Tragic Heroes in Euripides Medea, Shakespeare's Othello and Boccaccio's Decameron, Tenth Day, Tenth Story In many great literary works there are numerous characters whose actions are moral or immoral. In the works “Medea” by Euripides, “Othello” by Shakespeare, and “Tenth Day, Tenth Story” by Boccaccio, the main characters all perform actions that would be immoral and unforgivable in this day and age. Medea undertakes the most immoral act, in Euripides' great tragic work. Morals today vary greatly from those of the time periods in which these works were written. Gualtieri from Boccaccio's work, Othello from Shakespeare's work, and Medea from Euripides' work were all, for the most part, righteous in their actions due to the point of view of the citizens of their time period. These people played a huge role in what was seen as right and wrong, just like in the present day. In Boccaccio's Decameron, "Tenth day, tenth story", the main character, Gualtieri wants to test his new wife to see how loyal she is. to him. At the beginning of the work it is presented to the readers that Gualtieri is a highly respected moral man. After being told that it is necessary to find a wife, Gualtieri states: "I will do as you ask and therefore I will only have myself to blame if things go wrong, I want to be the one to choose her, and I tell her now that if it is not from you honored as your lady... you will learn to your regret how serious it was to force me to your requests..." (Boccaccio 135). From this statement Gualtieri is portrayed as a compassionate man. He says he will blame no one but himself if things don't work out and once he chooses his wife, he orders his people to respect... middle of the card... he commits these three immoral acts. Decameron, "The Tenth Day, the Tenth Story", "Othello" and "Medea" are all tragic works, with seemingly tragic heroes. All three "heroes", Gualtieri, Othello and Medea, hurt someone close to them to still maintain their pride or end their jealousy towards another. While many of the mundane standards of today's world are different from when the authors were writing, there are many substantial similarities, so judging a character based only on today's morals would be unfair. Works Cited Boccaccio, Giovanni. The Decameron. New York: Penguin, 1982.Euripides. "Medea." The Norton anthology of world masterpieces. Ed. Sarah Lawall. New York and London: W. W. Norton & Company, 1999. Shakespeare, William. Othello (c. 1602) EA J Honigmann (ed) Surrey: Thomas Nelson & Sons Ltd. 1997.