The plays Othello and Hamlet, written by William Shakespeare, have many similarities and differences. Two main characters Iago, of Othello, and Hamlet, of Hamlet, can be compared and contrasted through characterization. Characterization is the represention of characteristics or motives of a character. Both characters have different character traits which make them truly different from one another, but their ending resolutions are remarkably the same.
In Othello, Iago is a very manipulative and cunning character. Iago’s entire scheme begins when Cassio is given the position that Iago wanted. Iago then comes up with numerous ideas and plots to steal the position he feels he most deserves. Iago deceis, steals, and kills to gain that position. Iago lies to his loved ones including his wife and friends.
Iago tricks Othello into beleiving that his own wife, Desdemona, is having an affair, without any concrete proof. Othello is so caught up in Iago’s ls that he refuses to believe Desdemona when she denies the whole thing. Iago also manages to steal from his own friend, Roderigo, without feeling guilty. He uses the money that Roderigo gives him to try and win over Desdemona.
When Roderigo discovers thIago has been using his money he screams at Iago and threatens to kill him. However, Iago being very manipulative tells makes up a plot that involves Roderigo to capture the heart of Desdemona. Roderigo believes Iago and forgets about Iago stealing hisoney. Iago’s plan is for Roderigo to kill Cassio. At the ending of the play, Iago’s plot is given away to Othello by his own wife, Emilia. Iago realizes that his plot has been revealed and sees his wife as an obstacle and an annoying person who has let t his secret, so he kills her.
Iago’s merciless taking of Emilia, his wife, and Roderigo, his friend, lives is another one of Iago’s characteristic of a an immoral human being who’s main concern is to protect himself. On the other hand, in Hamlet, Hamleis the perfect example of the tragic hero. Hamlet has all the good traits needed to be a tragic hero. He is brave and daring.
One example of this is that when he went to England, he was taking a big risk. If his plan didn’t work, he would have been execed. Hamlet is also loyal. His loyalty to his father, was the reason he was so angry at Claudius and his Mother. Claudius married King Hamlet’s wife shortly after King Hamlet’s death.
Another trait of Hamlet was that he was intelligent. He was able to tnk up the idea of faking insanity, in order to get more information about Claudius. But Hamlet like all other tragic hero’s had a flaw. He couldn’t get around to doing anything, because he couldn’t move on. It took him a long time to stop grieving aboutis father, because he didn’t want to move past that part of his life. And after he finally did, Hamlet couldn’t get around to killing Claudius.
He kept pretending he was insane even after he was sure that Claudius killed his father. When Hamlet was chalnged to a fencing match against a chosen opponent from the king Hamlet agrees. Finally, Hamlet is in a state of peace and readiness, accepting his fate. Hamlet has been through a lot in his lifetime. He has been deceived, lied to, and lost the ones he htruly loved.
The plays Othello and Hamlet can be compared through their characterization of characters. The final resolutions in both plays seemed to have the same bloody effects of death. In Othello, Iagos’ manipulative characteristic led him to death. Iago’s manipative plot of deceit, betrayal, and turmoil led him to his downfall when his plot was revealed. Iago’s manipulative plot led to the death of many characters in the play.
Desdemona died because her husband did not believe that she was being loyal to him ter Iago proclaimed that she was cheating on Othello. Emilia, Iago’s wife, died because she revealed Iago’s plot. Roderigo died because he was used and manipulated by Iago. And finally Othello died because he was tricked, by Iago, into believing things thout any known proof.
In Hamlet, Hamlet’s vengenance for his father’s murderer led him to kill Laertes. Gertrude, Hamlet’s mother, dies after she accidentally drinks a poisoned glass. After Hamlet sees Gertrude has died, he forces Claudius to drink theemaining poison. Hamlet dies after he is told by the dieing Laertas that the sword was poisoned and Hamlet has only thirty minutes to live. In both plays each characters motives, actions and characteristic traits had equal and similair results, death.
In Shakespeare’s plays he often creates a straight forward atmosphere in which the reader can differentiate from good and evil. He shows this characteristic through his characters in the way they act and their motives. For example Hamlet’s actions show that he is a loyal and faithful person. While Claudius’ actions show us that he is very cunning and sly, only looking to gain power.
A. C. Bradley was a literary critic who criticized and analyzed many works of Shakespeare including Othello and Hamlet. his temperament the Elizabethans would have called melancholic. . .
. Next, we cannot be mistaken in attributing to him an exquisite sensibility to which we may give the name ‘moral. ‘. . . To the very end, his soul, however sick and tortured it may be, ansrs instantaneously when good and evil are presented to it, loving the one and hating the other.
. . . A.
C. Bradley shows that Shakespeare often has very villainous characters and hero type characters that allows the readers to differentiate from the villns and the heroes. In conclusion, these two plays, Othello and Hamlet, written by William Shakespeare have proven their comparisons and contrasting points very well. Both plays have their similarities in their own way, but there are differences that virtually make the bootruly unique. Shakespeare Essays
