Othello Group

Question:

mami70
mami70
Student
College - Freshman

What genre is "Othello"?

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Posted by mami70 on Tuesday November 11, 2008 at 12:50 PM and tagged with genre, othello, shakespeare, tragedy.

Answers:


  1. robertwilliam

    eNotes Editor

    "Othello" is a tragedy, and along with "Hamlet", "Macbeth" and "King Lear", considered among the four "great" tragedies of Shakespeare.

    Unlike some of the tragedies though, there is little sense of the supernatural about Othello: Iago deliberately plans and executes the events which lead from Othello's suspicion to Desdemona's murder.

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/othello

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    Posted by robertwilliam on Tuesday November 11, 2008 at 1:02 PM


  2. linda-allen Teacher
    High School - 10th Grade

    eNotes Editor

    There are six major genres of literature: fiction, nonfiction, short story, poetry, drama, and folktale/mythology. Within these genres are many subgenres, such as romance, fairytale, comedy, tragedy, and the like.

    Shakespeare's play "Othello," simply because it is a play, falls into the genre of drama. More specifically, it belongs in the subgenre of tragedy. The Guide to Literary Terms defines tragedy as

    a serious play in which the chief figures, by some peculiarity of character, pass through a series of misfortunes leading to the final catastrophe. In contemporary theater, tragedy often has the evils of society as the cause of this downfall.... In literature, tragedy refers to any composition with a somber theme carried to a disastrous conclusion....

    Visit the links below for more information.

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/literary-terms/tragedy
    http://www.enotes.com/othello/

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    Posted by linda-allen on Tuesday November 11, 2008 at 1:11 PM