Skip to main content

What is Othello's fatal flaw?

Othello' tragic flaw has been the subject of much debate. Some scholars argue it is jealousy, and other scholars believe it is Othello's lack of self-esteem. I would argue that Othello's tragic flaw is his jealousy because Iago's deceitful mechanisms trigger perilous jealousy which consumes Othello, causing him to experience feelings of insecurity, doubt and rage.


Iago, who is manipulative and willing to destroy Othello because Othello promoted Cassio instead of him, devises a plan by which he will manage to cause Othello's downfall. His main victims are Cassio and Othello's wife, Desdemona. Iago wants Othello to believe that Cassio and Desdemona are having an affair, and he plants seeds of doubt in Othello's mind. For example, when Othello sees Cassio and Desdemona together, Iago says:



Cassio, my lord! No, sure, I cannot think it,
That he would steal away so guilty-like,
Seeing you coming.



Although Iago does his best to make Othello descend into irrationality, Othello is to blame because of his gullibility and jealousy. He allows himself to be manipulated by Iago and does not rely on reason. He allows himself to be deceived by cunning Iago and stops trusting his wife, who loves him unconditionally.


His jealousy unleashed an uncontrollable amount of rage in him, which led to the death of Desdemona and his death as well.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Is 'efficate' a word in English?

I routinely hear the word "efficate" being used. For example, "The most powerful way to efficate a change in the system is to participate." I do not find entries for this word in common English dictionaries, but I do not have an unabridged dictionary. I have checked the OED (I'm not sure if it is considered unabridged), and it has no entry for "efficate". It does have an entry for "efficiate", which is used in the same way. Wordnik has an entry for "efficate" with over 1800 hits, thus providing some evidence for the frequency of use. I personally like the word and find the meaning very clear and obvious when others use it. If it's not currently an "officially documented" word, perhaps its continued use will result in it being better documented.
Post a Comment
Read more