Heilman centers his argument on how critics have long called Othello's personality "simple," when it really is complex. He uses the murder scene in great context of Othello's personality. The part in the article where Heilman explains that after Othello's "new vision of truth"(4) he plans to execute justice on Iago for manipulating him. "But he does come to judging himself, according to his abilities; thus the spirit of justice persists"(4). I agree that in the older tradition, Iago was seen as the villain of the play, but in his point he sees that Othello is the "the unheroic tragic hero." An unheroic tragic hero meaning that although he was characterized as a noble moor, his "rather glorious affair"(6) in the ending proved him to be unheroic. There are themes of "violence and justice"(3) in this scene showing Othello's true characterization in the play. Although I don't fully understand the point Heilman makes about Othello's sexual frustration, I find the rest of the article very useful to my critical analysis essay. .
In this article, Edward Berry uses the issue of Othello's race as the most "explosive" argument in the tragedy. Berry explains that because of the "miscegenation" and the anxieties of Othello being "neither a Negro nor a Moor" (Adamson,3) because he wants to fit in with the Venetians but being a black man, he is seen as an outsider. I do not agree with Berry's idea on how Othello's murder of Desdemona was some sort of an "innate savage impulse"(3) due to his race. I did agree with how Othello's biggest problem was the "elaborate distinction between the external appearance of the devilishness and the inner reality."(Jones,9) This explains how Othello sees himself as being a physical devil and is always having to fight the urge to be a devil on the inside too.
