Tragic Heroes And Their Downfalls In Shakespeare's Othello

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Tragic Heros and Their Downfalls in “Othello”

Northrop Frye once said, “Tragic heroes are so much the highest points in their human landscape that they seem the inevitable conductors of the power about them, great trees more likely to be struck by lightning than a clump of grass. Conductors may of course be instruments as well as victims of the divisive lightning.” Othello is the pillar of tragic heros, first playing the part of a loving husband with a beautiful wife, then being manipulated into believing his wife was cheating on him and killing her. Throughout the play, he played the part of the protagonist, everyone hoping he would figure out Iago was lying to him. Othello being the protagonist made the fact he was also a villain bittersweet. His apparent love for his wife Desdemona, his ‘just’ reasoning for killing her, and Iago’s deserving end all contribute to the tragic work as a whole. …show more content…

Iago was the cause of his own demise by manipulating everyone around him and not caring who he hurt in the climb to the top of power. He only made decisions based on if it benefited him, not thinking, or caring, if it caused other’s pain. The fact Iago ended up in jail only reinforces the idea that the punishment fits the crime. Instead of getting to end his suffering and be reunited with his wife in death, Iago had to live his life in jail, thinking about what he did and never getting to feel freedom again.

Dictionary.com defines a tragic hero as “a great or virtuous character in a dramatic tragedy who is destined for downfall, suffering, or defeat,” Othello is the obvious contender for the tragic hero in Othello, but Iago could also be considered a tragic hero. He starts off as a possible protagonist, but we quickly learn due to his antagonistic qualities that he is destined to be defeated in a grand way. Iago was eventually defeated in a grand way, he was sent to jail for

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