To What Extent Can It Be Argued That Othello’s Downfall Is the Result of His Own “Tragic Flaw”?

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To What Extent Can It Be Argued That Othello’s Downfall Is the Result of His Own “Tragic Flaw”?

        Shakespearean tragedies all follow the same structure.  Each one has five acts in which the middle act is the turning point of the play and every character affected by the tragedy dies by the end of the play.  In this play Othello, who is the eponymous hero, is the tragic hero.  A tragic hero always has a tragic flaw, which is a characteristic that leads to their defeat, or downfall.  In my essay, I will be discussing to what extent Othello tragic flaw leads to his downfall.

        At the beginning of the play, Shakespeare presents Othello as a villain, by using other characters’ words to portray him: Othello isn’t in the first scene.  Shakespeare presents Iago as the villain of the play to show Othello in a bad light.  In Act 1 Scene 1, Iago and Roderigo are telling Brabantio, Desdemona’s father, that Othello has married her.  Iago uses the image of theft to describe Othello: “you’re robbed.”  This is a stereotype of the time towards North-African men suggesting that they are evil and steal from people.  In my opinion, I think that this is also an indication of the stereotype of women at the time, that they could be “owned” by their father, then by their husbands.

        Furthermore, Iago states “An old black ram / Is tupping your white ewe,” which highlights the age-gap between Othello and Desdemona, while being racist towards him and dehumanises him by taking away his identity.  Shakespeare uses bestial imagery, implying that Othello is lustful and promiscuous while being little more than a wild animal.

        Act 1 Scene 2 is where the audience first meets Othello.  By this time, the audience think they know a lot about him, and are ready to meet a flawed villain.  However, Shakespeare portrays Othello as an honourable and reputable man, and most of the things Iago said are now presented as false.  One of the first lines Othello speaks is:

                “Let him do his spite;

My services which I have done the signiory

Shall out-tongue his complaints.”

This can be interpreted as the character being confident and honourable, and a skilled speaker.  This shows that he is a successful general, capable of being the head of the army and not a flawed character.

        A further positive trait that Othello has is his love for Desdemona, which also contradicts what Iago said about Othello being lustful.

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        On the other hand, the audience could see the character as being over-confident or egotistic.  Iago says in Act 1 Scene 1 that Othello was overly proud and this, in my opinion, is proof that Iago was partly right enabling Shakespeare to leave the audience wondering whether Iago could be right about other flaws mentioned in the opening scene.

        Pride is, in my opinion, one of Othello’s tragic flaws.  This is strongly demonstrated in the character’s final speech, just before he commits suicide.  At line 335, in Act 5 Scene 1, Othello declares:

                “I have done the state some service ...

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