Othello

The story of Othello shows a change in literature. Before we read Othello in class all of the epic poems, stories, and plays were about kings and royalty as they were the only subject allowed to be used. During Shakespeare’s time writers started using real, common folk as the subjects and main characters of their writings. Writers now could have characters be the “bad guy” and the evils did bot just have to be a monster as in Beowulf. The main character in Othello is of coarse, Othello. He is not royalty but actually the complete opposite. Othello is different and an outsider in Venice. He is referred to as the Moor rather than his name in many different occasions. Yet, Othello has still been able to become a respectable General in the army and proves useful to the Duke on the island of Cyprus. Hundreds of years before Othello, it was unheard for a writer to have the protagonist not be a king, prince or god. Looking back upon all the materials prior to Othello we can see that no other work featured normal people as the main characters. Othello signifies a changing of style and expansion into what would writers would do for the next couple hundred years.