His second flaw is pride. It seems entirely implausible to him that he could be betrayed “cuckold me?” and such is the dramatic irony of Shakespeare. Worse still, he can only see his world in terms of his own self, “She loved me for the dangers I had passed, and I loved her that she did pity them”.
The first time we see the weakness in Othello is when he comes down to sort out a fight between Cassio and Roderigo/Montano. He only listens to Roderigo’s and Montano’s side of the story, which is told by Iago. He relieves Cassio of his position without listening to his side of the story.
We could compare Othello to the Duke of Venice. The Duke of Venice when in court listens to both sides of the argument before making his decision, Othello has not done this, he has just taken the first thing he hears and believed it. We could say that Othello is not a good leader compared to the Duke of Venice.
Othello’s lack of judgement is reshown when he lets suspicions of Desdemona having and affair with Cassio take over his mind, stopping all rational thought.
He asks the opinion of Emilia (Desdemona’s maid and Iago’s wife) “You have seen nothing then?” Even though she replied “Nor ever heard, nor ever did suspect” he does not believe her because his poisoned mind can’t accept it. Despite disregarding Emilia he takes the side of her husband Iago, who starts the whole thing in the first place.
Later on in the play Othello’s fatal flaw is exposed to the audience when we see him turn to be a jealous man. Evidence of this would be when Desdemona asks him to help Cassio, “Good Love, call him back” and his reaction is cold and bare in emotion. Othello’s lack of good judgement is laid out in his soliloquy, which points out that he is very obsessive, “I think my wife be honest, and I think she is not”. Then in the same speech he produces very suspicious views. Whilst Iago is feeding Othello’s suspicions with lies.
Now not even an act later Othello’s mind has been totally over run by jealousy, so much he has fits that paralyse his mind and body. This affects him so much he must kill his wife and her so called lover Cassio. The deed is to be carried out on the bed in which the sin was made.
Despite wanting to kill her Desdemona’s feelings for Othello are still high with love, “I will not stay to offend you”. Although Othello can’t believe her innocence she is still in love with him and will let him kill her to clear his mind.
Despite wanting to kill his wife Othello’s love for her also still remains. In his soliloquy before killing Desdemona he states his love for her, however Othello thinks murder is the only punishment worthy of betrayal, “Yet she must die, else she’ll betray more men”
Othello’s jealousy is now at peak level, he still can’t show rational thought and is blind about the true horror he is about to do.
After killing Desdemona he is brought out of his trance and realises the mistakes he has made. Iago’s scheme is brought out into the open when Emilia brings out the truth about the handkerchief and speaks about the true goings on.
At this point in the play Othello’s heroic qualities are put on show for the audience to see. Having realised the horror of the situation he takes full blame for his actions and commits suicide and lies next to his beloved Desdemona to die.
Othello’s fatal flaw is quite noticeable throughout the play, but is mostly noticed when Iago twists it to get what he wants. Othello believed the lies told to him by Iago. He was insecure, he thought that a woman as beautiful as Desdemona could not love someone like him and this drove him to believe the outrageous lies said by Iago.
Othello should have weighed out the facts before jumping straight into a conclusion.
In conclusion, Shakespeare is far subtler than to place the complete fault on any particular character. Instead, all of the central characters share the burden, led by the antagonist Iago. Their tragic fate is sealed by their complicity, but also by specific weaknesses that allow Iago to control them. It just so happens that in my opinion Othello holds most of these specific faults which led to the tragedy of Othello.