare manipulates the audience here with his use of repetition, and he engages the audience to show
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