ABSTRACT
Intention is a realization that will ultimately lead to an action. It often grows out of the demand to fulfill an urge or lack and forms into a mental aim, purpose, goal, plan, or design. Greek characters seem to live comfortably in the land of wants; it is not until we reach Euripides, who is, in many ways, the most psychologically complex of the Greek tragedians, that we begin to see these characters cross the border of want and enter the terra incognito of need and desire. Shakespeare’s characters seem to exist on the border between wants and needs. The same is true with a well-intentioned character like Othello, who dearly loves his Desdemona. Action’s propensity toward legibility, exactitude, and velocity makes a strong case for its priority even when compared to a force as seminal as intentionality.
