Othello the "Moor" and Rãzvan the "Gypsy" or Human Condition as Hybris.

This article offers a comparative reading of William Shakespeare’s Othello and Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu’s Răzvan and Vidra, focusing on the tragic trajectories of two marginalized figures whose exceptional merit propels them into positions of centrality within exclusionary social systems. While crit...

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Published in:Caietele Echinox Vol. 50; pp. 120 - 130
Main Author: Cuțitaru, Codrin Liviu
Format: Article
Published: Echinox Cultural Foundation 2026
Subjects:
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
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      dt: 2026
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        10.24193/cechinox.2026.50.09
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        atl: Othello the "Moor" and Rãzvan the "Gypsy" or Human Condition as Hybris.
      aug:
        au: Cuțitaru, Codrin Liviu
        affil: Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Iasi, Romania.
      su:
        Pride & vanity
        Tragedy (Drama)
        Existentialism
        Respect
        Social marginality
        Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616
        Plato, 428-347 B.C.
        Literature
      sug:
        subj:
          Pride & vanity
          Tragedy (Drama)
          Existentialism
          Respect
          Social marginality
          Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616
          Plato, 428-347 B.C.
          Literature
      keyword:
        Comparative Tragedy
        Conditional Recognition
        Hasdeu
        Hybris
        Identity
        Marginality
        Otherness
        Shakespeare
        Thymos
      ab: This article offers a comparative reading of William Shakespeare’s Othello and Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu’s Răzvan and Vidra, focusing on the tragic trajectories of two marginalized figures whose exceptional merit propels them into positions of centrality within exclusionary social systems. While critical interpretations have often emphasized racism, xenophobia, or individual psychological flaws as primary causes of their downfall, this study advances a different thesis: the tragedies of Othello and Răzvan are best understood through the concept of hybris as an ontological condition, rather than as a moral or ethical excess alone. Drawing on the Platonic notion of thymos as the human drive for recognition, the article argues that both protagonists suffer from a form of conditional recognition that destabilizes their identity. Hybris, as dramatized in these works, reveals a fundamental tension inherent in the human condition itself.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
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    language: English
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