Power and Hierarchy in the Opening of Othello Anonymous College

Within ‘Othello’, Shakespeare’s portrayal of the fragility of power and hierarchy is exposed through the downfall of individual characters who have a desire and need to maintain status. This consequently becomes the cause for what Kastan believes is the ‘inescapable trajectory of the tragic action’ that typically pervades Shakespearean tragedy. Shakespeare may have intended this to mirror the fragility of power and hierarchy that was happening within the 16th century, due to the movement from one monarch to another and the transfer of power which lead to the preceding religious tensions in England. Therefore, it can be argued that Shakespeare presents the ‘intolerable suffering’ which the characters appear to endure in order to expose the ‘the disturbing, the jagged, the painful work’ that results from the hierarchal conflict, and what Nuttall would argue is the true ‘pleasure of tragedy.

Shakespeare initially emphasises the fragility of power through Cassio’s fall and the contrast of his status from the opening in Act 2 Scene 1 with Act 2 Scene 3. Cassio is described as a ‘great mathematician’ and a ‘Florentine’ which is significant to the depiction of Cassio’s background, as Florence was known as the birthplace of the...