Heroic Virtue in OthelloWilliam Shakespeare's tragedy Othello showcases one obvious hero and other not-so-obvious heroes. Let's examine them all in this essay. The playwright did not notice from one day to the next the supreme type of hero in this play. Rather, in his plays, he slowly constructed one hero after another until his work culminated in the Moor. AC Bradley, in his book of literary criticism, Shakespearean Tragedy, describes the development of the Shakespearean superhero in Othello:And with this change comes another, an enlargement of the hero's stature. There is in most of the later heroes something colossal, something that reminds us of Michelangelo's figures. They are not simply exceptional men, they are enormous men; so to speak, survivors of the heroic age living in a later, smaller world. [. . .] Othello is the first of these men, an essentially great and grandiose being, towering above his fellows, possessed of a volume of strength which in repose secures pre-eminence without effort, and in agitation reminds us rather of the fury of the elements than of the tumult of common human passion. (168)The character's attitude towards life is certainly a criterion of heroism. Is he heroic in what he does? HS Wilson in his book of literary criticism, On the Design of Shakespearean Tragedy, discusses the heroic attitude of the general in the final scene of the play: In the final scene of Othello, the hero, with that total lack of self-consciousness criticism which is the pinnacle of human vanity, assumes a heroic attitude, invokes himself with eloquence, in the height of his eloquence pierces himself - and the innocent spectator feels a lump in his throat or melts in the...... half of the paper...... of the work is a pleasant surprise. Disheartened Othello, pained by remorse for the tragic mistake he made, acts heroically, following Emilia's example. He stabs himself and dies on the bed next to the person he hurt. WORKS CITED Bradley, AC. Shakespearean tragedy. New York: Penguin, 1991. Gardner, Helen. "Othello: a tragedy of beauty and fortune." Readings on tragedies. Ed. Clarice Swisher. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1996. Reprinted from “The Noble Moor.” Lectures of the British Academy, n. 9, 1955.Shakespeare, William. Othello. In Electric Shakespeare. Princeton University. 1996. http://www.eiu.edu/~multilit/studyabroad/othello/othello_all.html No lines nos.Wilson, HS On the Design of Shakespearean Tragedy. Canada: University of Toronto Press, 1957.