The Fall of a Hero: Othello’s Tragic Flaw

According to the tradition of tragedy as stated by Aristotle in his Poetics, the tragic hero must not be an entirely good man, or one who is completely evil, but, rather, a man who on the whole is good but contributes to his own destruction by some moral weakness (the "fatal flaw"). Thesis Othello is initially portrayed as a consummate military leader whose thoughts are governed by logic and reason. However, Othello has a tragic …

…character of Othello that even the strongest and noblest of men is still subject to insecurity, rage, and the other marks of mortality. Although Othello may have been blind in whom he placed his faith in, his tragic flaw was that he was human, and as such was imperfect. There is a potential for every person to become a victim of deception, and when we allow emotions to overrun reason, the results can be devastating.