Othello's Flaws

Even if Othello was not as trusting or corrupt, he still would not realize Iago was lying. Othello commits his first act of violence against Desdemona by hitting her. This shows now Othello's tragic flaw. He made himself susceptible to Iago and the jealousy within him begins to lead to the end of others. By his actions, Othello has isolated himself from everyone except Iago. This gives Iago the perfect opportunity to complete his course of action. Finally, Othello's breakdown

Persuading Othello was a difficult and time consuming effort, by the final scene we see Othello give into the looming “evidence” and smother his wife but this act is surely not from simple impulse of evil. Othello was a puppet in Iago’s hands and had been ignorant of his wife’s genuine love but enforced his ideal of justice upon himself through suicide, showing his remorse. Ultimately it

    He lacks the critical intelligence to doubt Iago, because Othello feels his masculinity is damaged by even the mere suggestion that he has been cuckolded. His insecure grasp of social and human values results in placing his faith in Iago, over his supposed beloved. His immature romanticism allows passion to override his critical intelligence (as evidenced by his epileptic fits, triggered by superfluous emotion), and results in blindness to the pitfalls that surround him. In the Anthony Hopkins film version, Othello is foaming at the mouth, and seems to get progressively more insane. By the middle of the play, Othello has already believed his newlywed wife has been unfaithful to him; his only "relief must be to loathe her" (3. 3. 266-267). He strikes his chest, and it hurts his hand, so hardened is his heart. He believes Iago so fully, that "all [his] fond love thus do I blow to heaven/ 'Tis gone/Arise, black vengeance, from hollow hell;" this man quickly converts love into hate, as the emotions do seem to go hand-in-hand (3. 3. 442-443).  In Act III, Scene III, Iago pledges himself to Othello "forever;" Othello is being gradually pulled down to Hell (476).

Greed and jealousy may cause the downfall of a powerful figure to occur. This theme is evident in the play, Othello by William Shakespeare. Othello is an African general in the Venetian army, Iago is his ancient, or advisor, and Desdemona is Othello’s wife. While Othello believes Iago to be a trustworthy and honest man, Iago really wants to take Cassio’s lieutenant position. In this play, cruelty is represented in the form of Iago’s manipulation Othello to become more powerful and his manipulation of Roderigo, Othello, and Emilia presented many of their character traits.

Weakness sprouted from Othello when he listened to Iago rather than his own wife. Even though Othello never initially intended any harm to anyone, especially his own wife, he did end up murdering her. Gradually othello begins to hate Cassio indicating by Iago when he says “As he (cassio) shall smile, Othello shall go mad, and is unbookish jealousy must construe poor cassio’s smiles, gestures, and light behavior quite in the wrong.” Bitterness quickly arises in Othello’s heart after Iago launched his plan so much so that the love he once had for Desdemona ends up only being an obsession, which is why it is so easy for Othello put a blade through her chest. All of the emotions and different voices that comes to othello, build up inside creating a dangerous loose

Iago realizes that to destroy Othello he must convince him that murdering Desdemona is justified and then reveal that the act is unpardonable. To

In the end, Othello’s anger and mistrust, fuelled by Iago’s lies, leads to Othello’s tragic demise.

Beneath the surface lies a man torn between his beliefs and knowledge as a soldier to his uncertainty and insecurities as a husband. Othello’s tragic flaw was his jealousy, insecurities, and his inability to trust. Othello was a man with high esteem, a victorious hero, who succumbs to the manipulations of a devious man (Hacht, 2007). He allowed the love that once gave him strength to also make him vulnerable. Othello told Desdemona father that “she loved me for the dangers I had passed, and I loved her that she did pity them (Bevington, 2014, pg. 617-618, Act 1, scene 3, lines 169-170). Othello’s ability to fit in was a challenge to him as well. He constantly had to embrace the Venetian concept of race, gender, religion, matrimony, sexuality,

Iago, a spineless, masterful manipulator, and a truly evil being does whatever he can do to destroy the very charming, and strong Othello. He is the epitome of an evil villain who does whatever it takes to destroy his enemy. Surprisingly, Iago was not always the malicious and down right cruel person that is portrayed in Othello. Shockingly enough, Iago was like every other child who went to school, had lots of friends, and had a loving and supportive family. Unfortunately, his life came crashing down, and this is the story of how one small incident fatally took the life of the young Iago and made him into the man he is today.

Humans are contradictions, which good and evil nature both exists. The grand tragic play Othello written by Shakespeare illustrates the contradictions in human natures through the display of tragic falls of various characters such as Othello, Iago, and Roderigo. Othello, the protagonist of the play, fell in love with the daughter of a nobleman, Desdemona. However, this relationship is soon broken up because Othello believed the accusation from Iago, Othello’s subordinate, towards Desdemona for having a disloyal relationship with her husband Othello’s lieutenant, Michael Cassio. With his hidden nature, Othello chose to trust Iago and murdered his wife with his own hand. In this Shakespearean play, each character created by Shakespeare has distinct and complicated personalities, and Iago, being the main antagonist in the play, acts as a mirror that reflects the natural weakness and flaws in the characters Othello, Roderigo, and himself; ultimately, it displays the underlying evil intentions of human nature.

At first Othello was shown as a very peaceful person, he didn't say much, but when he did, it'd be short or sweet (even both). Although, this didn't last very long before Iago could get to him and start to say cruel things to Othello. Othello was the victim here, he didn't particularly do anything to harm Iago, but as the tragic story goes, Iago was the villain. The theme of this tragic play mostly revolves around jealousy, reputation, stereotypes, and trust. Basically, what other people thought, was very important here and Othello was a victim of all the above. Iago mentally/emotionally abused Othello, he made Othello trust him and not ask questions, he made Othello think twice and feel insecure about his race because he was different, he

Shakespeare is very well known for his inclusion of tragic flaws throughout the storylines of his novels. Hero’s, as courageous as they may seem, are just like any other person and go through flaws throughout their lifetime regardless of the extent of their situation. In Shakespeare’s novel Othello, with all the events twisting the readers mind from one side to another, there are many distinct qualities that portray Othello’s tragic flaw. Iago was portrayed as an honest character but with his careful deceptions jabbing in Othello’s mind, he is far from honest. Othello’s tragic flaw is that he trusts others opinions more than his own perceptions and Shakespeare develops this flaw by using convincing persuasive appeals and strong syntax throughout

Othello's life and marriage is ruined by Iago's lies. Since Othello was insecure about himself, Iago seeked for the advantage to tell him lies about his wife cheating on him. Othello, of course, believed him because he thought that he was inferior to all the others due to his skin color and his origins. Othello was fooled into believing all the lies Iago told him in regards to his wife and Cassio due to his inexperience. As a result, Othello acted on his impulsive and decided to strangle his wife without giving her the chance to explain anything or think of another solution based killing her. There is no doubt that the insecurities, inexperienced and jealousy/impulse led up to the downfall of Othello within the

Another one of Othello’s flaw was the fact that he can be easily fooled or tricked into believing anything. Othello is just like any other heroes in a play or tragedy. Aristotle states in his definition of a tragic hero that the hero must have a tragic flaw as one of his characteristics. Kennedy & Gioia points this out in Aristotle’s definition of tragic hero that “the hero downfall is the results of his flaw or weakness of character” (Kennedy & Gioia 905). Othello was able to be deceived by man who he believed was a friend to him, but Iago only wanted to bring Othello down because of his hatred for Othello. It was because this character flaw that Othello was able to murder his own wife. Iago said that Othello has a “free and open nature, that thinks men honest that but seem to be so, / And will as tenderly be led by the nose” (1.3.376-378). It’s because of this character flaw that Iago can bring Othello 's downfall when Othello starts to believe Iago lies about his wife having an affair. Iago plants the seed of doubt about Othello 's wife having an affair with his second in command, Cassio. Iago says to Othello to “Look to your wife; observe her well with Cassio.” (3.3.211). Othello believes that his wife is having an affair due to Iago 's lies and Iago bring Othello proof that was false because Othello wouldn’t believe him without any proof of some sort. Othello believes Iago because of

Othello's sense of judgement was tested soon after when he realized that Cassio,his lieutenant was intoxicated,something he was clearly against.What made it worse,was the blood that was shed at the hands of Cassio.With no knowledge of what spurred a fight,Othello was left to judge the situation,based on the perspective of Iago,the antagonist,who would stop at nothing to take Cassio's place.After a skewed story from Iago,Othello says