TragediesOedipus the King and Othello
TragediesOedipus the King and Othello
Aristotleformulated various theories that may come in handy in the explanationof both Oedipusthe King and Othello.Some of the theories include the cognitive theory, catharsis,mortality, and harmatia. The cognitive theory touches on thefact that human beings can constantly learn from the experiences thatthey face on a day-to-day basis. Catharsis theory is based on thefact that the audience is not able to pity one when he goes through atragic incident, but rather, develop fear and establish ways throughwhich it could protect itself from the occurrence. The theory ofmortality indicates that people are normally vulnerable to varioussituations, and there is a need to establish contingency measuresquite detailed and bring about different views regarding the storieshighlighted. The theory of harmatia involves heroesexperiencing terrible problems because of some mistakes or errors,but not out of their moral flaw.
In Oedipusthe King, someof the theories of Aristotle that are applicable are harmatia andcognitive. The manifestation of these theories appears towards theend of the story. Oedipus causes his tragic downfall. Thedownfall mainly occurs because he was not fully aware of whom he was,rather, he concentrated on his weakness.The cognitive theory in this instance shows an important lesson tothe audience in that they need to ensure that they become fully awareof the problems that they could face in future and aim to curtailthem.
Anothertheory that is evident in the story is that of Catharsis of pity andfear. Oedipus through his job as a King turned out to be good atsolving problems since he had highly rational thoughts and actions.The decisions that Oedipus took indicate the zeal that he had indoing things that were within his control for the general good of allwho were under him. In spite of all the sound judgment that Oedipusmade, there were also various situations that were clearly beyond hisinfluence and therefore, he ended up failing. His subjects are drawnto the fact that they needed to meditate upon the steps that led tothe failure of their king so that they would not end up in the sameposition.
 Inthe story of Othello,there are also several theories of Aristotle that could be used toprovide an analysis. One of them is that of mortality wherevulnerability and contingency come into play. Othello shows how humanbeings are quite susceptible and vulnerable to their passions andself-interests that it shows how the need for quick gratificationwithout the use of logic ends up causing harm to people. Itis, therefore, important for people to be aware of what they areexpected to do and aim to be consistent with actions that aredesirable. Othello did not have other plans which would enable him tofight off the bad ending of his actions, a factor that led to acomplete ending of his reign.
Thetheory of hamartia is also well outlined in the story of Othellowhere he demands the proof that his partner, Desmona isfaithful to him. The complete lack of knowledge of Othello that humanbeings are not able to provide some things is an indication that theend of his ruling was beginning to unfold. Faithfulness is oneelement that human beings will always lack, regardless of how good orbad they are.
Oneof the similarities that exist between TragediesOedipus the King and Othello isthat in both stories, the end is characterized by their downfall. Itis, however, important to note that while the downfall of Othello ispurely out of ill behavior, the one for King Oedipus was by sheer badluck.