Domestic Tragedy

Today, Mr. Delacruz explained to us a project we will have to do in the near future. It is based off the play, Othello, and he is asking us to make a video about the different critical perspectives in relation to this famous play. My group—Courtney, Jordyn, and I—chose the domestic tragedy approach. The reason we chose this is because it was not one of the original perspectives we learned about in the beginning of the class. We felt it would be interesting to discover more about this unknown viewpoint, and how it relates to Othello.

             When I looked up the domestic tragedy perspective, I was surprised by the amount of information I got! There was a ton of stuff to look at, however, it was not what I was expecting. A domestic tragedy is a tragedy that involves middle to lower class protagonists. It directly contrasts the likes of classical tragedies in which high - ranking people in society fall, thus making it more dramatic. A domestic tragedy is not as dramatic, and doesn’t involve characters of high class. After reading these definitions, I was tragically confused. How can this relate to Othello? Both characters are high up in society. Othello is a vital piece to the Venetian army, and Desdemona comes from a very wealthy and powerful family. How is this right? I pondered this for a few long, drawn out minutes. Imust be looking at the wrong term, or maybe I misinterpreted it, because I thought a domestic tragedy insinuated something to do between husband and wife, or something to do with the family structure. I suppose this is because of the popular crime shows with all of the domestic violence episodes. I have been tragically misled!  I need some clarification from the all-knowing Mr. Delacruz.