Analysis of the Characters in Othello 《奥赛罗》中的人物分析

Analysis of the Characters in Othello 《奥赛罗》中的人物分析
Acknowledgements
My study at the Academic English will soon come to an end ,and at the completion of my final thesis; I wish to express my sincere appreciation to all th -ose who have offered me invaluable help during the two years of my college English study.
First of all, I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to my Academic English teacher,GuoXi.for her constant encouragement and guidance. She has walked me through all the stages of the writing of this thesis. Without her consistent and illuminating instruction, this thesis could not have reached its present form.
Secondly, I should give my hearty thanks to my college.it provided us enormously resources ,let us more convenient to find information.
Last my thanks would go to my beloved family for their loving considerations and great confidence in me all through these years. I also owe my sincere gratitude to my friends and my roommates who help me work out my problems during the difficult course of the thesis.
【Abstract】 William Shakespeare is considered to be the greatest among the great playwrights that have ever lived，Othello is one of Shakespeare’s four great tragedies.Othello is a new man of the Renaissance,is the first great black protagonist in Western literature, and still one of the most famous. In addition,the vivid contrast of character in this play is striking, such as the Moor Othello,the Gentle Desdemona,the villain Iago,and good-natured Cassio.This paper emphasizes on three major charactes:Othello, Desdemona, and Iago,and it’s mainly focused on Othello.The three characters distinguishing qualities enhance the contradiction and significance of this great tragedy. Othello is a jealous and suspicious leading role,and this weakness of character is used by Iago . The villain Iago premeditatedly spreads the rumor about his wife Desdermona and his friend Cassio.As his jealousy and suspicion, Othello is easily provoked by Iago. Therefore the rumor wr -ecks the happiness of Othello’s life. Desdemona is the incarnation of love and loyalty, she always believed her true love will moved her husband until the last moment of her life.Iago perhaps Shakespeare's most evil figure,he is couse of all the tragedy.In a word, all of this characters give rise to the resulting tragedy.
【摘要】威廉莎士比亚被认为是在那些曾经出现的优秀剧作家中最优秀的一个，奥赛罗是莎士比亚四大杰出悲剧之一。

奥赛罗是文艺复兴时期一个新兴的人物，也是首个在白人文学作品中出现，并且至今依旧著名的黑人主人公。

除此之外，这部戏剧中生动的人物对比也是一大亮点，比如说，摩尔人奥赛罗、温柔的苔丝狄蒙娜、恶棍伊阿古、好脾气的凯西奥。

这篇论文重点在这三个人物身上：奥赛罗、苔丝狄蒙娜和伊阿古，并且着重描述点是在奥赛罗身上，他们不同的性格为这部杰出悲剧增添了矛盾性和深刻性。

奥赛罗是一个善妒和多疑的领导者，然而伊阿古正是利用了他的缺点。

反面人物伊阿古有预谋的散布有关他妻子苔丝狄蒙娜和他好友凯西奥的谣言，正因为他的善妒和多疑,才会很轻易的被伊阿古散布的谣言所惹怒，最终谣言摧毁了奥赛罗的幸福。

另一个人物苔丝狄蒙娜是爱和忠诚的化身，她始终相信她的真爱可以感动她的丈夫直到她生命的最后一刻。

最后一个角色伊阿古恐怕是莎士比亚戏剧中最邪恶的一个人物了，他是整个悲剧的起因。

总之，所有的人物都导致了这部戏剧走向悲剧结尾。

【Key words】Othello; tragedy; major charactes;
【关键词】奥赛罗；悲剧；主要人物
Introduction
Othello is one of Shakespeare's greatest tragedies, the play tells the hero Othello and Desdemona were framed by Iago,eventually leading to a tragic fate. his wife Desdemona has been falsely accused of adultery with others and was killed by her husband .After understanding the truth Orhello killed himself with full of guilty.
Othello is a great tragedy. This play can be able to provoke people’s compassion and the sens -e of fear for the tragedy. It is a tragedy that shows great pain and great evil in the world. The play can not only give a person with strong infection but also can bring people a profound lesson. The t -heme of Othello is that the tragedy reflects the contradiction between the glorious ideals and the hideous reality. Othello and Desdemona are the representation of the glorious ideals. They are the i
ncarnation of integrity ,sincerity and loftiness of mind .Iago is the representation of the hideous reality.integrity,The villain Iago is a selfish and wicked man. He directly causes the tragedy. In this drama, the dark is fully exposed, and the light gets powerfully expressed and praised through the tr -agic conflict.
Now I will introduce the three major characters in this drama,and the analysis is focused on Othello.
1.Othello
Othello is a moor honest, kind, open mind, in the all-powerful hero on the battlefield. But it is the character that was made use of by Iago and pull Othello into traps step by step : listen to kill the loyal wife, finally he was blamed for the collapse of Love. Throughout, it seems that the villain Iago base led to the production of this tragedy, but in fact the tragedy of Othello, Iago is created for the objective conditions, the real tragedy had to come from the hero himself .
1.1 Othello’s jealousy and suspicion
Othello is a jealous and suspicious leading role.Iago make use of Othello’s jealousy and suspicion and pulls him into his traps step by step. Othello listens treacherously to Iago’s rumors that his wife is having a love affair with Cassio. When he is provoked by Iago, he begins to suspec -t his wife’s honesty. He also can not wait to ask to find the evidence. “Once and for all, let love an -d jealousy destroyed at the same time”.(Act 3.3 lines 36 ) Othello’s jealousy was spreading .He becomes very suspicious. Therefore he is blind to the social evils and easily deceived by the villai-n Iago. He sees his engagement pledge---handkerchief which is in Cassio and suspects his wife of infidelity. And he hears Cassio and Iago’s expressions that Cassio is having an affair with his wife, Desdemona. His jealousy is firing fiercely. He thinks that his suspicious is confirmed. In his eyes Iago is an honorable man and he does not trust his wife Desdemona, and his friend, Cassio are inn -ocent. Finally his jealous and suspicious character gives rise to a big mistake. Othello kills his pur -e innocent wife, and also punishes himself with his own hands.
1.2 A suffering man of loneliness
Othello is a splendid Moorish general in the Service of Venice. But he still feels the racial pre -judice and press because of his dark skin. Though he contribute the illustrious feats to the Senate, the Senate governor do not completely trust him. The psychological sense of inferiority caused by ethnic differences always exists in Othello’s heart. Even though he shows a high degree of national self-esteem and he has freely married to Desdemona. The shadow of ethnic discriminatio-n still disturbs his mind. Othello’s male chauvinism dulls his impulse. He is controlled by his jealo -us and suspicious thought, and he can not make a correct judgment.
Othello knows that there is always some people called him “moor” with scornful and ridicule -d attitude when they refer to him on his back. Senator Brabantio, Desdemona’s father, is against Othello’s marriage with his daughter. He accuses Othello kidnapping his daughter with spells and witchcraft. Before Othello’s face, he calls him “the black guy”, wicked man. At last, Brabantio wo -uldn’t like to acknowledge their marriage as Othello is a dark. The racial prejudice makes some effects on his character. Othello has great moral beauty and noble soul. He is sincere for friendship , loyal for love and brave on the battle field. He is deserved to gain their respect from common peo -ple, but the reality is contrary. Nobody knows his suffering, even his wife. To some extent, he is
alone person. While those reasons lead to his jealous and suspicious character. He is inferior in his color and image. He endeavors to create feats to win respect. The lone man does not allow some treacherous actions, especially his wife. When he trusts Iago’s rumor that his wife is having a love affair with Cassio, Othello is contradicted and suffering. He feels inferior to the white man. Theref -ore the man of loneliness becomes more jealous and angry. This character also leads to the resulti -ng tragedy.
2.Desdemona
Desdemona is a beautiful, young, white, Venetian’s maiden, her father's pride and joy. But she refuses to marry any of the rich, handsome Venetian men that everyone expects her to marry. Desdemona is continuously distrusted by those who should love and trust her most. First in Act I, her father Brabantio refuses to believe she could love Othello without Othello using witchcraft. Later Othello, her husband ignores her pleas of innocence to the accusation of infidelity by Othello. Loving and loyal right to the end, she refuses to tell Emilia that Othello killed her since she does not want her love to suffer even when he killed her.She is well meaning, she helps Cassio by trying to speak of his demotion to Othello but this earns her Othello's wrath since he sees it as proof that she is having an affair with Cassio because she is concerned for his welfare.
3.Iago
Othello's ancient, a position below lieutenant. Perhaps Shakespeare's most evil figure.He effo -rtlessly manipulates all those around him to do his bidding (kill Cassio, destroy Othello, discredit Desdemona's virtue) by taking advantage of their trust and using his victim's own motivations (Ro -derigo's desire for Desdemona, Cassio's desire to be reinstated) and weaknesses (Othello's pride, Cassio's impaired judgment whilst drunk), to achieve his ends.
Iago's character is complex, in Act I, Scene I, where he describes his disgust at being overloo -ked for Othello's lieutenant, we can see that a primary motivation for Iago's skillful manipulations was revenge and anger; revenge for Cassio replacing him, anger that Othello overlooked him. Th-us it can be seen that Iago's manipulations are driven by a basic desire to avenge those who hurt hi -m but also to gain what he believes is his.
Conclusion
It has been said that tragedy purifies the affections by terror and pity. ,it opens the chambers of the human heart,it gives us a high and permanent interest, beyond ourselves,in humanity as su-ch.In this drama the main character Othello is jealousy, suspicion, and loneliness.Iago is created for the objective conditions, the real tragedy had to come from the hero himself. In spite of the defects on himself ,Othello is still a flesh and blood man . Shakespeare creats a lifelike character .Although he is racially different from the Venetians, his proficiency as a soldier and lea-der is valuable and necessary to the state, and he is an essential part of Venetian civic society. Othe llo is a proven powerful figure in his society. Othello is a new man of Renaissance. Othello shows his noble mind, gentle behaves andromantic language. He was a respectable man and his soul and spirit are pure.
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