Essay Comparing Macbeth And Othello

A tragic hero is a noble character whose flaw leads to his or her demise. In the Shakespearean tragedies, Othello and Macbeth, the tragic heros cause their own downfall in different ways but the two tragedies have a common thread. Initially, both characters begin as respected men who live by good morals. The tragic heros, Macbeth and Othello, both cause their own downfall by their vulnerability to corruption from sin. Macbeth’s tragic flaw is his weakness against his desire for power. His desire for power eventually resulted in guilt, the corruption of his mind, and ultimately, his death. Macbeth’s downfall is initiated by his encounter with the three witches who hail him for being thane of Cawdor, thane of Glamis, and the future king. At first, he is skeptical about their prophecies until one of them becomes true, Macbeth became the thane of Cawdor

He easily falls for Iago’s constant acting and rumors because he believes Iago to be an honest man though he does not even realize the nature of the Iago’s true personality as a manipulative man. In act 3, scene 3, Othello does not realize that Iago planted ideas into his head that Desdemona was cheating in order to fill him with jealousy (Othello 3:3). He takes in everything Iago says as genuine honesty. Othello gave Iago his trust far too soon. He gave him trust before Iago even did anything to show that he deserved it. Othello does not even realize how easily he trust others until he himself dies and Iago succeed in obtaining revenge for the rumors about Othello sleeping with his wife, Emilia, he believes to be true. Without seeing true evidence, Othello trust much of what Iago tells him. A little bit of evidence along with Iago’s words is enough for Othello to trust him. By the end, Othello kills his faithful wife, Desdemona because he became corrupted by jealousy and hatred and he finally realizes that Iago was scheming with his mind the whole