The plays Othello and Hamlet, written by William Shakespeare, have manysimilarities and differences. Two main characters Iago, of Othello, and Hamlet,of Hamlet, can be compared and contrasted through characterization.
Characterization is the represent ion of characteristics or motives of acharacter. Both characters have different character traits which make them trulydifferent from one another, but their ending resolutions are remarkably thesame. In Othello, Iago is a very manipulative and cunning character. Iago’sentire scheme begins when Cassio is given the position that Iago wanted. Iagothen comes up with numerous ideas and plots to steal the position he feels hemost deserves.
Iago decei s, steals, and kills to gain that position. Iago liesto his loved ones including his wife and friends. Iago tricks Othello intobeleiving that his own wife, Desdemona, is having an affair, without anyconcrete proof. Othello is so caught up in Iago’s l s that he refuses to believeDesdemona when she denies the whole thing. Iago also manages to steal from hisown friend, Roderigo, without feeling guilty.
He uses the money that Roderigogives him to try and win over Desdemona. When Roderigo discovers th Iago hasbeen using his money he screams at Iago and threatens to kill him. However, Iagobeing very manipulative tells makes up a plot that involves Roderigo to capturethe heart of Desdemona. Roderigo believes Iago and forgets about Iago stealinghis oney. 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 thathis plot has been revealed and sees his wife as an obstacle and an annoyingperson who has let t his secret, so he kills her. Iago’s merciless taking ofEmilia, his wife, and Roderigo, his friend, lives is another one of Iago’scharacteristic of a an immoral human being who’s main concern is to protecthimself. On the other hand, in Hamlet, Hamle is the perfect example of thetragic hero.
Hamlet has all the good traits needed to be a tragic hero. He isbrave and daring. One example of this is that when he went to England, he wastaking a big risk. If his plan didn’t work, he would have been exec ed. Hamletis also loyal. His loyalty to his father, was the reason he was so angry atClaudius and his Mother.
Claudius married King Hamlet’s wife shortly after KingHamlet’s death. Another trait of Hamlet was that he was intelligent. He was ableto t nk up the idea of faking insanity, in order to get more information aboutClaudius. But Hamlet like all other tragic hero’s had a flaw. He couldn’t getaround to doing anything, because he couldn’t move on.
It took him a long timeto stop grieving about is father, because he didn’t want to move past that partof his life. And after he finally did, Hamlet couldn’t get around to killingClaudius. He kept pretending he was insane even after he was sure that Claudiuskilled his father. When Hamlet was chal nged to a fencing match against a chosenopponent from the king Hamlet agrees. Finally, Hamlet is in a state of peace andreadiness, accepting his fate.
Hamlet has been through a lot in his lifetime. Hehas been deceived, lied to, and lost the ones he h truly loved. The playsOthello and Hamlet can be compared through their characterization of characters. The final resolutions in both plays seemed to have the same bloody effects ofdeath.
In Othello, Iagos’ manipulative characteristic led him to death. Iago’smanip ative plot of deceit, betrayal, and turmoil led him to his downfall whenhis plot was revealed. Iago’s manipulative plot led to the death of manycharacters in the play. Desdemona died because her husband did not believe thatshe 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 diedbecause he was used and manipulated by Iago. And finally Othello died because hewas 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. AfterHamlet sees Gertrude has died, he forces Claudius to drink the emaining poison. Hamlet dies after he is told by the dieing Laertas that the sword was poisonedand Hamlet has only thirty minutes to live. In both plays each charactersmotives, actions and characteristic traits had equal and similair results,death.
In Shakespeare’s plays he often creates a straight forward atmosphere inwhich the reader can differentiate from good and evil. He shows thischaracteristic through his characters in the way they act and their motives. Forexample Hamlet’s actions show that he is a loyal and faithful person. WhileClaudius’ actions show us that he is very cunning and sly, only looking to gainpower. A. C.
Bradley was a literary critic who criticized and analyzed many worksof Shakespeare including Othello and Hamlet. his temperament the Elizabethanswould have called melancholic. . . . Next, we cannot be mistaken in attributing to[him] an exquisite sensibility to which we may give the name ‘moral.
‘. . . To thevery end, his soul, however sick and tortured it may be, ans rs instantaneouslywhen good and evil are presented to it, loving the one and hating the other.
. . . ” A. C. Bradley shows that Shakespeare often has very villainous charactersand hero type characters that allows the readers to differentiate from the villns and the heroes.
In conclusion, these two plays, Othello and Hamlet, writtenby William Shakespeare have proven their comparisons and contrasting points verywell. Both plays have their similarities in their own way, but there aredifferences that virtually make the boo truly unique.
