In all the tragedies, the hero has to suffer the tragic flaw. He is the only responsible of his downfall. In Shakespeare's play Othello, Othello brings all his misfortune on himself. His actions are led by his jealousy, his stubbornness and his gullibility. One of the main factor which push Othello to his death is his gullibility.
What better to say then jealousy is both love and hate at the same time. But others could agree that love over powers all, in this case of the play Othello, hate conqueres all and turns jealousy into madness. Othello lets the jealousy take over his life and his wisdom of his true love for Desdemona. His brain and heart became decepting and he believed that his wife had been unfaithful. Othello was not a guillable man but he was a believer in anyone.
Along with his horrible fate was an equally tragic prophecy. The prophecy revealed he would be the murderer of his own father, and married to his mother. The fatal flaw of Oedipus being his ignorance and ego blind him from seeing the true consequences of his actions, but he acts as if he knows what he is doing. All through the play this is proven and paired with a cocky pride that becomes more visible for the reader. Robert Kane
Iago doesn't. For the most part he just has a burning hatred for the world - most importantly Othello. He is envious of Michael Cassio and suspects that Othello has wronged his honour; but his malignancy is all out of proportion to even his alleged motives through which he shows his ambivalence of nature. His goodness of nature is not pure but simply good in appearance to the other characters. The reader sees the true evil of Iago and how he fools the other characters into believing he is an honourable man.
An example of his tragic flaw is the trust he puts in Cassius. This backfires as Cassius tricks him into killing Caesar for selfish reasons. Another example of his naïve attitude is allowing Mark Antony to give a eulogy speech at Caesar’s funeral. This, it once again backfires and Mark Antony ends up turning the plebeians against him. This is shown when Mark Antony uses reverse psychology by stating “But Brutus is an honorable man.” His tragic flaw shapes and foreshadows his downfall.
A tragic flaw is a weakness that makes a hero susceptible to mistake, which brings on the fate of personal tragedy. Brutus‘s tragic flaw is his honor, which interferes with most of his decisions and blinds him thought out the play. During his speech, Brutus explains that he killed Caesar for the good of the people, to show to the people that he had more honor to the people and not Caesar, by saying, “It’s not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more.”(III, 2 20-1) Brutus believed that his honor to Rome meant more
Though there is no point where he is specific about his main motivation to destroy Othello and everything he loves. Yet in act one scene one he states his prime motivation is bitterness at having been passed over for the promotion to be Othello’s lieutenant by Cassio. Iago is also motivated by his confidence in his abilities to destroy Othello and his life without detection. His anger towards Othello is mostly caused by his suspicion that Othello slept with his wife. Iago states it himself in 1.3.387-388 “I hate the Moor; And it is thought abroad that twixt my sheets”.
Therefore, gradually Iago begins to plant seeds of doubt into Othello’s mind over his trust for Desdemona. This is suggested when he says “Ha! I like not that” in act 3 scene 3 suggesting sexual relations have taken place between Cassio and Desdemona, whilst he tries to pretend that this was a slip of the tongue. This begins Othello’s deterioration of trust for Desdemona while seemingly increasing the trust he holds for Iago. This also creates dramatic irony as we know Iago did this intentionally to spite Othello.
This statement is backed up by his blatant lack of care about the fates of the innocent people who get dragged into his revenge plot. Take Desdemona for example, a pure and faithful companion, killed by the man that loved her dearly, just to bring satisfaction to Iago. Another pawn in Iago’s revenge attack is Cassio: ‘If I can fasten but one cup upon him, with that which he hath drunk to-night already, he'll be as full of quarrel and offence as my young mistress' dog’. Iago schemes to get Cassio drunk because he knows Cassio will end up getting into a fight. Because he wants Cassio to get in trouble with Othello so that Desdemona will try to intervene on Cassio's behalf, which will make Othello
Naivety and blindness can cause extreme damage in a person’s life. King Lear favors the deceitful children Goneril and Regan, over Cordelia, the honest one. The king’s appeal to empty flatter and his blindness to the truth lead to him making unwise decisions, which ultimately jeopardize his relationship with his daughters. Neville Newman criticizes this topic by stating “the test of love to which he submits them is meaningless, as evidenced by the apportioning of the land before all three have spoken. Moreover, the older sisters implicitly inferior status in his affections is immediately obvious to the member of the court in attendance.” (Newman 1) Lear does not realize that he is destroying his relationship with his daughter Cordelia, but also he is not realizing that Goneril and Regan’s mischief will lead him into insanity, which later causes the loss of father-daughter bond in the play.