Hello, everyone, and welcome to a lesson on "Othello" and Aristotle's definition of tragedy.

I'm Miss Sutherland and I'll be teaching you today.

By the end of today's lesson, you would've explored how the structure of the play "Othello" meets Aristotle's model for tragedy.

Here are our five crucial keywords for today's learning.

Make sure you listen carefully.

Tragic hero.

Tragic hero is a essential character that experiences a tragic downfall.

The tragic hero is the protagonist of any tragedy.

So we can be sure that the tragic hero of "Othello" is indeed Othello.

Our next key word is hamartia, and that is a tragic hero's fatal fault or mistake that leads to their catastrophic end.

So as we've said, a tragic hero experiences a tragic downfall.

That means their situation goes from good to bad to worse, and the hamartia is something within that character that leads them from that good to bad to worse state.

Peripeteia is a pivotal action that changes the protagonist's fate from secure to vulnerable.

So that will be a crucial moment in any tragedy in which the protagonist's fate is kind of locked in, where they begin to suffer and their downfall becomes inevitable.

The next key word is catharsis, and that is the process of releasing emotions.

Now in a tragedy, it's usually the audience that we describe as going through a catharsis, and that's a point they reach by the end of the play.

Because all throughout the tragedy, they'd be gathering these really negative emotions because of all the suffering that occurs.

But finally, by the end, they should have a catharsis, where they can let go of all that negative emotion.

And finally, anagnorisis, which is a moment of insight where the tragic hero understands their circumstances.

Again, anagnorisis is usually at the end of a play where the tragic hero finally begins to understand how perhaps they were at fault or perhaps understands how they might have been manipulated by other characters.

Either way, it's that light bulb moment where they finally realise why they are suffering so much.

Don't worry about knowing all those keywords already because we will revisit them throughout this lesson.

Great.

Let's get started with today's learning.

We're going to start off by learning a little bit about what a tragic hero is, and then we are going to learn about Aristotle's conventions of tragedy.

So let's start off with learning about what is a tragic hero.

Now, the reason why we're starting off with learning about tragic heroes is because in order to understand the Aristotelian tragedy, we must first understand the concept of a tragic hero because Aristotle references this concept of a tragic hero constantly when he defines tragedy.

So what is a tragic hero? I am going to go through a few characteristics of a tragic hero.

Firstly, they have high status and power, at least at the beginning of the play.

They also have a hamartia.

That means they have some sort of fatal flaw characteristic in their personality, or maybe they make a huge mistake that will lead to their downfall.

They experience peripeteia and and anagnorisis.

So they experience a moment where their fate turns from good to bad, peripeteia.

And they also experience a moment where they realise exactly why they're in the tragic situation they're in, and that's their anagnorisis.

The tragic hero is also admirable and good.

They are someone the audience wants to succeed.

And lastly, the tragic hero's demise must come from their own error, their personal error.

So let's recap the plot of "Othello" 'cause we are going to be looking at the tragic hero in this play.

Othello, the protagonist, is a Moorish general in the Venetian army who secretly marries Desdemona, a Venetian woman.

Iago is a soldier within Othello's army who hates Othello after being passed over for a promotion.

Iago decides to tell Desdemona's father she's married to Othello, and Desdemona convinces her father of her love for Othello.

Iago finds another way to get back at Othello.

He plants Desdemona's handkerchief in Lieutenant Cassio's room to prey upon Othello's insecurities.

Othello falls for Iago's manipulation and kills Desdemona as a punishment for her supposed infidelity.

Othello realises he was manipulated by Iago and later kills himself.

There's our main plot points for "Othello." Now, we know Othello is the tragic hero of the play.

The play is named after him.

What do you think his hamartia could be? What do you think the flaw in his character could be that leads to his fatal end? Pause the video and have a think.

I heard some great ideas.

I heard someone say that Othello's hamartia could be his insecurity because he believes his wife has been unfaithful through very little evidence indeed.

Another comment I heard that was really interesting was that maybe his hamartia is his gullibility because he trusts Iago too easily.

And finally, someone else said that his hamartia could be jealousy because he takes that suspicion and that idea of her being unfaithful very, very far.

When do you think Othello's peripeteia occurs? So when do you think his fortune goes through good to bad? When do you think his fortune is cemented? What moment in the play? Pause the video and have a think.

Well done.

I heard someone say that perhaps it's when Othello sees the handkerchief because then he really thinks his wife's been unfaithful.

And lastly, discuss, does a fellow experience an anagnorisis? Does he have this point of realisation where he knows and understands why he has killed his wife and that he's done it wrongfully? Pause the video and have a think.

If you look at that last bullet point there, you'll notice, it says, "Othello realises he was manipulated by Iago and later kills himself." You could say that is the anagnorisis for Othello because he realises that everything he's felt and done up until that point was as a result of Iago's scheming.

Now, let's check your understanding of that information that you just discussed.

What could Othello's hamartia be? Pause the video and have a think.

Now, you may have said gullibility or jealousy.

The reason for that is because consider that Othello's tragic downfall results from him believing Iago's claims that his wife has been unfaithful.

His reaction to Iago's claims leads to his downfall.

So any way that he reacts that causes him to kill his wife and later kill himself would be his hamartia.

So firstly, he could be called gullible for believing Iago in the first place, but also his hamartia could be his jealousy because of how he reacts to hearing that his wife has been unfaithful.

The way he takes it so negatively.

Now, I want you to complete the grid below, given an example to show how Othello meets each of the conventions of a tragic hero.

So we discussed how Othello has a hamartia, an anagnorisis, and peripeteia.

I want you to also prove he has high status and power, that he's admirable and good, and that his demise comes from his personal error.

So find an example for each of those characteristics to prove that Othello is a tragic hero.

Pause the video and off you go that task.

Excellent.

Let's go through some answers.

We know Othello has high status and power because he is the general in a Venetian army.

That means he's in charge of the whole army.

He has high status.

We've just discussed how his hamartia may be his gullibility, his insecurity, and jealousy.

His peripeteia is arguably when he falls for Iago's schemes and believes his wife has been unfaithful, that's when his fate goes from good to bad.

His anagnorisis is just before he kills himself, he realises he has been manipulated by Iago.

We know he's admirable and good because he's an honourable man, and we're going to find out about that when we read a bit of the play.

And we know his demise comes from personal error because he incorrectly assumes his wife's infidelity, triggering his demise.

Well done everyone.

Now let's go to our second learning cycle where we will look at the conventions of an Aristotelian tragedy.

So Aristotle was a famous philosopher, and he was one of the first people to define criteria for comedy and tragedy, two important genres of play.

Do you remember any conventions of a comedy or tragedy? What do you think both of those plays might include? Pause the video and have a think.

Interesting.

Here are some of the Aristotle conventions of a comedy and tragedy.

So in a comedy, it will involve the rise in fortune of a sympathetic central character.

So that means someone's fate will go from bad to good or from good to better.

And comedies are usually concerned with ordinary people and the common comedy issues they face.

Comedies are very relatable.

And lastly, the audience feels satisfaction when people succeed in the comedy.

It's likely to have a happy ending where the audience can rejoice.

Now, for tragedy, tragedies are different.

A tragedy involves the downfall of a tragic hero.

So a tragedy involves someone's fate going from good to bad.

Tragedies also follow the downfall of a prominent and powerful figure.

So all of the protagonists of tragedies are usually someone who are noble and of high status.

And lastly, in tragedies, the audience feel pity and fear and end with catharsis.

So because a character's fate is going from good to bad, the audience will start to feel pity and fear on their behalf, but by the end, the audience should be released from these negative emotions.

So as you can see here, Aristotle's conventions of a comedy and tragedy are very different, making these two plays a very different plays.

Now, I've put on the screen there the plot points for "Othello." I want you to think about this.

What points might the audience feel pity or fear? And would they experience a catharsis? Pause the video and have a think.

I heard some interesting ideas there.

Now, let's look at some more conventions of tragedy according to Aristotle.

Aristotle prescribed three classical unities that apply to tragedies.

Firstly, he said, "A tragedy must take place within a short timeframe with no time elapses, ideally within 24 hours." And this is called the unity of time.

Next was the unity of place.

A tragedy must take place in one location.

And finally, the unity of action.

A tragedy develops and resolves a single conflict.

Now, here's how the classical unities may apply to "Othello." It is believed that the events in "Othello" take place over 36 hours.

The majority of events in "Othello" take place in Cyprus.

So we could say there is unity of place as well as time because 36 hours is a relatively short timeframe.

And lastly, everything.

And lastly, everything in "Othello" is driven by one point of action, which is Othello's tragic downfall.

Let's check your understanding of how Othello meets Aristotle's conventions for tragedy.

At what point is the audience likely to pity Othello? Pause the video and have a think.

Well done if you said the audience is likely to pity Othello, when Othello begins to be manipulated by Iago.

Which event is likely to be cathartic for the audience and why? Remember, cathartic means allowing for a release of tension or negative emotions.

Pause the video and have a think.

Well done if you said when Othello kills himself, that moment is likely to be cathartic, and that's because Othello is then able to rid himself of the guilt for having killed Desdemona.

Because remember, by the end, he kills his wife for believing she's unfaithful, but then he realises that was a lie and he was manipulated.

So he's feeling dreadful upon learning that she was innocent.

The only way for Othello to feel better and for the audience to feel better is when Othello kills himself.

We know that the answer cannot be A because a catharsis is a release of tension or negative emotion, not an experience of happy emotion, as in the answer A.

And we know that there's no catharsis in B because the audience will feel no release of tension when Othello kills his wife.

In fact, they'll feel more tension at that point because they know he's doing it senselessly.

Well done if you got that right.

Now, how does Shakespeare's "Othello" meet the definition of an Aristotelian tragedy? That is the question we'll be answering.

So there you have the conventions of an Aristotelian tragedy, that it follows the downfall of a tragic hero, that it usually follows the downfall of a prominent and powerful figure, and that the audience should feel pity, fear, and end with catharsis, as well as the classical unities.

So you should include in your answer, if "Othello" is a typical tragic hero, to what extent the play meets the tragic conventions on the right, and to what extent the play meets the classical unities? So pause the video and write your answer to how does Shakespeare's "Othello" meet the definition of an Aristotelian tragedy? Off you go.

Fabulous writing everyone.

I love how you've given really specific examples of how the play meets Aristotle's conventions of a tragedy.

Here are some ideas.

The play "Othello" can be considered a classic Aristotelian tragedy firstly because it follows the downfall of a tragic hero, Othello, who starts off as a powerful Venetian general and then ends up killing his wife and himself due to his hamartia, gullibility, insecurity, and jealousy perhaps.

The audience likely feel pity towards Othello throughout the play due to him gullibility believing Iago's manipulation.

There is catharsis for the audience when Othello kills himself after killing Desdemona, thereby absolving himself of guilt and the audience of tension.

Lastly, the three classical unities are mostly adhered to, the events they place in Cyprus, the events span over a short period of 36 hours, and the plate is centred around Othello's tragic downfall.

So as you can see in that answer, we've said that it could be considered a classic Aristotle in tragedy, and then we've given many examples of how it meets the conventions.

We've said it follows a tragic hero.

We've said that that tragic hero is of high status.

We've said that that tragic hero has hamartia.

We say that the audience is likely to feel pity and catharsis.

And we also discuss the classical unities.

So now, I'm giving you a chance to pause the video, check your work, and make sure that you've got all the examples that you wanted to include in your answer.

Pause a video and check your work.

Great job, everyone.

Let's go through with what we've learned in today's lesson.

We've learned a lot of complex terminology today.

Very well done for persevering.

So Aristotle prescribed criteria for tragedy and comedy.

Aristotle prescribed unity of time, place, and action.

The plot in a tragedy should evoke pity and fear in an audience and end with catharsis.

And a tragic hero, that's a man of noble standing with a fatal flaw and an error of judgement who must meet a demise.

I hope you've enjoyed today's lesson, and I look forward to seeing you in the next one.