The military commander in OthelloThe character of the general in William Shakespeare's tragic drama, Othello, is quite noble, although afflicted by the defect or weakness of gullibility. In this essay we look at all the characteristics, both positive and negative. of this unfortunate hero. David Bevington in William Shakespeare: Four Tragedies describes many beautiful virtues that reside in the general: Othello's darkness, like that of the natives living in pagan lands, might indicate to the Elizabethan audience an innocent propensity to accept Christianity, and Othello is one who has already embraced the Christian faith. His first appearance on stage, when he confronts a group of torch-bearing men who have come to arrest him and orders his followers to sheathe their swords, is sufficiently reminiscent of Christ's arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane to convey a fleeting comparison between Othello and the God Christian whose charity and tolerance he seeks to emulate. Othello's darkness may be used in part as an emblem of fallen man, but so are all of us. His age similarly reinforces our impression of his wisdom, moderation and leadership. (220)Is it his “gullibility” that brings him to ruin? Morton W. Bloomfield and Robert C. Elliott in Great Plays: Sophocles to Brecht postulate the hero's “lack of insight” as the cause of his tragic fall:Othello's lack of insight, cunningly exploited by Iago, leads to his downfall. And when the full enormity of his act dawns on him in the great final scene of tragic self-revelation, the audience can perhaps experience catharsis, that purification of the soul caused by an almost unbearable pity for him and his victims, and from the terror for which human...... middle of paper ......have all his tribe [. . .] .” He dies a noble death, just as he lived a noble life. Michael Cassius's assessment of his end is our assessment: “This I feared, but I thought he had no weapons; / Because he was big at heart. "WORKS CITED Bevington, David, ed. William Shakespeare: Four Tragedies. New York: Bantam Books, 1980. Bloomfield, Morton W. and Robert C. Elliott, ed. Great Works: From Sophocles to Brecht. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc., 1965. Coles, Blanche. Shakespeare's Four Giants. Rindge, New Hampshire: Richard Smith Publisher, 1957. Jorgensen, Paul A. William Shakespeare: The Tragedies. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1985. Shakespeare, William. Othello. In Electric Shakespeare. Princeton University. http://www.eiu.edu/~multilit/studyabroad/othello/othello_all.html..